According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it’s highly expected – and even assumed that it’s going to happen at this point – that Samoa Joe will be headed to WWE. When it will happen, and whether they put him through NXT first, remains to be seen.

When Joe left TNA earlier this year, his options were immediately wide open. The door was open for a return to Ring of Honor, so he went back and has worked several dates with the promotion, but it’s not expected to be a full-time or long-term deal. Without a TNA contract Joe became the hottest free agent on the market, and with the exception of WWE it’s likely he could have walked into any promotion in the world and picked up at least a few dates, if not an official gig with the bigger fish like New Japan Pro Wrestling.

WWE has always been the unknown variable. At 35-years-old Joe isn’t the young talent they’re looking to build the company around for the next 10-15 years, as is the case with some of the younger NXT guys. But Finn Balor was 33 when he signed with NXT. Sami Zayn was 30, Kevin Owens was 30 and Hideo Itami is 34; all guys that are expected to have successful runs once they hit the main roster.

Here’s the difference — Joe is perhaps more primed for a main roster debut than any of the others were, or currently are. While all the names above had great careers in Japan or the US indie scene, almost all of them have talked about how much there is to learn in NXT from a production standpoint. And there is a surprising amount, from the differences and subtleties of WWE-style entrances, playing to the different cameras, the “WWE style” of a wrestling match, etc. But Joe has a decade of experience on television, and TNA (albeit with a much lower budget) tries their hardest with Impact Wrestling to emulate the way WWE does TV.

Time will tell what happens with Samoa Joe and WWE, if anything at all. But with how packed the top of the card is in NXT right now, given his age and given how many offers he likely has on the table, it would be a large waste of time and resources to keep the “Samoan Submission Machine” in developmental.

Just given his experience and the familiarity he's going to have with people who watch/have watched TNA, I think they'd be more likely to chuck him on the main roster straight away rather than putting him in NXT

Bitches gonna sign him, get him to the main roster, give a him a comedic piece of shit gimmick, lose to Zack Ryder, then Heath Slater then go on a losing streak.

He'll be awesome in NXT. That'll eventually dry up. They'll send him to Raw. They'll make him suck balls. Gets released.

Guarantee it

Him and Cena are friends (I think?). He'd be a heck of a guy to debut against Cena for the US Title challenge with the right crowd. (Chicago?)

Eeyen wrote:

Him and Cena are friends (I think?). He'd be a heck of a guy to debut against Cena for the US Title challenge with the right crowd. (Chicago?)

I was talking about this to a mate last night. If they bring him in, I think he'll wrestle again/potentially feud with with Cena.

^ Yeah that sounds really good

Eeyen wrote:

Him and Cena are friends (I think?).

I think they trained together in California.

If they did a Cena/Joe feud, they would have to build Joe up as a legit threat to anyone via vignettes leading up to his debut.

It's too bad he won't be able to be Samoa Joe in WWE.

I'd love to see him come out of nowhere during one of the US title opens and win the title. Easy heel heat right from the get go. If they make it a clean finish, he appears far more credible and delays any need for a long drawn out intro via promo packages. If they could build him up from there though, that's the real question.

Of course, Cena doesn't lose to a heel cleanly, so that idea is out the window.

Damn... the thought of a Cena/Joe match... goooodddddd.

Samoa Joe's career will be handled like CM punk's but obviously the rise will be quicker. They won't rename him