Samoa Joe talks NXT title change ahead of AEW Dynamite in Boston

The AEW Champ recounts the time he won the NXT title at a non-televised event in nearby Lowell.

Ahead of AEW Dynamite’s Big Business-themed event in Boston, where hometown star and former WWE women’s champion Mercedes Moné is expected to debut, All Elite Wrestling’s World Champion Samoa Joe was making the rounds to promote the show.

Speaking with Joe Murray of 98.5 The Sports Hub, the AEW kingpin talked about his championship success in the state of Massachusetts. In doing so, he revealed what led to him winning the NXT title at a non-televised event in 2016 in nearby Lowell.

In 2015, Samoa Joe joined NXT, WWE’s developmental brand. Within months, he was feuding with Finn Bálor over the NXT Championship. At consecutive NXT: TakeOver specials, Joe came up short in his bid to wrest the crown from Bálor. Then, in an unexpected twist, Joe defeated Bálor at a non-televised event to win the title, an uncommon practice in modern WWE.

“I think it was something just to shake up the world,” Joe said while explaining the decision to put the title on him then. “Sometimes you need to shake up the status quo. You need to make fans know that they can be a part of something great no matter what event they come to.”

Joe also speculated that Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who was in charge of NXT then and who began his career at wrestling legend Killer Kowalski’s school in Massachusetts, may have done so to “drop a little surprise” on the local population.

Regarding AEW Big Business, Samoa Joe will defend the AEW World title tonight against Wardlow. In the past, Wardlow choked Joe out with the AEW Champ’s patented submission maneuver. After delivering a career-best promo a couple of weeks ago, Wardlow hopes to have his hand raised over Joe once again in championship warfare.

But from Joe’s perspective, he believes that the AEW title will never leave his side.

Ever.

“As for when is this (gesturing to the AEW title belt) going to leave me, I mean, listen. We can sit here and talk about the end of the world all you want. But that’s probably the only time this is ever coming off my shoulder.”