"Such a rarity" - Former WWE United States Champion recalls 60-minute classic with AEW star CM Punk
AEW star Samoa Joe recently took a trip down memory lane to talk about his legendary trilogy of matches with CM Punk in ROH.
In 2004-05, The Destroyer was having the time of his life as he held the ROH World Championship for a record-setting 21 months. During his illustrious reign, Joe defended the title against some of the best generational superstars to set foot in the promotion. Chief among them was CM Punk.
The two engaged in a series of matches that fans still talk about almost two decades later. Their first two bouts resulted in 60-minute time-limit draws.
Speaking on the latest edition of AEW Unrestricted, The Samoan Submission Machine went into detail about the challenges of putting on 60-minute battles while keeping fans enthralled until the end:
"The biggest difficulty is kind of getting over the mental stigma," Joe said. "I know, for me, you think, 'Oh man, it's just, it's hard to really go those lengths and to keep the crowd engaged and keep everything going.' That's the biggest thing, and then once you're in there, and it's funny, I think after the 15-minute mark, your body kind of falls into a rhythm. Mentally you fall into a rhythm, you're locked in, at least for me."
The former NXT Champion added that he relished facing CM Punk in one of the rarest matches in ROH history:
"So it was something that kind of was lost with the annals of time and television, to be able to kind of do that and 60-minute match or have that much time in the modern era was such a rarity and such a cool experience and there were fun matches," he added. (H/T: Fightful)
Samoa Joe returns. The painful memories intensify in CM Punk’s Brain - ROH (10.16.2004) https://t.co/QuSoWxPyMN
After no decisive winner emerged with two consecutive time-limit-draws, Joe and Punk eventually concluded their epic rivalry in a no-time-limit stipulation match at All-Star Extravaganza 2.
The third chapter of the saga between the two men ended with Samoa Joe defeating CM Punk to retain his ROH World Title.
Samoa Joe is optimistic about potentially facing CM Punk again
I need this one last time @CMPunk @SamoaJoe @ringofhonor @AEW @TonyKhan https://t.co/DvcBVahHVq
Having last stepped into the ring together in December 2005, Samoa Joe is once again working under the same roof as CM Punk. From the moment Joe debuted at Supercard of Honor last month, many fans have been wondering if the two would reignite their historic rivalry.
The Samoan Submission Machine recently affirmed that the two frenemies could revisit their long-standing issues in AEW:
"I mean, obviously me and Punk have been skirting around this issue for a while, and I think we can get it settled," Joe said.
It's worth recalling that The Straight Edge Superstar never defeated Joe in a singles competition. With Punk's story of avenging his loss brewing for years, the company could look to revisit the feud down the road.
Do you want to see Samoa Joe face CM Punk again? Sound off in the comments section below.