Former AEW World Champion Samoa Joe has addressed whether he had to work harder to prove himself to Vince McMahon after joining WWE following a successful career in TNA and on the independent circuit.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Joe dismissed the idea that he faced any extra hurdles, stating that McMahon and WWE executives treated him with respect and understood the value he brought to the company.
“No, they were respectful of me. Listen, I think Vince understood who I was and what I brought to the show,” Joe explained.
However, he acknowledged that WWE prioritises its own homegrown talent, a stance he sees as understandable.
“If anything, though, and I understand this, you want your own creations to do the best. You want your own things that you’ve invested time, money, and effort into to kind of go to the forefront. I’ve never faulted anybody for that.”
Despite this, Joe made it clear that he was never willing to hold back his own performance for the sake of others.
“I’m never going to be less so somebody else could be more. I’m going to be the most me I can be. If you compete with me, and you’re up there with me, you’re going to look great. If you stay up here, this watermark with me, you’re going to look fantastic. But if you don’t, I’m not gonna slow my game up just to make the segment work.”
Joe currently competes for AEW, having debuted in the promotion in 2022, and he currently is a member of the trio consisting of himself, Hook, and Katsuyori Shibata, known as The Opps.
What Did Samoa Joe Say Was The Biggest Regret Of His Wrestling Career?
Samoa Joe spoke about the biggest regret of his wrestling career and said that the dark match at a WWE Superstars taping in June 2015, where he wrestled Tyson Kidd and delivered his former signature move, the muscle buster, which left Kidd with a serious neck injury and forced him to retire from wrestling. Joe expressed deep regret over the unintentional ending of Kidd’s wrestling career and said that he would not be bringing back the muscle buster due to the injury.
In other AEW news, the reason for a delayed Chris Jericho announcement was revealed.
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