Having the designation of being the longest reigning champion in any promotion is a feat worthy of utmost respect. And just like Roman Reigns in the WWE, there is someone in Ring Of Honor (ROH) who has been the longest-reigning ROH World Television Champion. We are talking about the deadly Samoa Joe. But just last night, after retaining his title, he vacated it in front of all the fans.
So why did he vacate such a prestigious title in the first place?
Samoa Joe wants to win the AEW World Championship
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Samoa Joe started his wrestling career in 1999 and has been active ever since. Throughout his illustrious career, he has been part of multiple promotions, including the WWE. He was with the WWE from 2015 to 2022. During his 7 years with the company, Joe won the NXT Championship thrice and the WWE United States Championship twice. He once even faced Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship but sadly lost that bout.
Then in 2022, he joined ROH, which is now owned by AEW. Immediately after that, he was jointly signed by AEW. Then, in April 2022, he defeated Minoru Suzuki to win the ROH World Television Championship. In the process, he also became the ROH Triple Crown. And on 2nd November, Joe became the longest-reigning ROH World Television Champion in history with 573 days. He successfully defended his title against Kieth Lee on Dynamite.
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But post the match, he vacated the ROH World Television Championship while sending out a stark warning to MJF for his AEW World Championship. One of the reasons can be that he is already 44 years old, that’s very much past his prime. And he has been battling his knee injury for quite some time now. Thus, winning the AEW World Championship might not just validate his career but also end up as his biggest pro wrestling achievement.
But Samoa Joe already had a chance to win the AEW World Championship almost 2 months ago on Dynamite.
MJF cheated to retain his title against Joe
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In September, Samoa Joe challenged MJF for the AEW World Championship. The match was pretty intense as Joe gave it his all. MJF was pretty much at the receiving end throughout the majority of the match.
Fans almost thought that Samoa Joe would become the new champion that night. But MJF played his dirty games as always and choked Joe with a chain passed by Adam Cole, who was ringside.
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Joe eventually submitted to the chokehold, and MJF retained his title that night. Obviously, Joe wants to take revenge for that dastardly move and hence he has set his sights on MJF and the AEW World Championship. But what do you think is the reason that Samoa Joe vacated his ROH World Television Championship?