After Samoa Joe became the longest-reigning ROH World TV Champion in history, he surprised the wrestling world by vacating the title on 8 November’s AEW Dynamite.
Just after defeating Keith Lee by submission and retaining the Championship, Joe took to the microphone: “I did not come here merely to be your Television Champion. I said hunger is what defines the Greats, well consider me officially hungry.”
Samoa Joe went on to openly challenge Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) as he announced his new goal of winning the AEW World Championship.
This move came after Joe had officially held the ROH World TV Championship for 574 days, breaking the record of Jay Lethal’s 567 days in 2015-16.
Throughout his reign, Joe had defended the title from 17 different wrestlers: Trent Beretta, Jay Lethal, Josh Woods, Brian Cage, Juice Robinson, Tonny Deppen, Cheeseburger, Mark Briscoe, Colt Cabana, Christopher Daniels, Blake Christian, Matt Sydal, Dalton Castle, Shane Taylor, Willie Mack, Tony Nese and Rhett Titus.
On 8 November’s AEW Dynamite, Samoa Joe defeated his 18th challenger, Keith Lee, by making him pass out by a submission hold and then vacated the position for the title right afterward.
Samoa Joe’s Wrestling History
Nuufolau Joel Seanoa, with the ring name Samoa Joe, started professional wrestling in 1999 and made his debut at Ring of Honor in October 2002. A former WWE wrestler, he is currently signed to AEW and its sister brand, ROH, where he has won several titles like the AEW TNT Championship and ROH Pure Championship.
From March 2003 to December 2004, Samoa Joe held the ROH World Championship for a record 21 months. In June 2005, he joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he was undefeated for 19 months, also while winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, TNA X Division Championship, TNA World Tag Team Championship and the TNA Television Championship throughout his career there.
After departing TNA in 2015, Joe made his WWE debut through their NXT brand where he defeated the wrestlers Finn Bálor, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Karrion Kross to become a 3-time NXT Champion.
Joe appeared on WWE’s main roster on the 30 January 2017 episode of Raw, attacking Seth Rollins and aligning himself with Triple H. On 5 March 2019, Joe defeated R-Truth, Rey Mysterio, and Andrade in a fatal four-way match on SmackDown to win the WWE United States Championship.
Throughout his career in WWE, Joe has fought in several pay-per-view events like King of the Ring, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, and even in the prestigious WrestleMania 35, where he successfully defended his United States title in a singles match against Rey Mysterio.
He made his return to ROH and his debut in AEW in April 2022 after having been inducted into the ROH Hall of Fame alongside famous wrestlers Daniel Bryan and CM Punk.
What are ROH and AEW?
Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion which aims to make itself stand out from other wrestling promotions through the “Code of Honor,” a set of three rules that the wrestlers are advised to follow in the ring. The promotion has over 10 years of history in the professional wrestling scene filled with exciting title matches featuring Eddy Guerrero, AJ Styles, CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson.
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is a relatively new American professional wrestling promotion but it has already managed to challenge the reign of WWE in the scene through various collaborative events with DDT Pro-wrestling and NJPW, and has even hosted several legendary athletes like Cody Rhodes, Bret Hart, and Chris Jericho.
In 2019, AEW’s creation shifted the world of professional wrestling, as it emerged with a large financial backing and a major U.S. television deal. ROH, losing its popularity rapidly, was then officially sold to AEW founder Tony Khan in May 2022.
