WWE Royal Rumble: Is Samoa Joe This Year’s Sleeper?

With the WWE Royal Rumble only weeks away, there’s already talk about who could pick up the win and punch their ticket to WrestleMania. While several superstars look like valid candidates, not enough people are looking at one dangerous one who came close to winning the WWE Championship on more than one occasion in 2018. Could Samoa Joe be poised to win the 2019 Men’s Royal Rumble?

While many fans are looking at potential favorites for the Men’s WWE Royal Rumble like Drew McIntyre or Finn Balor, there’s someone who has been woefully overlooked. Once known as “The Samoan Submission Machine,” few men instill the immediate sense of dread into opponents that Samoa Joe can. Looking back at his past, it’s easy to understand why Samoa Joe would drip dominance everywhere he goes.

A Golden Past

While he’s yet to capture championship gold on the main roster, fans need look no further than Joe’s resume to see what he’s capable of. Samoa Joe made his in-ring debut all the way back in December of 1999. That means he’s approaching 20 years of experience, and it’s experience that included utter dominance outside of WWE.

Samoa Joe joined Ring of Honor early in the promotions existence, and quickly shot up the ranks to become the ROH Champion. To this day, his record-setting reign remains untouched. For 645 days, Samoa Joe was the top dog in Ring of Honor. In today’s industry that record might come with questions about the quality of his challengers. It’s not hard for fans to see Brock Lesnar’s 504-day reign as WWE Universal Champion and think of how few times he defended the belt, but Samoa Joe was a fighting champion.

During his reign, Samoa Joe successfully defended his title against Colt Cabana, Matt Stryker, Tom Carter, Doug Williams, Zebra Kid, Homicide, Danny Maff, Paul London, BJ Whitmer, Christopher Daniels, Jay Briscoe, AJ Styles, Mark Briscoe, Balls Mahoney, Low Ki, Shinya Makabe, Trent Acid, Bryan Danielson, Rocky Romero, Chris Hero, and CM Punk.

Samoa Joe also spent a decade as one of the top stars in TNA and became a 2-time TNA World Tag Team Champion, TNA Television Champion, 5-time TNA X-Division Champion, and TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Most of that happened during TNA’s best years, meaning he had rivals like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and even Kurt Angle to deal with.

After signing with WWE in 2015, Samoa Joe started his tenure in NXT. His first big win came after partnering with then-NXT Champion Finn Balor to win the inaugural Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. It showed fans what Joe could do inside the ring, but the real danger is what Samoa Joe can do outside the ring.

Only a few weeks after winning, Joe viciously assaulted Finn Balor and began his quest for the NXT Championship. Samoa Joe went on to become the first ever 2-time NXT Champion, and carried the confidence and bravado of those accomplishments with him to the main roster.

Losing Momentum

Once debuting on the main roster in early 2017, Samoa Joe positioned himself as Triple H’s devastating enforcer. Triple H had referred to himself as “The Creator” around that time, and Samoa Joe was introduced as “The Destroyer.” He targeted Seth Rollins and began to rise through the ranks, and competed in a vicious Fatal 5-Way Extreme Rules Match and earning the right to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship by defeating Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Bray Wyatt.

Samoa Joe came up short in his first attempt, but later leveraged his way into another title shot at SummerSlam 2017. Prior to the event, Joe had faced Roman Reigns to determine Brock Lesnar’s challenger at SummerSlam. Their match was interrupted by Braun Strowman, which led then-General Manager Kurt Angle to announce a Fatal 4-Way for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam.

Samoa Joe came up short again, and suffered a knee injury at a house show shortly after that. This put Joe on the shelf for a few months and essentially tamped down all of the momentum he’d built throughout the year. He returned in October, but only got a few more months of action before succumbing to a foot injury in early 2018. It wasn’t until Joe moved to SmackDown Live during the post-WrestleMania 34 Superstar Shake-Up that he got a foothold in the title picture once again.

Targeting his long-time TNA rival and then-WWE Champion AJ Styles, Samoa Joe went on the warpath. Nothing was off-limits in the quest to become champion, even AJ’s family. Joe was willing to do anything and say anything to get in the mind of AJ Styles, but unfortunately it never quite got the job done. Despite four separate championship opportunities, Joe was never able to capture the WWE Championship.

Looking For His “Fresh Start”

After reportedly being spotted with a walking boot and dealing with an “undisclosed injury” back in October, Samoa Joe seems to have finished recovering from nagging injuries and has been making his mark once again on SmackDown Live by targeting Jeff Hardy. After defeating Jeff again on the New Year’s Day edition of SmackDown Live, Joe failed to win the subsequent Fatal 5-Way to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship.

Once again, Samoa Joe is left looking for a path to gold. He’s in dire need of momentum, and there is perhaps no better way to build momentum than to win the Royal Rumble. With his 40th birthday looming in March, even a dominant competitor like Samoa Joe has to know he’s coming to the twilight of his career. He’s only got so many years left, which makes the 2019 Men’s Royal Rumble that much more important. With a win, Joe would punch his ticket to WrestleMania 35 and be poised to become a world champion on his own terms.

Should Samoa Joe make it happen, there’s still the question of who he would challenge. The WWE Championship could be in the hands of Daniel Bryan or AJ Styles after the Rumble, both of whom are competitors Joe knows very well. While Joe could target either of these technically gifted talents, he could also turn his attention to a powerhouse from Monday Night Raw. After the Rumble, the Universal Championship will be the possession of either Brock Lesnar or Braun Strowman.

While Samoa Joe has failed to defeat AJ Styles in WWE, he’s proven many times over the years that he can make it happen. The same can be said for Daniel Bryan, who Joe defeated prior to coming to WWE. Brock Lesnar still has the allure of being the nearly untouchable champion, and Joe would certainly love to be the one to knock him off the mountain. If Braun Strowman is the man to knock Brock off the mountain, he’d inherit that same allure as Joe would love to end Strowman’s time on top before it really got rolling.

Whether it’s AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, or some other competitor who captures a title prior to WrestleMania 35, there are plenty of intriguing matches for Joe should he win the Royal Rumble. He might not be the favorite, but if you’ve forgotten about what Samoa Joe can do, you need to remind yourself between now and January 27, 2019. Don’t sleep on Samoa Joe, because a well-timed Coquina Clutch can make any man in the Men’s WWE Royal Rumble an easy elimination for “The Destroyer.”