Is Samoa Joe the new Bray Wyatt?
At WWE Elimination Chamber 2019, Samoa Joe squared off against The 'New' Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton, AJ Styles and Kofi Kingston in an Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship. Despite all his power and menace, it was Samoa Joe who was the first man to be eliminated in the match. However, the booking here should not be surprising for the regular viewers. This has been the theme in the rivalries in which Samoa Joe has been involved in for the past 18 months, maybe more than that.
Samoa Joe is, undoubtedly, one of the best wrestlers in the WWE. His acrobats, which have defied the perceptions we have from wrestlers of this size, may have slowed down from his days in the TNA and Ring of Honor. However, he is still a mind-boggling athlete. His promo skills and heel work have been unparalleled for a lengthy period of time. Simply put, he has all the ingredients to be the biggest heel in the WWE, or at the very least, a worthy champion.
However, since his main roster debut in January 2017, Samoa Joe has not won a single Championship. Despite headlining multiple pay-per-views and being part of WWE Championship as well as Universal Championship feuds for months, and despite his terrific heel work and promo skills, he has just not managed to win enough matches in the main roster and has almost always come out as the loser in every feud he has been involved in.
His credibility has especially suffered during the WWE Championship feud with the then champion, AJ Styles that spanned from July 2018 to November 2018. The rivalry was built up to be extremely personal between two former friends. However, at the end of this long feud, Samoa Joe could not topple 'The Phenomenal One', despite several attempts.
This trajectory is reminiscent of the one followed by the 'The Eater of Worlds' Bray Wyatt, who always delivered promos filled with words aimed at instilling fear in the minds of this opponents. However, when it all came down to the action in the ring, at the culmination of the rivalry, it was Bray Wyatt who came out to be the loser. After years of the same booking trends, Bray Wyatt completely lost his credibility, which could not be salvaged despite his alliance with the 'Broken' Matt Hardy. He has not been seen in WWE TV since July 2018.
The WWE Creative team needs to take some corrective measures with Samoa Joe to avoid a similar fate. Simply put, he has to 'walk the talk' and start winning some matches to continue his credibility as a heel on SmackDown Live. It could be argued that given his age, his booking decisions might be swayed towards giving the younger crop of wrestlers a push. However, given his levels of talent, he should not be restricted to be a helping hand.
How do you think Samoa Joe should be booked on the road to WrestleMania? Have your say in the comments section below.