Spotlight on Samoa Joe
Joe Seanoa has been associated with entertainment for most of his life. His family founded the Polynesian Dance Troop in the United State Tiare Productions. The group was well known and performed at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, CA. At the young age of five, Joe made his stage debut at this event in front of a capacity crowd. Constantly on the road, Joe saw the entire United States and many parts of the world before he became 13. As an early teen, he was the California State Junior Judo champion and excelled as an all-league football player in high school.
Seanoa grew up as a casual fan of professional wrestling, citing "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson and former American Wrestling Association (AWA) World and Triple Crown champion Tomomi "Jumbo" Tsuruta as his inspirations. Seanoa began training for a career in professional wrestling in September 1999 when he enrolled at the United Independent Wrestling Alliance (UIWA) West Coast Dojo, where Johnny Hemp and Cincinnati Red trained him. Seanoa was the first graduate of the dojo. Three months after he began training, he had his first match against the masked Uncle Jess Hansen.
Seanoa got the name Samoa Joe due to the fact that there was another trainee at the dojo named Joe. Joe was jokingly referred to as Samoa Joe, not to get confused with the other Joe. So that's how Joe was christened Samoa Joe.
Throughout the California indy scene, Joe found himself in the ring, quite often, with one of his trainers, Cincinnati Red. Because of these series of matches, Joe opened the eyes of those in charge of Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW), based in California and run by Rick Bassman. Bassman's biggest claim to fame was managing the The Blade Runners, who would later go on to be known as The Ultimate Warrior and Sting. Joe split his time competing for both UPW and UIWA.
It took Joe less than year after making his debut to win his first championship. In UIWA, Joe had been teaming with Foob Dogg as The Island Syndicate. UIWA held a four-team tournament to crown new UIWA Tag Team champions on November 4, 2000. The Island Syndicate defeat The Haystacks in the finals of the tournament in West Hills, CA. The Island Syndicate had a long reign and held the titles until dropping them to Mace & Furious George on March 16, 2001 in Port Hueneme, CA. UIWA would cease operations in April of 2001.
Once UIWA was slowly fading away, Joe was making a bigger impact in the singles division in UPW. For five months, "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels reigned as the UPW Heavyweight champion. His reign came to an end when he met with Joe in one of their first encounters on March 14, 2001. Joe walked out of Santa Ana, CA with the UPW Heavyweight Title.
As the UPW champion, Joe made a huge impact. For starters, he holds the UPW record as the longest reigning Heavyweight champion. And second, Joe had some major title defenses. On April 25, 2001, Joe successfully defended his UPW Title against the former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) World and Tag Team champion Tommy Dreamer. Then, on May 30, 2001 in Santa Ana, CA at The Galaxy Theatre, Joe retained his title with another major victory, this time over former World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Tag Team champion Sean O'Haire.
UPW often served as a portal for their talent to tour Zero-One in Japan. In fact, they have sent over 40 UPW wrestlers over to the Land of the Rising Sun. Joe competed in Zero-One as King Joe. On June 14, 2001, Joe competed in his first Zero-One event called "Shingeki." He teamed with recently released World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler Sakoda to become the first National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Intercontinental Tag Team champions when they beat Yuuki Ishikawa and Katsumi Usuda in Osaka, Japan. They ended up losing the titles shortly thereafter on July 9, 2001 to former ECW & NWA World champion Steve Corino and former NWA World champion "The Colorado Kid" Mike Rapada in Tokyo, Japan.
Joe had been brought in to work tapings for WWE when they produced their television shows in California. Joe was brought in to work dark matches and even battled former WWE Light heavyweight champion Essa Rios, now known as Mr. Augila, in a match taped for their syndicated show, Jakked/Metal.
Joe worked his first full tour for Zero-One in September 2001. He competed in the promotions first Fire Festival, which was a tournament based on points. On September 1, he lost to Kohei Sato in a Block B match in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Seven nights later, in Tokyo, Joe earned a victory over veteran George Takano in another Block B match. On the final night of the tour, on September 15, Joe defeated former ECW World & Tag Team champion Masato Tanaka in his final match of the festival. Joe finished with four points and the first WCW Cruiserweight champion, Shinjiro Ohtani, eventually won the Festival.
A California indy, All Pro Wrestling (APW), held an annual tournament, in the tradition of Jim Kettner's East Coast Wrestling Alliance (ECWA) Super 8 Tournament, known as The King of the Indies Tournament. The tournament took place over a span of two days on October 26 and 27. Joe competed in the first round, defeating current NWA:TNA X Division champion, Kazarian, in the first round. The next night, Joe lost to eventual finalist Low Ki.
Like in most instances, all good things must come to an end. As the longest reigning UPW champion ever, Joe finally lost the title to Mikey Henderson on November 27, 2001 in Hollywood, CA. Joe was wrestling sparingly for UPW after he lost the title.
Corino and Rapada ended up losing the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Titles to Shinjiro Ohtani and Ishikawa on July 12, 2001. Several months later, Ishikawa left Zero-One, thus resulting in the titles being vacated. On January 6, 2002, Zero-One ran a show called "Vast Energy" at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. At that show, Shinjiro Ohtani had a chance to reclaim the title he never lost, this time forming a team with Masato Tanaka. They teamed to face Joe and UPW regular Tom Howard in a match for the vacant titles. Tanaka used the Roaring Elbow on Joe to win the titles.
Zero-One held a PPV event on March 2, 2002 called "True Century Creation II" at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. Joe competed on the show, teaming with Tom Howard to defeat Steve Corino and Gary Steele when Howard pinned Steele. Joe competed on another tour of Zero-One the following month. On April 30, as part of the tour, Zero-One held the "Shinjiro Ohtani Tenth Anniversary Show" at the Yamaguchi Gymnasium. Joe lost to Steve Corino on the show. On the final night of the tour, on May 3, Joe got a victory over former Major League Wrestling (MLW) Tag Team champion CW Anderson at the Matsuyama City Community Center.
Joe returned as King Joe for yet another tour of Zero-One in July-August 2002. At that time, Zero-One held their annual Fire Festival Tour. On the first night of the tour, on July 28, King Joe got a victory over Kintaro Kanemura in a Block A match at the Tokyo Differ Ariake. Two nights later, Joe stepped into the ring against the first WWE Light heavyweight champion Taka Michinoku. In another Block A match, Michinoku walked away with the win at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium. The next night was a big night for Joe as he main evented his first Zero-One show. At Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Shinya Hashimoto, Kazuhiko Ogasawara & Ryouji Sai defeated The Predator, Tom Howard and King Joe when Hashimoto defeated Joe after a DDT. On the last two shows of the tour, Joe wasn't successful as he lost his two final Block A matches to Masato Tanaka and Shinjiro Ohtani on August 2 and August 4 respectively.
Joe saw his stock rise the more he competed for Zero-One. He competed more in Japan than he did in the United States. He stayed for another Zero-One tour, Improvement 2002, at the end of August 2002. He spent the entire tour teaming with The Samoan Savage. On the first night of the tour, on August 22 at the Gifu Industrial Hall, Joe & The Samoan Savage defeated Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Kuroge Wagyuta. The next night, at the Text Port Imabari, Joe & The Samoan Savage beat Masato Tanaka & Kohei Sato. After two huge victories, Joe & The Samoan Savage got a shot at the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Titles on August 24, 2002. Unfortunately, they fell to the champs Masato Tanaka & Shinjiro Ohtani when Ohtani got yet another win over Joe. Joe & The Samoan Savage finished the tour 3-1 when they beat Steve Corino & David Young on the final night of the tour.
Those in power at RoH had taken a liking to Joe and his unique style that had taken the Japanese wrestling scene by storm. In his RoH debut, Joe was defeated by the first RoH champion, Low Ki. After competing in several more RoH shows, Joe faced and defeated The American Dragon on January 11, 2003, which was Joe's first singles victory in RoH, and certainly not his last.
Joe has been a fixture in RoH since his debut. Joe had won the fans over in the East Coast, considering Joe had not competed on that side of the United States. On March 15, 2003, Joe defeated Homicide, EZ Money and BJ Whitmer to become the #1 Contender to Xavier's RoH Title. Seven nights later, Joe pulled double duty. In his first match of the night, Joe teamed with CW Anderson and Jack Victory to battled Homicide & Da Hit Squad to a no contest. Later that night, Joe defeated Xavier to claim the RoH Title and set fourth on a journey to be the most dominant RoH champion of all time.
As a true fighting champion, Joe took on all comers and knocked them down, one by one. Between April 12 and August 16, 2003, Joe faced and defeated such athletes as Matt Stryker, "Reckless Youth" Tom Carter, Colt Cabana, current RoH Pure Wrestling champion Doug Williams, Homicide, Dan Maff, current WWE Tag Team champion Paul London, BJ Whitmer, and CM Punk.
Due to his RoH commitments, Joe saw his tours of Zero-One decrease. In 2003, Joe competed for Zero-One in only one tour and that took place from August 23 to August 31, 2003 at "Summer Festival 2003." On the first night of the tour, at the Hiroshima Green Arena Small Arena, Shinya Hashimoto, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Katsuhisa Fujii defeated Steve Corino, King Adamo & King Joe when Hashimoto pinned Adamo. The next night at the Oita Prefectural Gymnasium, Shinya Hashimoto, Naoya Ogawa & Yoshiaki Fujiwara beat Steve Corino, The Predator & King Joe when Ogawa used an STO Bomber on Joe in the main event. Joe continued to main event Zero-One shows on this tour when he teamed with Steve Corino and CW Anderson to lose to Shinya Hashimoto, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Tengu Kaiser at the Yokkaichi Australia Memorial Hall. On August 29 at the Nagaoka Welfare Hall, Shinjiro Ohtani & Masato Tanaka defeated King Adamo & Joe when Tanaka got the win over Joe. On the final night of the tour at the Gifu Industrial Hall, King Adamo & Joe challenged the All Asia Tag Team champions Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi and lost.
On September 20, 2003, Joe retained his RoH Title against "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels in another hard fought title defense. Joe didn't just defend the RoH Title in the United States. On October 3, 2003, he traveled to Bad Schwalbach, Germany and retained his title against Ares. Joe squared off against Homicide, who he is currently feuding with as of this writing, on October 25, 2003. The match was a non-title "No Holds Barred" match that saw Joe lose his first RoH match since winning the title.
On November 29, 2003, Samoa Joe had one of his bigger challenges to his title take place. He defended the RoH Title against the former NWA World & X Division champion, as well as the first RoH Pure Wrestling champion, AJ Styles. After a hard fought match, Joe once again walked away as the RoH champion. RoH then held a joint show with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) on December 29, 2003. Some of the results saw C.M. Punk & Colt Cabana defeat Tomaoki Honma & Kazushi Miyamoto, AJ Styles defeat Kaz Hayashi, Satoshi Kojima defeat Homicide, and The Great Muta & Arashi defeat Christopher Daniels & Dan Maff in the main event. Joe also competed on the show, and even though he is the RoH champion, his match wasn't as high-profiled as the others just listed. Joe successfully retained his RoH Title against Marc Briscoe.
To ring in 2004, RoH held another joint show, this time with Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW), on January 9, 2004 in Woodbridge, NJ. Some results of the show saw former ECW World & WWE Intercontinental champion "The Franchise" Shane Douglas defeat another former ECW World champion, Justin Credible, JAPW champion Dan Maff defeat Slyk Wagner Brown by DQ, and Christopher Daniels defeat CM Punk, AJ Styles & John Walters in the main event. Joe defended and retained his title against the former five time, five time, five time, five time, five time...USA Pro champion, Balls Mahoney.
Joe tried his hand in RoH in tag team competition and wanted to gain the RoH Tag Team Titles to add to his collection. On January 10, 2004, Joe teamed with The American Dragon to challenge the RoH Tag Team champions, The Briscoe Brothers. The Briscoes retained the titles. Joe continued to pursue the Tag Team Titles, and this time enlisted the help of former ECW World champion Jerry Lynn. On January 29, 2004, The Briscoes, with the legendary Jim Cornette in their corner, retained their titles by defeating Joe & Lynn.
RoH held their second anniversary show on February 14 in Braintree, MA. The highlight of the night was the crowning of the first RoH Pure Wrestling champion, which was going to be almost on the same level as the RoH Title. AJ Styles defeated Jimmy Rave, Matt Stryker and CM Punk to win the title. Joe had a big match that night and defeated Low Ki, Dan Maff and BJ Whitmer in a 4 Corners Match to retain the gold.
In the month of March this year, Joe only made two RoH Title defenses. He returned to Germany, this time Lennestadt, on March 5 to face Ahmed Chaer in an unsanctioned international defense. Joe choked out Chaer to retain the title. On March 13, Joe defended the RoH Title against Jay Briscoe in a Cage Match in Elizabeth, NJ and retained it.
April saw Samoa Joe begin a violent feud against The Rottwielers, which is a faction consisting of Homicide and The Havana Pit Bulls: Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero. It all began on April 23, 2004 when Joe faced off against Homicide. The match ended in a DQ win for Joe, but it didn't end there. After the match, Homicide threw a fireball in Joe's face.
After a long wait, Samoa Joe finally made his USA Pro debut on May 14, 2004 in Queens, NY at The Amazura Concert Hall. He faced off against a man that is just as stiff as him and a man he is familiar with, Low Ki. In an event that saw many great matches, this one was no exception. After a stellar match that couldn't get any stiffer than it was even with the help of Viagra, Joe and Low Ki knocked each other out to end the match in a draw.
Back in RoH, Joe's rivalry with The Rottwielers grew. On May 15, 2004, Joe defended and retained his title against Ricky Reyes. Seven nights later, Joe had his rematch against Homicide. Unlike the last time, Joe got the win over Homicide, but it wouldn't end there.
In JAPW, JAPW champion Dan Maff was embroiled in a feud with former WCW champion Vader and former ECW champion Mike Awesome. Maff needed a partner to face off against Vader & Awesome, and got one in the RoH champion, Samoa Joe. Joe made his JAPW debut on June 5, 2004 in Rahway, NJ at "When Worlds Collide." Joe received a monster pop from the crowd and was ready to take it to Awesome & Vader. The match ended when Joe turned on Maff, which resulted in Awesome pinning Maff. It was announced soon after that Maff would face Joe in September at the Seventh Anniversary Show, but Joe cancelled the booking in favor of another tour of Japan. When time permits and the match happens, you can expect Maff to give Joe a receipt.
Joe is doing a lot of things that aren't usual in professional wrestling. He is currently reigning as the RoH champion for well over a year and is constantly letting his ring-work speak for him. He added to that list on June 12, 2004 when he faced CM Punk in a defense of the RoH Title in Dayton, OH at the Montgomery County Fairground Coliseum. The match ended in a 60 minute draw, a rarity these days, unless it is announced beforehand as an "Iron Man Match."
On June 24, 2004 in Essington, PA, RoH held "Survival of the Fittest." Six qualifying matches were held and all the winners would meet in the main event in a 6 Way Elimination match to see who could survive. The six qualifying matches saw Mark Briscoe defeat Alex Shelley, Colt Cabana defeat Trent Acid, Austin Aries over John Walters, Homicide over Jay Briscoe, The American Dragon over Jack Evans, and Samoa Joe over Matt Stryker. After Joe's match against Stryker, CM Punk confronted Joe and asked when is he going to get a rematch. All of a sudden, the lights went out and when they came back on, Homicide had stolen the RoH Title. Homicide challenged Joe, and the two brawled throughout the crowd. In the main event elimination match, Colt Cabana pinned Joe to make the first elimination. The American Dragon was the eventual winner.
Joe made his first West Coast defense of the RoH Title on June 26, when he competed on the New Japan/Inoki Dojo Los Angeles show in Santa Monica, CA. Joe defended and retained the title against Shinya Makabe. Defending the RoH Title outside of RoH shows didn't stop there. On July 2, 2004, Joe made his Montreal debut when he defended the RoH Title against the Internet Wrestling Syndicate (IWS) and Elite Wrestling Revolution (EWR) champion Kevin Steen. The match ended in a no-contest when Chase Ironside and Mobster stopped the match with their interference. An impromptu tag match took place as Joe teamed with Steen and defeated Ironside & Mobster.
Joe's rivalry with The Rottwielers connoted with a new chapter on July 17 at "Reborn: Completion" in Elizabeth, NJ at The Rex Plex. Joe teamed with The Briscoes to face off against The Rottwielers. Joe & The Briscoes won the match by DQ when Homicide tried to throw a fireball at Joe again, but Joe ducked and Mark Briscoe was caught in the line of fire, resulting in the DQ. After the match, Low Ki made his return to RoH, in defense of Samoa Joe. Low Ki then turned on Joe and joined The Rottwielers as the newest member.
RoH held back-to-back shows on July 23 and 24 in Wauwatosa, WI and Chicago Ridge, IL respectively. The weekend was called "Death Before Dishonor." Joe made another defense against Homicide on the 23rd, who was accompanied to the ring by Low Ki & The Havana Pit Bulls. Several minutes into the match, The Rottwielers were ejected from ringside. Joe made Homicide tap out to win the match, but then refused to release the hold. The Rottwielers returned and gave Joe a lengthy beating. Homicide told Joe that this wasn't over yet. Joe survived the beating long enough to give Colt Cabana a shot at the title the next night, and was successful.
Samoa Joe is, by far, the most successful wrestler in the short history of RoH and probably in all of independent wrestling. Defending the RoH around the world has truly made the RoH Title a World title. The elevation of that title is detrimental to the company's rise and Joe is the perfect ambassador. His hard work and ring style makes him unique in the sport, which is what RoH needs. His 24 straight title defenses are amazing in the indy wrestling and should be considered a huge milestone. Joe is one of the few wrestlers that have been successful on both coasts of this country. With him branching out into USA Pro, which is considered to be one of the top companies in the country talent-wise, and JAPW, the best fed in New Jersey, Joe is a featured attraction everywhere he goes.
For more on Samoa Joe, check out http://www.samoajoe.cjb.net/ and http://www.rohwrestling.com/.
John Gjoni
johnftw7533@aol.com
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