AEW has kicked open the Forbidden Door, reestablishing a version of the old territory system that’s helped them and other companies become stronger while the WWE grows weaker, but Samoa Joe isn’t a fan of the free flowing concept.
Joe shared his thoughts recently, and we want to give @sportsninety special thanks for sharing his comments.
“I work for a company,” Joe said. “If I played for a major football club, you wouldn’t lend me out on the weekend to go play for the rival team. Messi’s ain’t doing day shifts over at Manchester United. I understand some fans want for that and they want to see that, but at the same time, just with the whole politics of that type of situation, it wouldn’t be a good outcome anyways. Nobody wants to look bad in that situation, everyone’s getting pushed and pulled in a certain way and it becomes a convoluted mess.
“If guys want to show and get down with Samoa Joe, get on my level, they come find me and let’s do this. I ain’t making house calls right now.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsJOTQqR3jY
It’s not for everyone
Given how Joe came up through the Indies, it reasonable to assume he has a understanding of the vagabond lifestyle where one doesn’t know how consistent their pay will be.
It’s been said more times than not by various wrestlers on social media that they’re all working for the stability of a contract.
With that being said, these wrestlers are still under contract with their home company and move around to help bring more eyes on them, where they belong, and where they’re going.
It’s similar to companies sharing employees to help each other out.
Balancing act
While it can be argued that this is Joe’s perspective given his current employer, he has a major point about the politics involved.
We saw some of that in action a couple of weeks back when Tony Kahn allegedly didn’t want Kenny Omega to lose a second time against Andrade in XXX.
He’d recently lost the Impact World Championship to Christian Cage and if Omega lost a second straight time it could’ve hurt him and AEW.
It takes a certain mindset to put the show ahead of themselves and trust they’ll be good enough to survive and that fans will have a short memory.
Sami Callihan is known for that. This was brought up in an episode of the VICE series The Wrestlers called “The Changing Face of Wrestling” where he and MVP appeared at a show together.
Everyone has their own idea of what’s best for themselves and the business, and we’d love to hear whether you agree or disagree with Joe. Let us know in the comments below.
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