The last time Joe worked his way to this position, he was passed up in favor of face era Roman Reigns. Someone who actually looked as mean as Brock, and could have been catapulted had creative set aside their obsession with shoving the golden child down our throats, pause, and keeping Brock strong for him in the future.
He would then toil around championship pictures in the upper mid-card, but never winning the big one, his last achievement in the E would be winning the US title, before losing it to Ricochet after just 19 days. After suffering a concussion, he was suspended for a wellness policy violation while alleviating his headaches with marijuana. He was then put on commentary while recovering, before being demoted to NXT. Returning as an enforcer to GM William Regal, Triple H quickly put him back in competition and put the NXT strap on him in his first match back 2 months in at a Takeover PPV.
Less than a month later, he was stripped of the title for contracting COVID. Vince would resign him to working as a trainer until his release less than 6 months after that, with Joe personally saying it was politics because Vince wanted to go a different direction with "NXT 2.0".
Joe would then join the AEW, in a confusing move, debuting as the flagship star of the newly acquired ROH, a company that absolutely no one gives a shyt about now, no matter who owns it. Despite the misuse of a great debut in favor of trying to prop up AEW's own version of NXT, Joe would quickly find his way to the mid-card of AEW programming. He looks tough, he wrestles tough, he talks tough. A rare combination for anyone in the current day industry to have in spades. Joe is someone who not only legitimatizes a company when he is at the very top of it, but validates what pro wrestling is supposed to be about in general, someone that will never make you cringe for bad acting, being a stick figure, not looking mean, etc.
He is finally in the mix of world title bouts and main event scenes again after almost 5 years. I don't expect him to win versus MJF, as he is AEW's own version of golden boy Roman Reigns, but the table is set. He's firing on all cylinders, and at the age of 44, you really have the opportunity to cement and prop him up, get a good 3-5 years out of him as his body really starts to break down.
Ball's in your court TK, let's see how the next couple months go.
He would then toil around championship pictures in the upper mid-card, but never winning the big one, his last achievement in the E would be winning the US title, before losing it to Ricochet after just 19 days. After suffering a concussion, he was suspended for a wellness policy violation while alleviating his headaches with marijuana. He was then put on commentary while recovering, before being demoted to NXT. Returning as an enforcer to GM William Regal, Triple H quickly put him back in competition and put the NXT strap on him in his first match back 2 months in at a Takeover PPV.
Less than a month later, he was stripped of the title for contracting COVID. Vince would resign him to working as a trainer until his release less than 6 months after that, with Joe personally saying it was politics because Vince wanted to go a different direction with "NXT 2.0".
Joe would then join the AEW, in a confusing move, debuting as the flagship star of the newly acquired ROH, a company that absolutely no one gives a shyt about now, no matter who owns it. Despite the misuse of a great debut in favor of trying to prop up AEW's own version of NXT, Joe would quickly find his way to the mid-card of AEW programming. He looks tough, he wrestles tough, he talks tough. A rare combination for anyone in the current day industry to have in spades. Joe is someone who not only legitimatizes a company when he is at the very top of it, but validates what pro wrestling is supposed to be about in general, someone that will never make you cringe for bad acting, being a stick figure, not looking mean, etc.
He is finally in the mix of world title bouts and main event scenes again after almost 5 years. I don't expect him to win versus MJF, as he is AEW's own version of golden boy Roman Reigns, but the table is set. He's firing on all cylinders, and at the age of 44, you really have the opportunity to cement and prop him up, get a good 3-5 years out of him as his body really starts to break down.
Ball's in your court TK, let's see how the next couple months go.
