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Samoa Joe: WWE Raw’s Much-Needed ‘Destroyer’

By Rob Wolkenbrod

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Samoa Joe is just what WWE Raw needs and he proved it on Monday night’s show.

Samoa Joe entered WWE like a wrecking ball. Upon arrival, he destroyed Seth Rollins, unintentionally placing the former Shield man on injured reserve for the time being. He then sent out a few tweets with no regard for what his character had done, something to show off how he’s going to be a ruthless heel.

It all made Monday’s episode of Raw interesting, as we would see the fallout of Joe’s debut. He lived up to the “Destroyer” nickname one week prior, and looked to follow up on this on February 6. It has been refreshing and something the Flagship Show desperately needs.

Raw’s heel division has been sharp for the past few months with Braun Strowman, Kevin Owens, and Chris Jericho leading the way. Owens and Jericho aren’t ones out to crush other people, however, as they play the chicken bad guy roles. Strowman does mow down other Superstars, but he does it more by imposing his size on others. In the case of Joe, he’ll outwrestle and destroy you until you’re knocked out cold. This makes the Samoan Submission Machine a unique presence for Raw, one that could turn him into their second monster heel, potentially a bigger one than Strowman.

The credibility is already there by having him work with Roman Reigns in the opening and closing segments, defeating him in the process. There could be an argument made that Strowman’s distraction led to the win, but he never laid a finger on the Big Dog to affect his physical being. Joe just took advantage and laid out Reigns with a slick Uranage for a surprisingly clean pinfall. It establishes him as a main event presence in WWE, something rarely done with new Superstars, and maybe last done with AJ Styles in January 2016.

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Strowman didn’t receive this kind of main event push off the bat, having to go through enhancement talent and Sami Zayn for months. Of course, the wrestling pedigree between he and Joe has a wide gap, so WWE had the ability to put the latter in a big-time spot.

Even before the Reigns match, WWE made Samoa Joe into a credible heel by having him attack a WrestleMania 31 champion and the man who had been working with Triple H, of all people. Even though it ended in injury, that has to mean something toward making him into a star. If anything, the unfortunate events of Rollins going down actually helped Joe’s character by showing that he can and will hurt those that are in his way. Doing this to one of the top players in WWE adds to it.

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To top it off, Joe is one helluva promo, which has been the case throughout his wrestling career in ROH, TNA, and NXT. He can cut a vicious heel speech, putting fire and passion into his words when necessary. He did so during the opening segment of Raw.

More of this will make Joe look dominant. Strowman can speak, but he’s not in the same stratosphere with the former two-time NXT champion when it comes to this.

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Samoa Joe is the Destroyer that WWE Raw is in need of, someone who’s going to run rampant over the roster. The past two weeks have been a positive start for this, which will only continue as we near WrestleMania 33.

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