Yesterday’s Indy Stars, Today’s Main Stars.
Hey Folks, you’re here on the newly named SharpShooter: Best of the Shoot which was formerly known as Ryan’s Favourite Photos. The new name was to signify a new start for me and this article. Ryan’s Favourite Photos had lost its shine but I’m here to get that shine back. First off let me tell you a lil’ somethin’ about me, OLD SKOOL!
I’m the Shooter and anyone who steps foot in here comes face to face with the best of the best. You may be asking what the best of the best is, well here’s the answer. Come hell or high-water I bring you the best of the best in the world of photos. As I said, I’m the Shooter and this is my Shoot. With my camera in hand, I’ll bring the best photos to the Wrestling Rambles brand. In-Ring focus is my speciality, forget the bitches at Hooters cos it’s all about the Shooter! LET’S GO!
Pardon that horrendous promo to open the show but hey, it’s all about fun here, right? This article is about the stars of today that used to be and may still be the big Indy attractions. Without further delay let’s have a look at the first of those stars.
Samoa Joe
Joe first started his career in Ultimate Pro Wrestling in 2000. UPW was WWF’s development affiliate and Joe was sent there to feud with the then not so known John Cena before making an appearance on WWF Jakked against Essa Rios (does anyone remember him?). During his time in UPW Joe won the UPW No Hold Barred Championship and the UPW Heavyweight Champion. In Joe’s tenure as UPW Heavyweight Champion Joe broke the record as the longest reigning champion and still holds the record to this day.
In 2001, Joe went to Japan to wrestle for Pro Wrestling Zero1 fighting in its Shingeki series of PPVs as well as their annual Burning Heart tournaments. In 2001 Joe also wrestled for the Southern California promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla where he feuded with Super Dragon. He continued with the promotion throughout 2002 but soon left when they asked for him to portray a more gimmicky character.
Joe then started wrestling in Ring of Honor making his debut at the Glory by Honor show taking on the role of Christopher Daniels’s hired assassin who was to take out Daniels’s opponent Low Ki. ROH had originally been booked for one match only but when the ROH took to Joe’s stiffer style ROH decided it would be great to invest in him full time. Quickly rising through the ranks Joe became the ROH champion when he defeated Xavier. The ROH championship was then renamed the ROH World Championship whenever Joe defeated the Zebra Kid at Frontiers of Honor in London.
Joe had a trilogy of title defences against CM Punk in which the second match was awarded a 5 star rating from Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter which was the first American match in 7 years to earn such a rating. Joe continued on as champion for 21 months before meeting his match in Austin Aries at the Final Battle in 2004. After losing the belt to Aries, Joe went on to become ROH’s 5th Pure Champion defeating Jay Lethal at Manhattan Mayhem in NYC.
Holding the title for over three months Joe then faced off against Nigel McGuinness losing the belt at Dragon Gate Invasion. In 2005 Kenta Kobashi from Japan made a Once in a Lifetime trip to the USA and got booked on two ROH shows, facing off against Joe in a singles match that was awarded a 5 star rating from Meltzer which then went on to win the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year. In 2006 Joe took part in the war against rival Philadelphia promotion CZW (Combat Zone Wrestling). The war would culminate in a five-on-five Cage of Death match at Death before Dishonor IV. ROH dominated the match but when Joe picked up Chris Hero (now known as Kassius Ohno in FCW) for one of his finishers, fellow ROH wrestler Bryan Danielson attacked Joe repeatedly hitting the injured knee with a steel chair forcing Joe to quit the match.
Despite this ROH still picked up the win but when Danielson attacked Joe a feud was set up between the two. Joe came up short against the champion Danielson in several matches including a 60 minute draw and the final match being a steel cage match. After this, Joe then called out Japanese promotion NOAH which resulted in Joe beating Takeshi Morishima in a singles match. In January 2005 Joe stated his intentions to leave ROH after March 4 which allowed ROH to bill all the shows up to that date the Samoa Joe Farewell Tour. In his final match for ROH Joe beat longtime rival Homicide by using his finisher the Muscle Buster from the 2nd rope. However, Joe would return for a one night only appearance in November at the Rising Above defeating Tyler Black in a non PPV main event.
Joe would then relocate to Total Nonstop Action where he has since become one of the biggest stars in the promotion and thus earned himself a place in the wider wrestling limelight. Since debuting in TNA Samoa Joe has went on to win:
- TNA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- TNA World Tag Team Championship (2 times, current) – by himself (1), with Magnus (1, current)
- TNA X Division Championship (4 times)
- King of the Mountain (2008)
- Maximum Impact Tournament (2011)
- Super X Cup (2005)
- Turkey Bowl (2007)
- Wild Card Tournament (2011) – with Magnus
- Triple Crown Champion (1 time)
- Mr. TNA (2006)
- Mr. X Division (2006)
You’ve stuck it out this long, why not look through some photos and ease those eyes!
This is the first of a few articles focusing on wrestlers who have been stars on the Indy circuit and have become even bigger since, I’m using Wikipedia as a source therefore if any information is incorrect I apologise and eh… bye! I hope you enjoyed reading about Samoa Joe’s time on the Indy circuit. There were other promotions that Joe worked for but I couldn’t really get much information on it so as I said I hope you enjoyed what I fed to you and I hope you’ll be back next week for more!
If you wish to follow me on twitter for all thoughts wrestling then you can do so by following me @Razor_WWE94
Remember if it’s not in-ring focus you shouldn’t bother!
-Ryan.
I still can’t believe Samoa Joe was a tag team champion by himself.
LikeLike
Weird huh?
What do you think about the new article so far, do you prefer ones like this: more writing & slideshow or do you prefer the favourite photos articles?
LikeLike
Both are good. I could deal with either one. Also, what do you think about Joe vs. Sheamus?
LikeLike
Cool! I’ll keep that in mind.
I’d love to see Joe vs Sheamus, two heavyweights going one on one would be fantastic. Definitely something I’d be interested in seeing.
LikeLike
The slideshow is cool; didn’t even know you could do that on WP. Lots of good info on Joe’s career, as well.
LikeLike
Yeah, I had seen it whenever I was doing RFP & thought it would be cool to do in the “new” style articles like this. The only thing that ticked me off about the slideshow was the fact it includes my banner poster. But I couldn’t find a way to work round it.
I got my inspiration from Duckman’s indy article & thought it would be cool to enlighten folks on the indy careers of the “big” stars of today. Show the readers that there’s much more beyond WWE & TNA.
LikeLike
I’d love to see Joe vs. Punk, DB, or Cena sometime. All three are friends with Joe and I’m sure they’d make each other look good.
Ryan, I understand the reason for the change(and I love the slideshow), but could you put a random funny pic at the bottom of each column for me to go to town on…that didn’t sound right.
Please, with artificial sweetener on top?
LikeLike
I’m sure you could catch the Punk/Joe series somewhere, maybe ROH released a DVD on it or it could be up on youtube. Same goes for DB/Joe. But as for Cena, definitely, I’d love to see them lock horns.
Damnit you’re right, I’ll have to find you a funny photo for you to work with, I’ll have to start doing the “EXTRA” bit at the bottom next week cos I forgot about it this week.
What do you think of the new change? Yada or Nada? Do you prefer RFP or did you like this better?
LikeLike
I dig it. You want to try new things, unless it’s something you really like. Then leave it alone.
Maybe you could call the random pic “Captain’s Quarters”?
LikeLike
Well glad to hear you like this too, I like both, I’m pretty much torn between the two as I like em both, just want to see what the general opinion is on WR.
I’ll let you choose the name; Captain’s Quarters is cool! like I said you think up a name, let me know and it’ll be included in the articles from now on 🙂
LikeLike
Captain’s Quarters has a nice ring to it. Plus, there is a local place to eat called that, so it popped in my head.
LikeLike
LOL, well is the local place a nice place to eat? Because let’s face it, you don’t want to name your special addition after a shitty restaurant.
LikeLike
It’s good. There’s a TON of good places to eat in Louisville. In fact, I read that Louisville has more places to eat per person than any other city in the U.S., except for New York City. Gotta head out for work. Peace!
LikeLike
Oh well then that’s good, Captain’s Quarters it is!
You live in Louisville?! Do you like living there? Anything interesting in Louisville? I live in Northern Ireland so um…yeah it doesnt get any more interesting for me.
Enjoy work, Playa!
LikeLike
Louisville is great. I’ve lived here all my life. It’s not so big that you feel rushed, but not so small that you find a much bigotry. Great food, parks, nice people, some of the cleanest water in the country, beautiful no matter the time of year, a good art community, and home to the largest baseball bat in the world.
The area I live in is called The Highlands and it’s a bunch of old hippies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisville,_Kentucky
LikeLike
lol! Sounds a hell lot better than here! Here stinks & our biggest claim to fame is building the infamous Titanic.
LikeLike
Oh, shit! You win! lol
LikeLike
Nice new addition man! I like it. Samoa Joe is seriously in my top 3 people I would like to see in WWE. I know it would be a little different for him working their style, but he’s obviously a learner and would be able to adapt. He’s got some damn history behind him. I think he could fit in as a main event heel in WWE if he was built up right. I don’t know if he ever will, and if something ever fell through with TNA I could almost see him going back to ROH.
LikeLike
Glad to hear you like it pal.
I have to say, I didn’t like Joe to begin with but looking back on what he’s done in ROH and seeing what he does in TNA he does impress me and gains my respect as a great wrestler. He’s got a great history behind him, his time in ROH is something I definitely want to look back and watch because it all sounds amazing.
He could definitely fit in WWE right now; WWE has ROH alumni in Punk and DB therefore it’d be great to see these guys go one on one in the big one. But as you said, I almost see him going back to ROH instead of going to WWE.
LikeLike
You did great research on Joe, learned a lot about him, nice job.
The WWE really need to sign. Would love him vs Sheamus and Jeremy said. Him vs Bryan for World title too would be amazing. A CM Punk feud would indeed be awesome. He could be Mid card champ, world title champ or tag champ and he’d be a believable champion in all.
LikeLike
Yeah, Joe and Sheamus are two big bruisers. Just ouch!
LikeLike
NO! NO! NO! Joe vs. Ziggler! With the way Ziggler sells, it would be awesome!
LikeLike
I think Joe could face anyone! lol
LikeLike
He might not be able to stand the might that is The Cobra.
LikeLike
Not even Stone Cold could withstand the mighty cobra!
LikeLike
That sounds dirtier than I thought it would.
LikeLike
To be fair not even Hulk Hogan’s on-screen cobra could match the stats of Santino’s Cobra!
LikeLike
Brother!
LikeLike
OMG Joe vs Ziggler would be unreal!!!! Imagine all that numbing about and Joe hard styling the fuck out of him
LikeLike
Whoops. Numbing = bumping. I got too excited.
LikeLike
I love watching Dolph get his ass kicked.
LikeLike
That again Capt sounds dirtier than it should LOL! But definitely Ziggler sells the best in WWE, he reminds me of Shawn Michaels with his selling! He also has a pink shirt which is reason enough that he kicks ass. Joe vs Ziggler would definitely be a great match!
LikeLike
EEEEEEWWWWWWW!!!
LikeLike
I feel the same way about Ziggler too! He’s by far the best seller in WWE today. Reminds me of a mix of HBK and Mr. Perfect.
LikeLike
Glad to hear it Ray, that’s mainly the idea of this article. To let people know there’s more than what we’ve seen in the big league in TNA and WWE. Joe has such a rich history and I think it’s important that people know how much he has done in the squared circle.
Definitely agree with Jeremy when he said about Joe vs Sheamus, I think that would a white hot match. Joe also shares that history with Punk and DB that it would just be so awesome to see on the big time slots. We know they can put on the great matches, we’d just like to see it gain more viewers than what they had in ROH. They all deserve it; Joe, Punk and DB. 3 fantastic wrestlers, hell I would love to see a Triple threat match between the 3.
LikeLike
I just hope Joe doesn’t end up in the Hogan sex tape.
LikeLike
Anything is possible… Anything. Like who knew Hogan had a proper you-know-wut! I always thought Iron Sheik was telling me the truth that Hogan only has a grasshopper dick and raisin balls! #SHEIKIEREVOLUTION
LikeLike
Gulp Hogan?
LikeLike
What lol? I’m confused, did I say something wrong…again? LOL!
LikeLike
That should be the name!
LikeLike
First off, this is a great idea for a blog. It’s always good to look back on the indy careers of some of the stars of the past, and learn where they’ve come from, and been before hitting the big time.
Big fan of Samoa Joe, both in and out the ring. Watched some of his ROH stuff over the past year or so, and it was just superb to watch. Especially his matches with Bryan Danielson and Austin Aries. Love his work in TNA too, the matches he put on with the likes of AJ Styles, Daniels and Kurt Angle have been class. I hope he gets the chance to be World Champ again, because to me, he deserves it.
LikeLike
Thanks very much for the feedback! My main aim was to teach people about the big stars indy time.
Samoa Joe is brilliant. TNA isn’t using him at his full potential at the moment or so I feel. Joe could easily make it in WWE, and if that did ever happen TNA would be kicking themselves!
LikeLike