Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles and other rivalries in WWE

Joe finally made his way to the WWE and ran riot on NXT. He had great feuds with the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Balor and then moved to the main roster.

Samoa Joe and AJ Styles in action. (Image credits: wwe.com)
By Sujay Gaurav | Apr 22, 2022 | 2 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Name one wrestler who is an Indie darling and is loved on all major wrestling shows? Yes. We are talking about Samoa Joe. The Samoan Submission Machine was a household name in Ring Of Honor and then took his talents to TNA where he is one of the greatest ever and enjoyed a lengthy undefeated streak before going on to win every title in the company.

Joe finally made his way to the WWE and ran riot on NXT. He had great feuds with the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Balor and then moved to the main roster and rubbed shoulders with Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles etc. In this article, we take a look at some of his finest rivalries.

AJ Styles

Styles and Joe revisited their TNA days in WWE when the latter cut the infamous ‘Wendy’ promo. What Joe basically said was that he wanted to finish Styles off and then become the man in his place to his wife and children. Naturally, that mightily angered the Phenomenal One and the bout ended in a DQ when Joe pushed AJ to the limit and hit Styles with a steel chair.

Both men faced off again in 2018. The two superstars met at Hell in a Cell for the WWE Championship. It was a great back and forth match where Styles defeated Joe to retain the WWE title.

Read more: Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens and other rivalries in WWE

Roman Reigns

There was a time when Roman Reigns walked around arrogantly claiming that the WWE was his yard and it definitely rubbed people the wrong way. Samoa Joe decided he was going to stand up to The Big Dog.

Joe’s first match in WWE was against Roman and he ended up winning. They feuded again in 2017 and 2018 and had some compelling storylines including Joe rescuing Roman from a car crash. All these matches proved that Samoa Joe was a good matchup for Roman.

Brock Lesnar

The Beast was fascinated by the prospect of facing the Samoan Submission Machine in a match and got the chance to do so in a PPV. According to reports, Lesnar wanted to work with Joe because he liked his style and felt that they could do great things together. 

The two ended up having a match at the Great Balls of Fire in 2017 in what was a great bout. The feud continued into SummerSlam and a four-way match ensued that also included Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns.