The TNA World Heavyweight Champion Samoa Joe will kill you. But the TNA Impact Wrestler Showcase will just break your freaking neck.

Welcome to the 3rd and final week of our non-stop exclusive coverage of TNA Impact. We have a busy week of coverage scheduled for you and you wont want to miss one single update. Next week we will have the final 3 wrestlers on the roster plus we will have our extensive review of the game so be sure to check back here at Gamingring.com for all of the exclusive coverage. For those of you who want to catch up on TNA Impact all of the coverage for TNA Impact can be found by clicking here. There you will find exclusive hands on previews, screens, videos and interviews with both Midway and TNA Superstars. Also you can join in on the discussion in the official Gamingring TNA Wrestler Showcase thread in the Gamingring forums. To register its absolutely free to signup. Official Gamingring TNA Wrestler Showcase Thread

Joe Seanoa (born March 17, 1979) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Samoa Joe. He is currently competing for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is the current TNA World Heavyweight Champion.

Before debuting in TNA in June 2005, Samoa Joe competed in the Ring of Honor independent promotion, where he held the ROH World Heavyweight Championship for a record 21 months. Upon joining TNA, Samoa Joe embarked upon an eighteen month-long undefeated streak in which he never lost a match by pinfall or submission.

On June 14, 2005, Samoa Joe was announced as having signed a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He made his official debut five days later at the Slammiversary pay-per-view, defeating Sonjay Dutt in a match that saw him dubbed “The Samoan Submission Machine” by announcer Mike Tenay.

Samoa Joe was a participant in the Christopher Daniels Invitational Super X Cup, defeating Sonjay Dutt and Alex Shelley to advance to the tournament finals at Sacrifice. Samoa Joe won the tournament by defeating A.J. Styles, but only with help from Daniels.

As a result of Daniels’ interference, however, TNA Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko made Daniels defend his X Division Championship in a three-way match aganist both Joe and Styles. This marked Joe’s first title shot in the company, though Styles was booked to win the match. Joe’s undefeated streak was still officially intact, as it was Daniels that had been pinned, not Joe. This match is to date the only match in TNA’s history to receive a rating of five stars from Dave Meltzer.

At Genesis 2005 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 the victory by Daniels and Samoa Joe (Shelley and Strong were eliminated earlier in the match), Samoa Joe viciously attacked Daniels, beating Daniels around the ringside area until he had busted him open. He then threw Daniels into the ring, and delivered a Muscle Buster. Joe then went out to grab a steel chair from ringside and brought it into the ring, after which he gave Daniels a second Muscle Buster, this time onto the chair, supposedly giving Daniels a level-3 concussion.

In response to these actions, Styles called Joe out on an episode of TNA Impact!, saying his attack of Daniels violated an unwritten code of respect in the X Division. Prior to Turning Point 2005, Samoa Joe attacked Styles, saying he did 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). Samoa Joe defeated Styles at Turning Point and won the X Division Championship. Joe could injure Styles, however, Daniels came out and stopped him.

Daniels was later slated to face Samoa Joe at Final Resolution 2006 for the X Division Championship. During the build-up to the match, Samoa Joe stated that he intended to end Daniels’ career. During the match, Styles came 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’ head. Styles, concerned about Daniels’ health, signaled for the match to be stopped by throwing in the towel, allowing Samoa Joe to retain the X Division title. Joe proceeded to win rematch of the three-way at Unbreakable, thus retaining his title..

This three-way feud continued until Destination X, when he lost the title to Daniels in an Ultimate X match, a match in which there is no pinfall or submission, thus keeping his undefeated streak.

Samoa Joe was then taken out of the X Division, and matched with an initially unannounced opponent. On the March 25 edition of Impact!, it was announced that he would take on Sabu at Lockdown 2006. Despite that, he still had a scheduled X Division title match, and, on April 13, 2006’s Impact! (TNA’s Thursday debut), Samoa Joe regained the X Division title after delivering an Island Driver from the middle turnbuckle to Christopher Daniels. Samoa Joe then successfully defended his X Division title against Sabu at Lockdown.

At Sacrifice, Samoa Joe partnered with Sting in a tag team match against Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner. Samoa Joe and Sting were victorious, but after the match, Samoa Joe left the ring and allowed Sting to be attacked. Samoa Joe explained this 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. Samoa Joe added Scott Steiner to his undefeated streak, at Slammiversary 2006.

During the Impact! tapings on May 15, Samoa 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. Samoa Joe would remain out of action for two weeks.
On the June 22 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 Steiner laid out Samoa Joe with a steel chair.

Samoa Joe would have his chance at revenge when he participated in a four-way number one contender match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship along with Sting, Christian Cage, and Scott Steiner at Victory Road 2006 on July 16. Samoa Joe lost this match when Sting pinned Steiner.

Samoa Joe beat Jeff Jarrett at No Surrender 2006 in a “Fan’s Revenge Lumberjack Match”. After the match, he took Jarrett’s NWA World Heavyweight Championship with him, telling Jim Cornette that if Jarrett or Sting (Jarrett’s scheduled opponent at Bound For Glory) wanted the belt, they could take it from him.

On the October 12 episode, Samoa Joe agreed to return the belt to the Jarrett-Sting winner under one condition – the winner had to agree to give him a title shot. This offer was turned down, and finally Samoa Joe was given the choice of giving back the title or be fired. Kurt Angle would make his debut and get into a brawl with Samoa Joe after he again refused to give back the belt, and during the brawl, Jarrett took the belt back.

At Bound for Glory 2006 on October 22, Samoa Joe defeated Raven, Brother Runt and Abyss in a Monster’s Ball match. The match ended when special referee Jake Roberts DDTed Raven, allowing Samoa Joe to deliver the Muscle Buster to Raven for the pinfall. Later in the night, Samoa Joe was involved in a pull-apart brawl with Kurt Angle after Jim Cornette announced that he would be fired if he interfered in the main event match that involved Angle as special enforcer.

Samoa Joe faced at Genesis 2006, where he would lose to Kurt Angle after tapping out to Angle’s ankle lock. This would end his eighteen month undefeated streak.

Throughout the rest of 2006 into 2007, Samoa Joe continued to feud with Angle picking up a victory by submission in their rematch at TNA Turning Point 2006 before suffering a legitimate knee injury in a tag team match that pitted Rhino and Kurt Angle against Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles.

On January 14, 2007 at Final Resolution, Samoa Joe faced Angle in a thirty minute Iron Man match. With seconds remaining, Samoa Joe had Angle in the ankle lock. Although Angle tapped out, he did so just after time had expired. As a result, Angle won the match three falls to two.

On the February 14 edition of Impact!, Samoa Joe won a gauntlet match to become the number one contender to Christian Cage’s NWA World Heavyweight Championship at Destination X. Samoa Joe lost to Cage after Cage reversed the Coquina Clutch into a pinning combination and used the ropes for leverage.

Samoa Joe was a member of the victorious Team Angle in a Lethal Lockdown match at Lockdown 2007.

On the May 24, 2007 edition of Impact!, Samoa Joe qualified for the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary by defeating Sting with a Samoan drop after Christopher Daniels hit Sting with a baseball bat; Samoa Joe lost the King of the Mountain match when Kurt Angle hung the belt. He would then qualify to compete in the Match of Champions at Victory Road by defeating Jay Lethal and Chris Sabin for the X Division title on the July 12 episode of iMPACT!

At the Match of Champions, Samoa Joe scored the winning pinfall on Brother Ray after Kurt Angle hit the Angle Slam and won the TNA World Tag Team Championships from Team 3D, making him the first wrestler in TNA to hold multiple TNA championships.

He later opted to hold both the titles by himself. At Hard Justice, Samoa Joe put up the X Division title and both Tag Team titles against Kurt Angle’s TNA World title as well as the IWGP World Championship (Third Belt). However, Samoa Joe lost all his titles thanks to interferences by Karen Angle, enabling Kurt to become the second TNA Triple Crown Champion. Samoa Joe became the first man to defeat Christian Cage by pinfall or submission in TNA, forcing him tap out to the Coquina Clutch at Bound for Glory, thus ending Cage’s twenty-three month undefeated streak by pinfall or submission in TNA.

Samoa Joe was then announced as the teammate of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in their match against The Angle Alliance at Turning Point. However, Hall no-showed the event. Before the match, Samoa Joe was asked to cut a promo alleviating heat from the company and introducing Eric Young as Hall’s replacement. Samoa Joe went five minutes overtime and ranted against Hall, Nash and some other superstars, which legitimately upset Nash and TNA President Dixie Carter at ringside. Before calling Young to come to the ring he told the TNA ringside staff, “Are you mad? Go ahead, fire me, I don’t care.” Samoa Joe, Nash and Young defeated the Angle Alliance when Samoa Joe pinned Tomko after a Muscle Buster. After the match, Samoa Joe and Nash briefly argued and shoved one another backstage, with Samoa Joe apologizing at a talent meeting the following day. In kayfabe, though, Samoa Joe continued to direct his frustration towards TNA management, going as far as to trash a Christmas party organized by Matt Morgan.

After kayfabe complaining to Jim Cornette that he didn’t have a match at Final Resolution, Cornette decided to team Samoa Joe with Kevin Nash, who was to receive a title shot with Scott Hall when he returned. At Final Resolution, Samoa Joe, along with his tag team partner Kevin Nash lost to the team of A.J. Styles and Tomko. This occurred after Nash refused to tag himself into the match leaving Samoa Joe to fend for himself. In addition, Nash “flipped off” Samoa Joe whilst leaving the ringside area. After Nash had screwed Joe at Final Resolution, Nash told Joe he was teaching him a lesson about the wrestling business and told Samoa Joe he could help him to the top if he followed his direction. On the January 24 edition of Impact!, Samoa Joe went on a rampage, attacking several TNA employees, culminating in his attacking of J.B. after being announced as the MVP of 2007.

For months, Samoa Joe was said to be unhappy with his spot in TNA and that he was considering not renewing his contract. TNA used that Internet rumor into an angle, where Cornette tried to sign him into a new contract, but every week the signature was interrupted. At Against All Odds, Samoa Joe served as the special enforcer for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship match where Kurt Angle defended his title against challenger Christian Cage. During the contest, A.J. Styles interfered and Samoa Joe fought Styles to the back, but Tomko came out and attacked Cage giving Angle the win. On the February 14 edition of Impact, Samoa Joe formed an alliance with Cage and Kevin Nash, to compete with Kurt Angle’s Angle Alliance. It was also announced that Samoa Joe would be given the next TNA World Heavyweight Championship opportunity against Angle. Over the next few weeks Samoa Joe and his new found alliance would attack the Angle Alliance leading up to their match at Destination X. Samoa Joe vowed that he would eliminate the Angle Alliance so he would receive a fair title match with Kurt Angle at Lockdown. On the March 6 edition of Impact!, Samoa Joe, Christian, and Nash would face a member of the Angle Alliance to determine who would get a five minute advantage during their match at Destination X. Joe lost his First Blood match to Tomko, but Nash defeated Styles in a Street Fight while Cage defeated Angle in a Six Sides of Steel match. Samoa Joe’s team won the match when he made Tomko tap out to the Coquina Clutch. Achieving his goal to eliminate the Angle Alliance, nothing now stood in the way of Samoa Joe getting a fair title shot at Lockdown.

At Lockdown, Samoa Joe defeated Kurt Angle with a Muscle Buster to win his first TNA World Championship and become TNA’s third Triple Crown Champion. The stipulation of the match was if Samoa Joe had lost, he would have had to retire from professional wrestling. He successfully defeated Kurt Angle in a rematch on iMPACT! and then retained against Scott Steiner and Kaz at Sacrifice. At Slammiversary, Samoa Joe became the first champion to ever retain his title in a King of the Mountain match, where he defeated Robert Roode, Booker T, Christian Cage and Rhino. Samoa Joe was then challenged to a match by Booker T at Victory Road, which he accepted. At Victory Road the match went to a No Contest when Sting hit Samoa Joe with a baseball bat and Booker pinned him while Sharmell made the three count. At Hard Justice, Samoa Joe defeated Booker after a guitar shot, thus reclaiming physical possession of the title belt, which Booker had kept after Victory Road.At Hard Justice Samoa Won Back His World Heavyweight Championship After He Pinned Booker T.

Samoa Joe

Height: 6′2″ | Weight: 290 pounds
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Finishing Move: Muscle Buster

 

If you would like to discuss this article with over 40,000 other registered members feel free to do so by joining the Gamingring.com forums. Its fast, free and easy to do so.

 

Tags: samoa joe will kill you, TNA Impact, wrestler showcase

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 6th, 2008 at 1:30 am and is filed under PS2, PS3, Top Story, Wii, Xbox 360. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.