| Samoa Joe | |
|---|---|
Joe in April 2022 | |
| Birth name | Nuufolau Joel Seanoa |
| Born | March 17, 1979 Orange County, California, United States |
| Spouse(s) |
Jessica Seanoa (m. 2007) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Joe Seanoa King Joe Samoa Joe |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) |
| Billed weight | 282 lb (128 kg) |
| Billed from | Huntington Beach, California The Isle of Samoa |
| Trained by | Cincinnati Red Johnny Hemp |
| Debut | December 5, 1999 |
Nuufolau Joel "Joe" Seanoa (born March 17, 1979), better known by the ring name Samoa Joe, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and also wrestles in their sister company, Ring of Honor (ROH). Joe is also known for his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and WWE, where he competed on the NXT and Raw brands.
He first wrestled for Ring of Honor (ROH) from 2002 to 2007. During his time in ROH, he held the ROH World Championship for a record 21 months.
During his time in AEW, Joe has been a one-time AEW World Champion and a two-time AEW TNT Champion.
On April 1, 2022, at Supercard of Honor XV, Joe returned to Ring of Honor and was announced as the newest signing of AEW by Tony Khan. On the April 6 episode ofDynamite, Joe defeating Max Caster in his AEW debut to qualify for the 2022 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. The following week, Joe defeated Minoru Suzuki to win the ROH World Television Championship, this made him an ROH Triple Crown winner. Joe defeated Johnny Elite in the quarter-finals and Kyle O'Reilly in the semi-finals of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, but losing to Adam Cole in the final at Double or Nothing on May 29.
At Full Gear in November 2022, Joe defeated Wardlow and Hobbs to win the TNT Championship. He then began calling himself the "King of Television". On January 4, 2023, Joe lost the TNT Championship to Darby Allin, but won it back from him on February 1 in a No Holds Barred match. After the match, he was attacked by a returning Wardlow. Joe lost the TNT Championship to Wardlow at Revolution on March 5.
At All In in August 2023, Joe lost to CM Punk in a match for the "Real World Championship". This would be Punk's last match in AEW, because he was officially fired from AEW after another backstage altercation. Joe then won the Grand Slam World Championship Eliminator Tournament to get a match for the AEW World Championship. At Grand Slam on September 20, he lost his championship match against champion MJF. On November 10, Joe vacated the ROH World Telvision championship to focus on challenging for the AEW World Championship. 8 days before he became the longest-regning holder of that title at 574 days.
At New Year's Smash on December 27, Joe was supposed to team with MJF to defend the ROH World Tag Team Championships in place of an injured Adam Cole. Before the match, it looked like Joe was attacked by The Devil's Masked Men (who were later revealed to be Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) backstage. MJF would fight The Devil's Masked Men in a two-on-one Handicap match but lost the match and the titles. It was then revealed that Joe faked the attack and then attacked MJF after the match. At Worlds End, Joe defeated MJF to become the new AEW World Champion. At Dynasty on April 21, 2024, Joe lost the title to Swerve Strickland.
1After he was stripped of the title, his reign was stricken from the promotion's records and the title returned to the opponent that he beat, Eddie Osbourne.
2After the title was vacated, Joe and Sakoda's reign was stricken from the promotion's records.
3He held the title by himself during his first reign.