Match Of The Week: 09.23.06.

September 28th, 2006.
TNA Impact!
Samoa Joe vs. Raven

This is the tenth post I've made on this blog for My Match Of The Week. Pretty exciting I guess. Especially since it's kind of weird to think I've been doing this for ten weeks now.

Samoa Joe vs. Raven is a match that meant a lot to me for two reasons. Sure, it had its strange ending, but Samoa Joe is just being booked so well in TNA right now it's scary. You look at guys like Jeff Jarrett, Sting and Christian and you think, "Who's writing their stories?" You look at the whole X-Division thing with Kevin Nash and you think, "Someone actually got paid to write that??" But with Samoa Joe... He's just this huge, unstoppable monster and he never misses a beat. He's never really shown weakness. And everyone he faces looks better because of it.

My second reason for loving this match is because it features Samoa Joe (One of my current favorite wrestlers) and Raven (One of my all-time favorite wrestlers). C.M. Punk once feuded with Raven, but I don't think Samoa Joe ever did. The options this opens up are just wonderful. It's somewhat like a dream match to me.

Coming fresh off of a PPV win over current TNA Champion Jeff Jarrett (Yeah, a main event match was non-title... This is why you don't get buyrates, TNA), Samoa Joe stole the belt from him. During this match, Joe and Raven just brutalized each other. It all ended though when Brother Runt came out and helped Samoa Joe get the win (Unbeknownst to Joe, of course) When Samoa Joe saw The Former Spike Dudley standing in the ring it just became priceless. Brother Runt decided to not only do the stare down, but then also slap Samoa Joe across the face. Needless to say, this got Spike Dudley into a world of hurt. Abyss then entered (Who is part of the storyline with Raven and Runt) and Joe quickly cleared the ring of him as well in top ECW era Taz fashion. As Joe left the carnage behind him, Jim Cornette approached him and said he had to give the title back. Joe told him something to the effect of, "If he wants it, he can come and take it", though Joe really said that to the effect of Jarrett and Sting. That was also cool because Samoa Joe is constantly playing the role of tweener. He's booked (most of the time) as a heel, yet he gets more cheers than some of the top babyfaces in TNA. Sure, there are still TNA fans that don't like or agree with Samoa Joe, but it's hard not to hear a "Joe Is Gonna Kill You" chant. Joe calling out Jeff Jarrett right there would have been a great face move, since Jarrett is the biggest heel in TNA. But adding Sting to that- one of TNA's biggest faces- just helps him to continue to blur that line between good and evil. For that, I love Samoa Joe and how his character in TNA is developing.

This also reminds me to an extent of early era ECW in general. I remember The Sandman stole the ECW Title belt from Raven, and Raven went to Tod Gordon and said he wanted it back. Gordon told Raven something to the effect of "This is ECW... If you want it, go and take it!" So maybe Samoa Joe is more like The Sandman. He just needs the singapore cane. Unless you consider his fists his singapore cane. Hmm. "My Fists Are My Cane". Sound like a good shirt idea? Nah, I didn't think so either.