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Profile: Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe earned his reputation with a 21-month reign as Ring Of Honor World Champion from March 2003 to December 2004. After training at the West Coast Dojo and then progressing in Ultimate Pro Wrestling, where he became the longest ever reigning UPW Heavyweight Champion following a feud with John "The Prototype" Cena, he worked for ZERO ONE in Japan before making his ROH debut in 2002. Whilst in ROH, Joe became one of the biggest names in independent wrestling, impressing fans with his stiff style while notching up classic matches with CM Punk and Japanese legend Kenta Kobashi.
Joe debuted for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling at Slammiversary 2005, and began an 18-month undefeated streak in TNA while still working for ROH. Initially a heel tearing through the X Division, defeating popular babyfaces such as AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels, Joe nonetheless maintained and amassed a loyal following amongst TNA fans, eventually leading to a gradual face turn. In May 2006 at Sacrifice, Joe accepted Sting's request to partner him in a tag match against Scott Steiner and Jeff Jarrett, but after working well as a team to defeat the heels, Joe refused to help as Sting was pummelled after the match. He would however enter a singles feud with Steiner, at which point he morphed from tweener to babyface.
His first loss would not come until November that year, when he tapped out to Kurt Angle's ankle lock at Genesis in Angle's first TNA pay-per-view match. They feuded over the next several months, with Joe earning the next submission victory at Turning Point before narrowly losing an Iron Man match the following January.
Joe's involvement in Ring Of Honor would not come to an end until March 2007, when he committed himself to a main event future in TNA. He has now firmly entered the TNA World Title scene, and is expected to play a major role as a leading face of the company during its continued expansion.
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