The Rock Endorses Samoa Joe As Future WWE World Champion

After taking a long, hard road to get there, Samoa Joe has finally arrived on WWE's main roster, and he's making quite the impact. His prospects outside of NXT were beginning to look bleak as we wondered if he'd ever "graduate" from the developmental territory, but now it seems that the powers that be are behind him with his substantial heel push.

The latest man to step up and speak fondly of Samoa Joe is none other than one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Joe is one of the few Samoans in the industry who doesn't share bloodlines with The Rock, but that didn't stop the wrestler-turned-actor from giving him a glowing endorsement.

When Johnson visited WWE last week to film scenes for his upcoming movie "Fighting With My Family", not only did he fire up the crowd - and likely Vince McMahon and Triple H as well, although not in a good way - by calling CM Punk live from the middle of the ring, but he also hung out with the superstars backstage.

The Rock posted a photo of he and Joe on his Instagram along with the following caption:

"Been following this man's wrestling career for years now. I'm very happy to see him (finally) in the WWE making a global name for himself. Many wrestling and fight historians will attest to this, that at one time in 1970's, pro wrestlers were some of the biggest and toughest men on the planet. Well before UFC and MMA made its worldwide footprint, there was a hard core wrestling style derived from "Catch wrestling" which then spawned lots of shoot styles in wrestling training. Samoa Joe reminds me of that rare legit tough MF throwback style of wrestler. Happy for him and his family. It's his time. He's earned it and one day we'll be referring to him as WWE World Champ. Keep kickin' ass Uso."

Many fans have felt the same for quite a while and felt if he were given a shot on the big stage that he'd deliver. This latest endorsement from an all-time great cements that faith in his immense talent.