Kurt Angle believes Samoa Joe would have been a great foil to Bobby Lashley.
A former NXT and United States Champion, Samoa Joe was released by WWE - along with 9 others - on Thursday, April 15, 2021. Speaking on the latest Q&A episode of The Kurt Angle Show (via AdFreeShows), the Olympic Gold Medalist was asked if he thought his matches with Joe were the best of his TNA run. He said yes, but also noted that he was surprised by the news of his release. Angle said the following:
"Without a doubt, him or AJ Styles. Samoa Joe was a lot more physical. We had a more physical type of match. AJ was more athletic. Joe was a very intense individual and I'm surprised they released him. Especially with Bobby Lashley right now, they need some guys to go up against Bobby and I thought Samoa Joe would be a great person to represent that spot, but unfortunately, they did let him go and I'm not sure why."
Angle and Joe worked together at TNA (now IMPACT Wrestling) from 2006-2015 and then again in WWE from 2017-2020.
Samoa Joe suffered a concussion in February of last year and had not wrestled since. He was part of the WWE Raw commentary team through WrestleMania 37. Changes were made on April 12, when Adnan Virk debuted as the new play-by-play announcer on Raw, with Corey Graves and Byron Saxton alongside him. Pat McAfee assumed Corey Graves' role as the color commentator on SmackDown.
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