Joe Watch 2K15

Big Joe doin' thangs (the best of the forgotten No Limit Records albums)
Photo Credit: WWE.com

The continuing travels of Samoa Joe remain one of the most fascinating series of events in wrestling right. Since leaving TNA, he's gone on a whirlwind tour of the indies, returned home to Ring of Honor for a brief but triumphant sojourn, debuted on NXT at Takeover: Unstoppable, remained scheduled for ROH and the indies well into summer on an unprecedented-for-a-guy-like-him true independent contractor deal, wrestled a dark match with Tyson Kidd (where Kidd got hurt), and then allegedly signed an exclusive deal with WWE at the behest of Vince McMahon, apparently the only person in the world shocked that Joe's NXT-branded merchandise sold like fucking hotcakes. The promise and aura that surrounded him when he first left the indie scene and arrived in TNA (that was slowly sapped away once Kurt Angle got there) seems to have returned, but where will it take him?

As fate would have it, Joe's next appearance with ROH, the television taping on June 20 where he will team with AJ Styles against Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian, is now being billed as his last. In addition to trolling the shit out of TNA with that matchup, being in the ring with three of his most famous rivals from the indies and TNA would be an awesome sendoff for him. It also is another big piece of evidence validating his exclusive deal with WWE, especially since reports are swirling around that WWE is trying to get ROH to remove that match from the television schedule and make it a special dark match main event. I would venture to say the reports can be considered as good as confirmed as of right now.

The troll-TNA tag match isn't the only huge bout Joe is scheduled to be involved in. While his Absolution X appearance sadly won't be against Vader, he will be thrust into a high-stakes ten-man tag match, joining Ethan Carter III, Zema Ion, Ray Rowe, and Matt Cross as the Guys from TV against an Absolute Intense Wrestling contingent of Johnny Gargano, Alex Daniels, Josh Prohibition, and the Young Bucks. That match will be, if nothing else, an insane car crash of a spotfest, and honestly, along with Tim Donst/Nick Gage and Vader's appearance, it's making me want to buy my first AIW show in three years. Of course, everyone with a WWE Network subscription can see Joe tonight as he makes his in-ring debut in WWE. Strangely enough at this point, him wrestling in a NXT ring is the least interesting thing about him right now. Funny how wrestling works sometimes.