The Taming of Samoa Joe

"Joe is gonna kill you!"

After building a hell of a reputation in Japan and ROH, Samoa Joe debuted in TNA, in 2005. He tore through the competition like a war machine. While looking completely different, he had that "Taz" feel. There was no bigger badass in TNA than Samoa Joe. They gave him a decent build, slowly showing that he could be beaten, without making him look bad (Steiner costing him the X Division Title). His matches became less exciting once he moved from the X Division, since the other guys in the locker room were less skilled, but he was still booked strong. By late 2006, it seemed that he would be NWA World Champion at any point.

Enter Kurt Angle.

TNA's biggest acquisition was the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, Kurt Angle. Instead of feeding him a few jobbers and, slowly, building to a feud with Joe, they rushed it. The problem was that this came right as Joe, seemingly, was being pushed to the title. Instead, that was scrapped and he began a series of matches with Angle. Of course, their first encounter made for a very good match. It had that "big fight" atmosphere. Joe came out on the losing end of the first match, which seemed to take the wind out of his sails. All of a sudden, it appeared that Angle was getting Joe's push.

Earlier this year, finally, Samoa Joe defeated Kurt Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Title. Granted, it was at a bigger show and in front of TNA's largest audience to date, but it was too little, too late. Joe's hot period was long gone and his character had been dragged through the mud. He went from total badass to some overgrown whiner. He also isn't having so many good matches, though that may be due to his opponents. He's not as stiff, nor is he in very good shape. His title reign was lackluster and it looks like TNA has really booked him into the dirt.

It's not too late to repair things, but TNA will have to put a lot of work into it. He can be built back up, but they really need to be careful with this. He needs to be a monster heel that speaks little and, absolutely, never pisses and moans like a bitch. Maybe he needs to watch some old ECW and study Taz. Samoa Joe doesn't need to be some whiny drama queen. He needs to be a wrecking machine.

TNA needs this man: