Following this week’s edition of NXT, Samoa Joe became once more the No1 Contender to the NXT Championship. He will challenge for the title at the next NXT TakeOver on April 1st 2016, his opponent is obviously the current reigning and defending champion Finn Balor. Personally I felt Joe should have won the title at NXT TakeOver London, however looking back now Joe wasn’t ready. Since the New Year Joe has had a new lease of life, he finally looks like his old self, “The Samoan Submission Machine”. His match with Sami Zayn on this week’s episode of NXT I thought was exceptional, a great story told over the space of 40 or so minutes, Sami the man who never says die, did and Joe emerged victorious.
Joe made a slow start to this WWE/NXT career, his first feud was with Kevin Owens, what promised to be an electric duel turned into a major let down. Many expected so much more, neither competitor failed to reach the potential they could and the collision failed. As Kevin went on his way Joe continued building in NXT, his had feuds with Tyler Breeze, Baron Corbin and very good matches with many others. Along the way he teamed with Finn Balor and they successfully won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in October 2015, they made a great face team, however during their run the seeds were quietly sown for his future heel turn. In early November Joe finally gave into the dark-side in his pursuit of championship gold, Finn over the next few weeks felt Joe’s wrath. Joe was eventually granted a title shot, it was scheduled for NXT TakeOver London in December, personally after the great build up the match lacked that special something. I also felt on the evening that Finn’s time was up as champion and he should have dropped it to Joe. In a hard fought but overall mediocre match Balor emerged victorious.
At NXT London I felt Joe deserved the title, he out performed Finn and should have won. As we approached the New Year Joe was returning to man who got him to the dance, the powerful, strong willed Samoan was back to his best and he was gunning for the title. As well as the return to Joe as his old self we also got the long awaited return of Sami Zayn, who straight away had his sights set also on Balor’s championship. Along with Joe and Sami the most underrated performer in NXT Baron Corbin entered the fray as a worthy contender. The three battled in triple threat No1 Contenders match in January, Corbin ended up tapping out to their respective submission finishers, therefore Corbin was eliminated from the process. Zayn and Joe met again a few weeks later, again this ended in controversy as both their shoulders were on the mat. That series of events came to ahead this week on NXT as Joe and Sami battled in a 2 out of 3 falls match to determine finally a true contender. Joe dominated the contest, Zayn had flourishes but Joe cut him down at every opportunity. This result also tied in with the fact the Zayn debut again on Raw this week so Joe ultimately deserved the win.
With Joe now recognised the No1 Contender he will challenge Finn at NXT TakeOver Dallas, everything it seems is playing into the lap of Joe. Balor is reaching the point where his NXT career has gone as far as it has, with the impending debut of the Balor/BulletProof Club the time is right for him to pass the torch to the Samoan Submission Machine. Joe needs the win, he needs the title, without it what’s the point of him continuing in NXT, if Joe fails it is then time for the promotion to the main roster, he is ready. If Joe is victorious a dominant reign is what is expected, my opinion is that the reign should last no longer than 6 months, in that time someone can be prepared to dethrone him so Joe can make the jump. The time is right for Joe, the match at Dallas should be nothing less than perfection, they are both capable of claiming a match of the year award. Joe has arrived.
@Ciaran_1986
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