Samoa Joe Wins The WWE U.S. Title On SmackDown Live

Samoa Joe has captured his first championship as part of the WWE's main roster.The closing first [...]

By Ryan Droste

Samoa Joe has captured his first championship as part of the WWE's main roster.

The closing first hour of WWE SmackDown this week featured a U.S. title open challenge segment with the champion, R-Truth. The challenge was answered by three men, Andrade, Samoa Joe, and Rey Mysterio.

The bout was quickly made a fatal four-way match for the title and what resulted was a tremendous television match. In the end, not only was it a good match, it was also historic given the implications for Joe's career.

The finish was set-up when Zelina Vega took out R-Truth on the outside of the ring. Carmella then came over to take out Vega. Back in the ring, Mysterio gave Andrade the 619 and followed it up with a frog splash, but Samoa Joe hopped in the ring to break it up. Joe then gave Andrade a Uranage to the canvas and covered to win the title.

Joe has easily been one of WWE's top performers on the main roster over the last couple of years. He's evolved into arguably the best performer on the microphone in the company and his wrestling has always been solid. However, a main roster championship has always evaded him (he was a two-time NXT Champion).

Joe came close last year during a feud with AJ Styles where many felt he'd be given a run with the WWE Championship, but that never came to pass. However, Joe's heel character work during that run was unparalleled as he brought Styles' family into the feud in some of his best work since joining WWE.

It will be interesting to watch Joe as U.S. Champion as he likely will serve in the role of bringing a sense of seriousness back to the championship. We can't think of a better person on the roster to hold the championship and hopefully it's the start of more gold coming his way in the future.

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