Preserving Samoa Joe’s reputation should be a priority for WWE

It’s been a humbling few weeks for Samoa Joe. The Destroyer is still delivering some of the best promos and matches on any WWE show, but all his recent losses are slowly damaging his credibility.

There’s no denying Samoa Joe is World Champion material in WWE. He has the full package: great in-ring ability, tons of experience, a devastating moveset with a well-protected finisher, believability, a unique look, and strong promos. Even more, he’s easily one of the most engaging heel characters on the main roster.

With all of that said, it’s hard to understand why WWE won’t give him a dominant run like the one he enjoyed with Ring of Honor, or even in NXT.

Joe is one of the few antagonists on WWE programming who can be genuinely intimidating. When the six-foot-two Samoan Submission Machine tells someone that he can and will put them to sleep, we believe him. His promos don’t feel like just trash talk because you know he can back it up. It’s one of his strongest attributes and it sets him apart from anyone else on the roster.

Unfortunately, that’s becoming a moot point because Joe loses so much. More importantly, he seems to lose in such an uneventful way. It hasn’t done irreparable damage to his character yet, but at this rate, it inevitably will.

If you look at his last four matches in a vacuum, why would you take him seriously? He jumped the WWE Champion, Kofi Kingston, and threatened him and his loved ones. Then he lost at Extreme Rules after getting hit with an abrupt Trouble in Paradise, which is slightly forgivable because Kofi has been a strong champion. However, the next day he won a throwaway match against Finn Balor, but was immediately humiliated by him after the match.

This week, he looked even worse. On Monday, he ran down the returning legends and Roman Reigns, but he looked like a coward when the latter challenged him. Then, unsurprisingly, he lost the ensuing match. On Tuesday, he faced Kofi in a non-title match, which he lost by disqualification when Randy Orton interfered. Joe then ate an RKO for his trouble and looked like a pawn to further Kofi and Orton’s feud.

If you just started watching WWE in the last two weeks, you would think Samoa Joe is a joke. Even if you’re a fan who watches consistently, this pattern is becoming incredibly predictable. Joe has been in several title programs and every time, he looks like the biggest threat to the champion’s reign.

Moreover, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he is often the more entertaining competitor in the feud either. He was certainly more interesting than AJ Styles and Brock Lesnar during their respective showdowns, but he still loses every time. He has lost eight televised World title matches in the last two years.

Even when he won a mid-card title – the United States Championship – earlier this year, WWE cut his reign short twice. The title seemed perfect for him because no one has had a meaningful reign with it in about two years. Joe could’ve been a dominant champion worth challenging, but the company ultimately undercut his momentum again.

If you’re reading this and thinking he’s supposed to lose, you’re right. Of course, he is the bad guy and he should always get his comeuppance. The problem is his credibility is never built back up afterward. Joe can still generate heat and effectively raise his opponent’s profile. But if he loses all the time, it will no longer feel special when a popular face overcomes him.

Think about it this way. Brock Lesnar is billed as an unbeatable monster heel. He can take a loss every now and then, but WWE will always let him keep his mystique. That’s why he’s still a draw, whether most fans like him or not. That’s also why it’s so easy to put the Universal Championship back on him and build new feuds around him.

Honestly, part of the reason why Seth Rollins reign as champion felt underwhelming is that creative didn’t take the time to build up a proper antagonist like Samoa Joe for him to face. Kofi’s reign has been well received but they had to turn Kevin Owens and bring back Dolph Ziggler to disguise the fact that the list of credible heels is surprisingly short.

This is even more reason why WWE should stop using Samoa Joe to boost other’s momentum and position him as someone to be feared. That doesn’t mean he needs to win all the time but wins and losses do matter long term. If they don’t protect him, he will become yet another ineffective heel. That’s not only the last thing they need right now, but it’s also a colossal waste of talent.