Samoa Joe’s WWE Raw Debut Leaves Fans Going Wild on Twitter
The WWE Universe reacted to Samoa Joe’s shocking debut to close Monday’s episode of Raw.
Samoa Joe has been with WWE for nearly two years, having debuted at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable in May 2015. He went on to have two NXT Championship runs in 2016 before being phased out of storylines near the end of last year. This included not having him appear on WWE NXT throughout 2017 and into NXT TakeOver: San Antonio (he made a cameo from the crowd).
Well, as it turns out, Joe lingered around for the weekend. He shockingly showed up on Monday’s episode of WWE Raw to attack Seth Rollins and leave him laying in the ring to close the show. This came just as Rollins went to confront Triple H.
The surprising debut of Samoa Joe led to WWE fans going into a frenzy on Twitter. They had plenty to say about what had just happened:
OMG SAMOA JOE IS HERE! #RAW
— Eza® (@ThatNigEd) January 31, 2017
Samoa Joe with the ambush wow this is getting even more awesome #raw
— JAY🇵🇷🤙 (@amjay718) January 31, 2017
That was a very good way to intro samoa joe
— Lorelai the JudgementScythe.bsky.social (@JudgementScythe) January 31, 2017
Samoa Joe just made being a wrestling fan exciting again...#Raw just received a rating booster
— Micah Coleman (@DeaconKirby) January 31, 2017
Samoa Joe like sorry I missed the royal rumble yesterday had to say my goodbyes to the people from NXT
— ☁️ (@edgartheteacher) January 31, 2017
SAMOA JOE!!!!
— Ismail Amen (@bigish41) January 31, 2017
Fans are clearly ecstatic for the arrival of a WWE NXT star, the first call-up since Bayley in August. Tye Dillinger being at the Royal Rumble hasn’t guaranteed him a spot on the main roster yet, as he didn’t show up on Raw. We’ll see if that changes on SmackDown.
Joe now moves into a potential match with Rollins at WWE Fastlane, which takes place on March 5. He’ll seemingly be working as Triple H’s enforcer before Rollins can get to the Cerebral Assassin. It makes for an intriguing and unexpected dynamic as we head into WrestleMania season, with Joe event potentially factoring into the Show of Shows in some way.
Next: WrestleMania 33 Card Projections 6.0; Post-Rumble
Samoa Joe is now a WWE Raw Superstar and moves in as one of the top heels of the show. Working with someone like Rollins and Triple H will only help as he becomes a member of the main roster. What could be next in his first program?