Samoe Joe Details The Idea Behind New AEW World Championship Design

AEW World Champion Samoa Joe will be defending his title this week on "AEW Dynamite" against HOOK, and they'll be vying for a newly-designed title, created specifically for Joe, who defeated MJF for the belt at Worlds End. He initially debuted the title on last week's "Dynamite." The title has a black strap rather than a brown one. The main plate of the title remains the same, but there are custom nameplates on the sides specifically created for the champion. Joe recently spoke with Sports Illustrated about the newly designed title and what it means to him.

"That was done on my behalf, and it is a wonderful piece of gold from the Khan family," said Joe. "It's not going anywhere for a long time, so that's to let everyone know who the champion is." Joe will face HOOK after the 24-year-old challenged him in a promo video on the January 6 "AEW Collision." On last week's "Dynamite," when Joe was addressing future challengers to his championship, he was confronted by not only Swerve Strickland and "Hangman" Adam Page, but HOOK. The young star came out and told Joe their match would be the following week. Even though HOOK has a 28-1 record in AEW, Joe does not plan on losing his newly-designed title any time soon.

"It's my championship belt under my reign, so it needed to reflect my values," Joe explained. "The belt was very fancy-looking before. My belt belongs among kings and queens, not looking like it's going to be paraded around the Hamptons on the weekend."