8 Ways WWE Can Make Samoa Joe The AJ Styles Of 2017
1. Slaying The Beast
Brock Lesnar has endured a rough few months. The Beast didn’t take Bill Goldberg seriously in the run-up to their Survivor Series match, and was subsequently flattened in less than two minutes. They met again at the Royal Rumble, and while Brock was desperate for revenge on his old foe, it took Goldberg just 30 seconds to throw him out of the ring.
Has the Goldberg feud damaged Lesnar’s dominant aura? Slightly, but it’s nothing that can’t be repaired. Brock remains one of the company’s biggest stars, and benefits greatly from the presence of one of the greatest mouthpieces in wrestling history. Fans will have forgotten all about his recent failings, should he defeat Goldberg at WrestleMania 33 - and the Beast’s wounds will quickly heal.
Monster characters are built-up so that somebody can eventually knock them down, and if WWE really want to establish Joe as a killer, he’s the perfect man to slay the Beast. There’s work to be done before that, however, and Brock’s currently malaise calls for a lengthy undefeated streak after WrestleMania - but after that, the stabilisers are off.
Lesnar isn’t invincible anymore, but defeating him still means something. He should be used not only as a wrestler to build around, but a tool for putting less-tenured stars over in the long-run. Joe is 37 years old, and if he’s ever going to become a genuine WWE main eventer, he can’t waste a single second in 2017.
Defeating Lesnar should be the final step of his ascension.