Brock Lesnar and Samoa Joe are in the midst of what is arguably been the rivalry of the year thus far. Joe won a No. 1-contenders match for the WWE Universal Title back at Extreme Rules when he defeated Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, and Bray Wyatt in a Fatal Five-Way match. Now “The Destroyer” will collide with “The Beast” at Great Balls Of Fire next month for the Universal title in the main event.
For the past few weeks on RAW, the pair have been going at it via verbal exchanges and physical altercations, and things really got heated last night (6/26) when Joe jumped Lesnar from behind while he was making his way to the ring, and locked in the Coquina Clutch on the Universal Champ.
The rivalry has been well received by the WWE Universe, and former WCW President Eric Bischoff took to his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling, to praise the work between Lesnar and Joe. Bischoff even compared the feud to the program between Lesnar and Goldberg earlier this year:
“I love that match-up,” he said. “I can’t say enough about Samoa Joe and I think just chemistry wise and intensity wise that’s a very natural match-up. So was Bill Goldberg, by the way, but Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar had history attached to it.”
Bischoff continued, “They did a great job with that history. They had a great angle in WWE but Joe is fresh. This has never happened before and Joe is a guy who can go toe-to-toe with Lesnar with character, intensity and the ability to make me believe it in the ring. When they are standing there eye-to-eye and chest-to-chest I believe it. I think it’s great.”
