Samoa Joe: The AEW Locker Room Has Never Been Better

Samoa Joe praises the infectious enthusiasm of the current AEW locker room.

by Andrew Pollard
Samoa Joe
AEW

Having successfully defended his AEW World Championship against 'Hangman' Adam Page and Swerve Strickland at AEW Revolution this past weekend, Samoa Joe has praised the AEW locker room for being as tight as it's ever been.

Speaking at the post-Revolution media scrum (via Fightful), the Samoan Submission Machine was asked about the previous backstage issues in the company and where things are at right now.

As Samoa Joe explained:

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"I think you summed it up perfectly. That was last year. This is the AEW underneath my reign. As far as our locker room community, I don't think it's ever been tighter, I don't think it's ever been better. There's an enthusiasm backstage that is infectious, and it's because we have so much new, burgeoning talent. We have so many new opportunities to go out there and entertain the crowd with the people that we have at our disposal. There's just genuine excitement among the locker room. It's been a long time since this spirit has been felt here, and I'm very much looking forward to where this leads us in the future."

Of course, there was a time when it felt like AEW couldn't go a single month without some sort of controversy rearing its head. Whether that was CM Punk and the Elite, Sammy Guevara and Eddie Kingston, Sammy and Andrade, Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa, Punk and Jack Perry, or one of the various other backstage confrontations, beefs, or general unhappiness that was reported on.

Nowadays, as per Samoa Joe, things appear to be a little calmer behind the scenes in AEW. Then again, there are still those stories of backstage frustrations amongst certain talent.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.