Samoa Joe explains why ROH is favorite company he’s worked for

Samoa Joe has had great experiences everywhere, but — if he had to choose — he’d pick Ring of Honor as his favorite wrestling promotion he’s worked for.

Joe took part in a Q&A at Terrificon 2024 earlier this month. During the session, a fan asked Joe to name his favorite company that he’s wrestled for. He chose ROH, explaining that it’s an experience that happened when he was young and he enjoyed the pressure that came with being so involved with everything the promotion was doing.

“I’ve been asked this a few times. I’ve had super positive experiences in every company I’ve worked for. So, it’s like, I don’t have probably a lot of the hardship stories a lot of other wrestlers do as far as dealing with companies. You know — if it was really gun against my head, really got to come up with an answer: ROH, but it was only because I was so hands-on in everything that there was there and in the building,” Joe responded.

“You know, if I didn’t draw, the company was pretty much screwed. Or if we didn’t draw, the company was pretty much screwed. So it was a lot more kind of pressure on us. We were very much responsible for every bit of success that we had to garner out there. So I mean just from that environment and that aspect and being young and traveling — like I said, the punk rock atmosphere of the ROH crowd. Yeah, that’s something I really look back on and enjoy.”

Joe holds the record for the longest ROH World Champion reign in history, holding the title for 645 days from March 2003 to December 2004. He was one of four acts inducted into the ROH Hall of Fame in 2022. The Briscoes, Bryan Danielson, and CM Punk were also inducted.

After Tony Khan acquired ROH, Joe returned to the promotion and had a run as ROH Television Champion. He’s also held the AEW World Championship once. WWE and TNA are among the other promotions Joe has worked for.

Joe is currently taking some time off from AEW programming due to filming for his role as Sweet Tooth in Peacock’s “Twisted Metal” series. The filming runs through at least October.

Also during the Terrificon Q&A, Joe named Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay as two people he wants to wrestle in AEW who he hasn’t gotten the chance to face yet.