Former NXT Champion and current WWE Universal Championship contender Samoa Joe is approaching his second shot at the coveted strap. Last month, Joe went one-on-one in the main event of the Great Balls Of Fire pay-per-view (PPV) for the Universal strap, however, “The Destroyer” came up just short. He’ll get his second crack at the title at SummerSlam in a Fatal Four-Way match against Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and Braun Strowman.
Recently, Joe did an interview with The Mirror to promote SummerSlam and talk about working with Lesnar at Great Balls Of Fire. You can check out some highlights from their conversation here:
At Great Balls of Fire you faced Brock Lesnar in a first-time encounter, which you referred to in advance as a dream match. Aside from the result, did it live up to your expectations?
“Aside from the result, it was every bit the physical encounter I expected it to be. Brock is one of those special athletes, so everything in the ring is elevated to another level with him. I’m a very intense individual and I have no qualms in saying he definitely lives up to his hype as a very intense individual too. It was furious. It definitely lived up to the experience I thought it would be.”
Part of what made it so exciting I think is that you were seen and presented as a genuine threat to Brock, in a way that very few of his opponents are. Fans aren’t used to seeing somebody manhandle him like you did.
“Yeah and it’s also because Brock sees it that way. He knows what I’m capable of and what I can do in the ring. I think there is this false assumption that he’s really tone-deaf to the rest of the world, when really he’s probably, from what I’ve seen of how he has conducted himself, he is probably one of the most savvy businessmen in our industry, if not all combat sports. So he knew what he was getting into, who he was doing it with, and he understood the magnitude of what was going to go down and what kind of threat I presented to him. I think him being convinced if anything was what kind of lent more fire and hyper meaning to the match.”
You can read Joe’s full interview with The Mirror at this link.
