AEW's Samoa Joe Opens Up About Being On The 'Ground Floor' Of ROH & TNA

It's hard to have a more well traveled career than Samoa Joe. The former Ring of Honor, TNA, NXT, and AEW World Champion has been everywhere throughout his nearly twenty five year career, whether it be the aforementioned promotions, or even trips to Japan, Mexico, and the UK in between. And often, Joe has found himself coming in on the ground floor so to speak with these promotions, and becoming a focal part of their subsequent growth.

Speaking at Terrificon this past weekend, Joe discussed being a performer who was important to the early success of promotions, specifically Ring of Honor and TNA, and how he looks at that as a huge blessing.

"I started in ROH, creating something out of, essentially, taking the best guys in the Northeast that just weren't getting opportunities, and creating something there," Joe said. "And then we go to TNA, where we've got more talent from the south, from the north, from the west, from everywhere, kind of converging on a promotion and building out a brand new competitor in the field, which was awesome...But yeah, that's always something I've been fortunate, and I say fortunate, because those are special times in companies.

"Being there for the building is such an awesome time to be there, because you work directly affects...the success is seen. If you don't put together matches and it doesn't work, you feel in your pocket book, cause the fans just don't show up. We've been fortunate enough that when it came to ROH, when it came to TNA, when it came to NXT, I was able to help, along with other great talent, just build out these new brands and bring new things to the world of professional wrestling. And I'm eternally thankful for that."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription