Samoa Joe Isn’t Surprised That Fans Are Cheering Him Against Roman Reigns

– Samoa Joe spoke with Yahoo! Sports for a new interview discussing his feud with Roman Reigns, his return from injury and more.

On whether he feels validated about still being in the main event after returning from injury: “To say that it would be validation would imply that I was seeking it and I wasn’t. I’ve always been aware of what I’ve been able to do and my ability to bring interest to a match and make people want to tune in and see. To find myself in this position now isn’t a surprise or anything that I felt was unexpected or unappreciated. It’s something that I knew I was always able to do. To go out there and be one of the main guys and be ambitious, it’s all part of the game now and now is the time for me to do it. I have the platform and I’m going to use it to the best of my ability.”

On fans cheering him in his feud against Roman Reigns: “I don’t think it’s anything I didn’t expect. I’m not out there lying to anybody. I’m out there telling the truth. You may not like the way I deliver the truth, you may take umbrage with the way I handle most of my conflicts, but that’s the way I do business. If we’re in a fight, we’re in a fight all of the time. It doesn’t stop just because the cameras are off. I’m going to come at you however I can. Roman knows how I play this game and its nothing he or the fans shouldn’t expect. It shocks me that people are still shocked that I behave this way.”

On who he wants to face on SmackDown: “You look up and down that roster and it’s a laundry list of a lot big-time matchups and a lot of first-time matchups. It starts with A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura. Then it’s Randy Orton, it’s Rusev. I’ll fight both of The Bludgeon Brothers at the same time. You look at that locker room and you’d be hard pressed to find a match you wouldn’t want to see me in.”