AEW's Samoa Joe Looks Back On Time In WWE's NXT

Samoa Joe's run in WWE was eventful, to say the least. He was involved in one of the shortest matches in WrestleMania history with Rey Mysterio, won the "NXT" Championship three times but was only beaten for it twice, and has the distinction of being fired twice in one year, with the second leading to him eventually joining AEW in 2022.

His "NXT" Championship victories were unique in their own way, particularly his first as he dethroned Finn Balor at an "NXT" live event in 2016 while the two men feuded on TV. During a recent Q&A session at Terrificon, Joe believes the decision to have him win at a live event was a genius move.

"I thought it was one of the most brilliant things that we did," Joe said. "When you're building a new brand and an imprint like we were in 'NXT,' you know a major thing is we want people to come to our live events. We were running live events around the nation, and if you knew if you showed up to an 'NXT' live event that a world title could change hands, I mean it just makes that event so much more exciting. So much more fan interactive, so much more better that you know, potentially on one night, any given Sunday, you could see something amazing happen."

Ironically, as much as Joe loved the idea of winning the title at a live event, his second reign with the title would come to an end at another live event, being dethroned by Shinsuke Nakamura in Osaka, Japan. The only difference was that Nakamura's victory was broadcast on the WWE Network.

Please credit the original source when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.