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Joe Seanoa (born March 17, 1979 in Samoa, now residing in Huntington Beach, California), better known by his ring name Samoa Joe, is an American professional wrestler, currently performing for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and Ring of Honor. He holds the record for longest reigning ROH World Heavyweight Champion, holding the belt for 21 months.

Although in TNA he has lost two triple threat matches, a four-way match, a battle royal and an Ultimate X match, none of these have ever been won by pinning Joe or by making Joe submit and thus Joe is still referred to as being undefeated in his TNA career.

Career

Joe's family founded a Polynesian dance troupe in the United States called Tiare Productions. He made his on stage debut at the 1984 Summer Olympics opening ceremonies at the age of 5. He became a California State Junior Judo Champion and was an all league football player in high school.

Joe started his professional wrestling career in September of 1999 as the first graduate of the UIWA's now-defunct West Coast Dojo. He was trained under the guidance of West Coast indy legend Cincinnati Red.

Debuting in December of 1999, Joe quickly rose through the ranks of independent grapplers throughout California. He soon signed with former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) developmental affiliate UPW, where he feuded with real life friend, and future WWE champion, John Cena and captured the UPW Heavyweight Championship.

After finding success in UPW, Joe debuted in Japan for Shinya Hashimoto's ZERO ONE promotion, fighting in its "Shingeki" series of pay per views and later the annual "Burning Heart" tournaments.

Joe also wrestles on and off for SoCal promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, where he has a standing rivalry with Super Dragon. Joe currently has two wins over Dragon, while Dragon has beat Samoa Joe only once.

Joe now resides as a member of New Japan Pro Wrestling's Inoki Dojo in Los Angeles. Joe also appeared in the International Assault tour of Australia in October 2005.

Ring of Honor

Back in the United States Joe joined the ranks of the East Coast-based Ring of Honor promotion. Debuting at "Glory By Honor" as Christopher Daniels' "hired assassin" to take out Daniels's chief enemy, Low-Ki, Joe impressed fans with an extremely stiff and hard-hitting bout that resembled an MMA fight more than a wrestling match. Joe quickly became the company's Heavyweight Champion, defeating Xavier for the belt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 22, 2003. He held that title for twenty one months before losing it to Austin Aries at "Final Battle 2004", also in Philadelphia, on December 26, 2004. In the process, Joe made the ROH Championship a world title by defending it outside of the United States against The Zebra Kid at the ROH and FWA show "Frontiers of Honor", and established the ROH World Championship as one of the most prestigious titles in North America.

With his historic ROH title reign, Joe also established himself as the face of the company and as a perennial main-eventer in North America. He elevated the title from a mid-card attraction secondary to established independent stars like Low-Ki, Daniels, and A.J. Styles, to the ultimate prize in Ring of Honor. Especially famous are his series of title defenses against CM Punk and his match with Japanese wrestler Kenta Kobashi.

Soon after losing the ROH World Championship to Aries, Joe became the promotion's fifth Pure Champion, defeating his protege Jay Lethal for the belt on May 7, 2005 at "Manhattan Mayhem" in New York City. He would hold the title for several months before losing it to Nigel McGuiness on August 27, 2005 at "Dragon Gate Invasion" in Williamsville, New York.

In October 2005, the superstar Japanese heavyweight Kenta Kobashi made a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the United States. Much like Jushin Liger and the "Weekend of Thunder", Kobashi was signed to two Ring of Honor shows, and ROH officials selected Joe, ROH's top wrestler, to face him in a singles match on the first night and a tag match on the second.

The first show was in New York City in front of an explosive crowd at the New Yorker Hotel. Joe proved to be a formidable opponent for Kobashi. He integrated several moves from Kobashi's famous past opponents into his arsenal, like Mitsuharu Misawa's facelock, Toshiaki Kawada's step kick and Stretch Plum, and Genichiro Tenryu's chop/punch combination. Joe nearly won the match after a Muscle Buster but Kobashi made his famous comeback, unleashing his trademark array of chops and head-dropping suplexes before putting Joe away with a Burning Lariat. Dave Meltzer, in his Wrestling Observer, would later give this match an extremely rare five-star rating.

The second show was in Philadelphia, and featured Joe teaming with Low Ki to take on Kobashi and Homicide. In another hard-hitting spectacle, Kobashi and Homicide would go on to win, with Homicide taking out Joe on the outside while Kobashi gave Low Ki a Burning Lariat for the win.

Joe recently ended his feud with former protege, Jay Lethal, who started it by viciously attacking him with a chair and pinning him at "Steel Cage Warfare" in New York City. Joe defeated Lethal in a grudge match at the ROH 4th Anniversary Show in Edison, New Jersey on February 25th. He also ended his feud with "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels after a series of matches during November 2005, March and April 2006, with their differences beginning in August 2005 during the main event of the "Redemption" show in Dayton where they both cost each other the ROH world title. Joe was also at odds with the then GHC Jr. Heavyweight champion KENTA, after teaming with ROH World champion Bryan Danielson against NOAH stars Naomichi Marufuji and KENTA on March 25th in New York City. He also made enemies with Danielson when he was called out at Better Than Our Best, building to their eventual title match.

Joe is currently embroiled in the heated ROH vs CZW feud, with Joe leading the ROH army against the likes of Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, and Super Dragon on April 22nd in a 6 man brawl in Philadelphia, with partners B.J. Whitmer and Adam Pearce. They were defeated when Claudio Castagnoli turned his back on ROH and sided with tag team partner Chris Hero to get the pin. Joe was unable to fully get revenge when he faced Claudio on April 29th, as the rest of the CZW stars came out and destroyed Joe until fellow RoH wrestlers helped out. The same happened at May 13th when faced with Necro Butcher, as he was seemingly replaced by Homicide in the midst of the contest.

Joe is finally set to get an ROH World title shot against Bryan Danielson when Ring of Honor returns to Edison, New Jersey on August 5th.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

On June 19, 2005 Joe debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling at the TNA Slammiversary pay-per-view, defeated Sonjay Dutt in a match that saw him dubbed "The Samoan Submission Machine". On the July 22 episode of TNA iMPACT!, Joe defeated Sonjay Dutt, this time in the quarterfinal round of the Christopher Daniels Invitational Super X Cup. Joe advanced to the tournament finals at the TNA Sacrifice pay-per-view on August 14, 2005, by defeating Alex Shelley in his semifinal match on the August 5 episode of iMPACT!. Joe won the tournament by defeating A.J. Styles at Sacrifice, despite interference from Daniels which both wrestlers fended off, and thus became the number one contender to Daniels' TNA X Division Championship. However, as a result of Daniels' interference, TNA Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko made the title defence, scheduled for TNA Unbreakable on September 11, a three way dance, placing Styles in the match.

Samoa Joe proved his worth against Styles and Daniels in the three way dance, which was the main event at Unbreakable. However, A.J. Styles pinned Christopher Daniels to become the first 5-time TNA X Division Champion. Although he failed to win the title, Samoa Joe's undefeated streak at TNA remained intact. At TNA Bound For Glory on October 23, Joe defeated the veteran Japanese junior heavyweight Jushin "Thunder" Liger with the rear-naked choke, causing Liger to pass out. At TNA Genesis on November 13, he teamed with Daniels, Alex Shelley, and Roderick Strong (a team that Daniels called "the Ministry") against Sonjay Dutt, Chris Sabin, Matt Bentley, and Austin Aries in an eight man elimination match. Following a victory by Daniels and Joe (Shelley and Strong were eliminated earlier in the match), Joe viciously attacked Daniels, first by beating Daniels around the ringside area until he had busted Daniels open, then throwing a bloody Daniels in the ring and delivering a Musclebuster. Joe then went out to grab a steel chair from ringside and brought it into the ring, leading to Joe giving Daniels a 2nd Musclebuster, this time onto the chair and apparently giving Daniels a level-3 concussion.

A.J. Styles called him out at an episode of iMPACT!, saying his attack of Daniels violated an unwritten code of respect in the X Division. On another episode prior to Turning Point 2005, Joe attacked Styles, saying he does not respect the X Division code (a vast departure from his Ring of Honor persona, who is a stalwart defender of their written Code of Honor). Joe defeated Styles at Turning Point and won the X Division Championship. Before Joe could injure A.J., however, Christopher Daniels came out and stopped him.

Daniels was later slated to face Joe at TNA Final Resolution 2006 for the X Division Championship. During the build-up to the match, Joe spoke for the first time in a TNA promo, stating how he intended to end Daniels's career. During the match, AJ Styles come down to the ring to cheer Daniels on. Not long after making Daniels bleed from his head, Samoa Joe stopped going for the pin, instead dropping knee after knee on Daniels's head. AJ Styles, concerned about Daniels's health, called for the match to be stopped by throwing in the towel, therefore allowing Samoa Joe to retain his title.

Joe was then scheduled to face the number 1 contender, AJ Styles, at Against All Odds 2006 but Daniels complained that he didn't want to throw in the towel and wanted his shot at the title. Larry Zybszko then made it a rematch of the Unbreakable three-way match, with Joe, Styles and Daniels. In that match Joe used a Muscle Buster on Styles, pinning him, and retaining the title, with Daniels screaming at the end that it wasn't over between them. Joe continued his feud with Daniels and Styles at the PPV on March 12, Destination X 2006 defending the X division title in an Ultimate X match, ultimately coming up short, losing the title to Daniels.

Larry Zbyszko then proceeded to take Samoa Joe out of the X Division, and placed him with an unannounced opponent outside the X Division. Then on the March 25th, 2006 edition of Impact!, it was announced that Samoa Joe would take on Sabu at TNA Lockdown 2006 where all matches take place inside a steel cage.

On the April 13th edition of iMPACT! (TNA's Thursday debut), Samoa Joe regained the X-Division title after delivering an Island Driver from the middle turnbuckle to Christopher Daniels. Joe successfully defended his X Division title against Sabu at Lockdown 2006.

During the May 11, 2006 episode of iMPACT!, it was reveled that Joe is a former mortgage broker when Sting gave details about his past life in a wrestling variation of Deal or No Deal to choose his partner for a tag match against Jarrett/Scott Steiner.

At TNA Sacrifice 2006, Samoa Joe tagged with Sting against Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner. Joe and Sting were victorious, but after the match, Joe left the ring and allowed Jarrett and Steiner to attack Sting. On the June 1, 2006 iMPACT! episode, Joe explained his actions by stating that he agreed to only watch Sting's back "from bell to bell" (implying that once the second bell rang, his duties were over), but still had issues with Steiner.

During the iMPACT! tapings on May 15, 2006, Joe was injured as he performed a kick, and it was reported that he tore every knee ligament except the Anterior Cruciate Ligament. He suffered a first degree tear to the Posterior Cruciate Ligament and a second degree tear to the Medial Collateral Ligament. It is said that he may be out of action for 2-3 weeks.

During this time TNA released a DVD on Samoa Joe entitled "Unstoppable: The Best of Samoa Joe".

At TNA Slammiversary 2006, Samoa Joe added Scott Steiner to his undefeated streak.

On the June 22, 2006 episode of TNA Impact Samoa Joe lost his X Division Championship in a triple threat match with Sonjay Dutt and Senshi. Senshi pinned Dutt to win the championship after Scott Steiner layed out Joe with a steel chair. Due to this Joe still has never been defeated in TNA by pin or submission.

At TNA Victory Road 2006 on July 16, 2006, Joe took part in a Four-Way #1 Contender Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship along with Sting, Christian Cage, and Scott Steiner. Sting won the bout by pinning Steiner.

In wrestling

  • Finishing moves

  • Signature moves

  • Nicknames
  • "The Samoan Submission Machine"

  • Quotes
  • "I am Samoa Joe, and I am pro wrestling"
  • "The baddest mother fucker on the planet"
  • "The champ is here!"

Championships and accomplishments

  • Extreme Wrestling Federation
  • 2006 EWF Xtreme 8 Tournament Winner
    • Independent Wrestling Association: Mid South
  • 1-time TWE Heavyweight Champion (current)
    • United Independent Wrestling Alliance

Championship succession

TNA X Division Championship Preceded by:
A.J. Styles First Succeeded by:
Christopher Daniels Preceded by:
Christopher Daniels Second Succeeded by:
Senshi ROH World Heavyweight Championship Preceded by:
Xavier First Succeeded by:
Austin Aries ROH Pure Championship Preceded by:
Jay Lethal First Succeeded by:
Nigel McGuinness

Trivia

References

External links

American professional wrestlers | Samoan professional wrestlers | Samoan Americans | 1979 births | Living people | People from Orange County, California | American dancers | Professional wrestling dancers | Samoa Joe | サモア・ジョー

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Samoa Joe".

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