TNA – The Best of Samoa Joe: Unstoppable DVD Review

TNA – The Best of Samoa Joe: Unstoppable

Introduction

Jeremy Borash welcomes us to the disc to hype up Samoa Joe and talk about what we’re going to be seeing on this DVD. We jump right in to the first match of the DVD, which appropriately enough is his debut with TNA.

MATCH #1: Samoa Joe vs. Sonjay Dutt, Slammiversary, 6.19.05

Tenay puts Joe over huge, mentioning that he is the current ROH Pure Champion, and the fact that he’s only lost one 1-on-1 match in the last three years. Joe busts out the STJoe early on and the crowd pops. I wonder how many in the audience are familiar with Joe. Judging by the reaction he’s getting I’d say quite a few. Joe uses the face wash. Big senton gets two. Sonjay fights back using his quickness and hits a dive outside the ring. He’s got bacne pretty bad. He hits a nice springboard dropkick but it only gets two. Sonjay hits an ugly 450 for two. He goes for the Phoenix but Joe moves out of the way and he hits a powerslam for two. He’s getting too much offense here. No worries though, as Joe hits the Muscle Buster and locks on the choke to get the win at 6:24. That wasn’t much of a match, but it was a good debut for Joe. My only complaint is that Sonjay got too much offense in, and it wasn’t even that much. But come on, this is Samoa Joe we’re talking about here.
Rating: **½

SAMOA JOE ON … HIS TNA DEBUT

Joe talks candidly about his impressions on first joining TNA, and how it was like starting over because many people hadn’t seen his prior work. He also said he was nervous due to possible perceptions of him.

MATCH #2: Samoa Joe vs. Delirious, Impact, 6.24.05

This is Joe’s first match on Impact, which was broadcast on the Internet. I’ve mentioned this before, but if anyone has those episodes I would love to get my hands on him. Delirious is one of my favorite workers in the business bar none. Delirious runs around the ring to start, and once he gets back in the ring Joe goes to work and delivers the face wash. Delirious messes up the Big Joe Combo and takes a hard knee to the back of the neck for it. Joe puts on a sick looking abdominal stretch and hits the STJoe a few seconds later. Big powerslam by Joe and he’s had enough. He hits the Muscle Buster and the Choke to get the win at 3:33. That’s a good squash match and a nice inclusion on this disc.
Rating: *

SAMOA JOE ON … THE FAMILY BUSINESS

Joe talks about his family business, which is a Polynesian Dance Company. It’s one of the biggest in the United States and maybe the world. He worked in the show since he was about five years old and was actually in the opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympics. He talks about killing time while the girls in the show changed, and his dad threw him out in front of everyone to do a drum solo. He says stage fright kind of disappears after that. He goes on about how hard his father worked, sine he was also an airline mechanic. He talks about his mom next, who was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He clearly has a great deal of respect for both of his parents.

MATCH #3: Samoa Joe vs. Chris Sabin, No Surrender, 7.17.05

Tenay calls Joe 6’8”, which is just preposterous. They establish a cool dynamic early on, with Joe being the aggressor and Sabin wisely trying to outmaneuver him with speed and agility. Joe takes control and goes after the neck and chest area, which will serve his finishing move, The Choke, very well. Sabin fights back with some dropkicks and knocks Joe to the outside of the ring. Sabin is all fired up. He goes for the Cradle Shock but Joe reverses it into a German suplex for two. A big powerslam gets two. Sabin comes back and hits a tornado DDT for two. Joe hits the powerbomb into the STF submission. He switches it to a crossface but Sabin refuses to quit. Sabin keeps going for the ropes so Joe switches it to a Rings of Saturn, but Sabin eventually does reach the ropes and Joe is not happy about that. Joe goes for the Muscle Buster but Sabin gets a big powerbomb for two. He goes for the Cradle Shock but Joe gets out of it but Sabin hits the spinning enziguiri. Sabin goes up top but Joe kicks him off the ropes and delivers the Muscle Buster followed by the choke for the win at 14:04. That was a terrific hard-hitting match and Joe looked like a monster while Sabin looked like he could almost topple him, which is the perfect dynamic. I’d love to see this again.
Rating: ****

SAMOA JOE ON … BREAKING INTO WRESTLING

He was working as a mortgage broker, harassing people while they eat dinner. He talks about the jujitsu training he did, and how a bunch of Indy wrestlers came in afterwards to use the gym. The head trainer suggested Joe try wrestling, so he reluctantly agreed. His trainer was a guy named Cincinnati Red.

MATCH #4: Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles, Sacrifice, 8.14.05

Christopher Daniels is at ringside to do commentary for the bout, since the winner will face him next month at Unbreakable. Jeremy Borash does the ring introductions like the main event, so TNA is treating this match like a pretty big deal, as they should. Styles attacks Joe right away as Daniels talks about how no one deserves a shot at his title. Joe comes back with a big punch to the face followed by a kick to knock Styles out of the ring. Joe hits a big dive and the fight continues on the floor. Styles jumps the rail and jumps back, hitting Joe with a big forearm. Back in the ring now and Styles goes for a suplex and gets it for a two-count. Muta Lock by Styles for a second, then he goes for the headlock. Joe gets out of that but Styles hits the surprise rana. Styles tries to clothesline Joe outside the ring, but that’s a difficult task and it leads to Joe hitting the STJoe. Joe hits a running knee strike to the face and the face wash. Joe continues to dominate as West says that these two have faced each other twice, with each man getting a victory. I don’t think they should say Joe has ever lost yet. Also, I only remember them facing each other once in Ring of Honor, does anyone know what the other match is? Joe hits the powerbomb into the Samoan Crab. Styles reaches the ropes and hits some of his signature stuff after that to get a near fall. Styles starts selling the knee after hitting a springboard flipping inverted DDT; how convenient. Styles then hits another springboard, this time a senton for two. Styles goes for the Styles Clash but he can’t pick him up. Joe gets the rolling cradle for two. Styles tries to hit another Pele but Joe is nowhere to be found. Joe hits a huge lariat but Styles somehow kicks out. Joe kicks Styles in the face, who tries to come back but Joe is just way too badass. Styles then hits a spinning kick to the face and both men are down. Back on their feet Joe goes for the Muscle Buster but Styles blocks it and actually hits the Rack Bomb, knocking out the referee in the process. Daniels gets in the ring and hits Styles with an STO, and then goes after Joe, who is too smart for it. Styles gets up and knocks Daniels out of the ring. That gives Joe the chance to put Styles on the top rope and hit the Muscle Buster and locks on the choke to win the match and the Super X Cup at 15:05. My only problem with that match was Styles’ rampant no-selling of the knee injury, but you almost have to expect that going in to an AJ Styles match. The match was terrific aside from that though, as Joe’s hot streak continues in TNA.
Rating: ****¼

SAMOA JOE ON … THE UNBREAKABLE MATCH

Joe ruminates on the awesome triple threat match at Unbreakable between himself, AJ Styles, and Christopher Daniels. He says they had goals to show people what they could do, and they accomplished that.

MATCH #5: Three Way Match for the TNA X-Division Title – Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels©, Unbreakable, 9.11.05

Samoa Joe rightfully earned this title shot by beating AJ Styles at the last PPV, but for some contrived reason Styles was added to the match. Styles has already held the X-Division title four times. Styles and Joe team up on Daniels to abuse him in the early going. The action is moving very fast and it’s hard for me to catch all of so bear with me. Daniels has really nice jabs. No one is able to get a clear cut advantage. West calls a moonsault a “backwards moonsault,” which is redundant and superfluous. Daniels and Joe are on the outside and Styles hits a beautiful springboard shooting star press to the floor. I’m missing a lot in the play-by-play because there’s so much going on. Joe gets Daniels in the choke and Styles breaks it up with the Spiral Tap. Daniels hits Joe with a flatliner and goes for the Best Moonsault Ever but Styles breaks that up. Styles and Daniels find themselves outside the ring for an awesome sequence, and then Joe hits a twisting dive onto both of them. Joe hits the Muscle Buster on Styles while Daniels grabs the title belt. He tries to hit Joe with it but he gets powerslammed instead. Joe ends up taking the belt to the face from a Daniels enziguiri. Daniels and Styles exchange blows now, and Daniels gets a near fall off a Blue Thunder Driver. Joe gets back involved but Daniels hits the Last Rites. Daniels hits Styles with a superplex. Joe puts on the STF and the camera has a great view of them loudly calling their next sequence. Styles Clash on Daniels is broken up by Joe. Joe gets taken out a few seconds later and Daniels goes for the Angels Wings but Styles gets a pinning combination out of it and gets the win and the title at 22:50. What an awesome match. The psychology and selling was pretty good throughout, and the action never stopped for almost 23 straight minutes. I question the reasoning behind AJ Styles winning the belt for a fifth time when having Joe beat Daniels to end the longest X-Division Title reign ever would have had much more of an impact. Either way, this match rocked it and is the clear TNA Match of the Year for 2005.
Rating: ****¾

SAMOA JOE ON … SUBMISSION STYLE

Submission style is something Joe has always liked. He puts over William Regal, Fujiwara, Antonio Inoki, among others. He says he learned a lot in Japan. He comes off as really knowledgeable and very cool throughout this DVD.

MATCH #6: Samoa Joe vs. Jushin Liger, Bound for Glory, 10.23.05

Joe does a Polynesian tribal dance for his entrance, which is pretty awesome. I once had a roommate that would sing Jushin Liger’s theme song all the time, it ruled. Liger is from New Japan Pro Wrestling, and the fans throw streamers for him, making me think once again that I might just be watching a ROH show. NJPW President Simon Inoki is in attendance. Joe overpowers Liger to start, so Liger tries to out-quick Joe, and does so successfully. Joe eventually does overpower Liger though, and he uses the chinlock. Liger comes back with a fisherman’s buster and a frog splash that both only get two. He goes for the palm strike but Joe kicks him in the head. Liger comes back and hits a series of palm strikes for two. Joe recovers and hits the muscle buster and follows it up with the Choke and Liger passes out at 7:15. That was a good little sprint, but for Joe and Liger they could have done so much more. And what was the point of bringing in Liger to work less than 10 minutes?
Rating: **¾

SAMOA JOE ON … HIS INJURIES

Joe gives the laundry list of his injuries incurred during wrestling and non-wrestling incidents. He has a solid list, and says it might even be light for a pro wrestler.

MATCH #7: Elimination X Match – Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Alex Shelley & Roderick Strong vs. Chris Sabin, Matt Bentley, Austin Aries & Sonjay Dutt, Genesis, 11.13.05

They do some chain wrestling to start. Bentley looks ridiculous with his long hair. Sonjay comes in and shows off his athleticism. Strong comes back and tags out to Shelley. He works over Dutt and tags out to Joe, who delivers the face wash post haste. Sonjay tags out to Aries, who is the guy that beat Joe for the ROH World Title. Joe is kind of killing Aries here. Daniels tags in and Aries fares a little better here. Sabin comes in and gives an awesome flippy headscissors to Daniels. Strong comes in and gives Sabin a double underhook suplex for two. Sabin invents some more coolness. Aries and Strong are tagged in now and Aries goes to work. Shelley comes in and Sonjay comes in and Joe comes in and Sabin comes in and it’s a big, awesome cluster of moves. Bentley goes over the top roe with Daniels and the rest of the babyface team goes to work on Joe and throws him outside. They do a trio dive to the floor. Aries hits the brainbuster followed by a 450 and pins Strong to eliminate him at 12:02. Daniels sneaks in and pins Aries seconds later at 12:14. Sabin and Bentley dominate Shelley. Dutt comes in and follows suit, knocking Daniels and Joe off the apron. Shelley hits the Schwein (CIMA’s finisher) on Sonjay and locks on the Border City Stretch to eliminate Sonjay at 15:08. Bentley nails Shelley with a superkick a few moments later to eliminate him at 15:49. It’s now two on two and Sabin is working over Daniels. Joe and Daniels eventually take control on Bentley. Joe executes the Tower of Doom on the other three guys and dumps Sabin outside the ring. Bentley comes back and nails Joe with the superkick but Daniels breaks up the pin. Bentley goes for a victory roll on Daniels, but Joe pulls Bentley off and executes the Muscle Buster and the Choke and Bentley is done at 20:45. That leaves Joe and Daniels against Sabin. He does more coolness against Joe and Daniels, until Joe comes back with a flurry of slaps. He goes for the Muscle Buster but Sabin blocks it. He hits a missile dropkick to the back of Joe. He goes for the Cradle Shock but Daniels breaks it up and eats an enziguiri and Sabin goes for the Cradle Shock on him but Joe hits a palm strike and goes for the Muscle Buster. Bentley breaks it up but Sabin stumbles into the Angel’s Wings and gets pinned and eliminated at 23:15. Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels survive the match. That match had some awesome spots in it and was hot from start to finish. Everyone looked pretty good and the right guys went over. Joe looks pissed outside the ring and comes in to confront Daniels. Joe gets all pissed and attacks Daniels and abuses him with a steel chair. Daniels is busted open something fierce. He hits the Ole Kick. Joe rolls him back into the ring and delivers a Muscle Buster. He goes out and grabs another chair. Security tries to stop him but that’s a no-go. Joe delivers the Muscle Buster again, this time on the chair. Daniels is carted out on a stretcher. AJ Styles comes out to the ramp to check on his respected rival.
Rating: ****¼

SAMOA JOE ON … HIS PRIVATE LIFE

Joe says that it used to be easy to have a private life, but now with the TV taping schedule and the many promotions he works for it’s a little tougher. He goes through a bit of what his life is like with the hectic travel schedule.

MATCH #8: Samoa Joe vs. Amazing Red, Impact, 12.8.05

This is Red’s first match in TNA in several months, and if I’m not mistaken I think it was his last. Alex Shelley is out to record the action, as Red tries to do something flippy so Joe hits a lariat. The Big Joe Combo follows, and Joe picks up Red to deliver more punishment. Red takes the face wash, and looks suitably afraid. Shelley gets in the way so Joe gives him a death stare, which allows Red to get a schoolboy, a kick, a rana, and the Red Star Press for two. Snap powerslam by Joe, who decides he’s had enough. The Muscle Buster and Choke (named the Kokina Clutch for some reason) follows, and Red taps out at 2:33. That was as good of a match as it should have been.
Rating: *½

SAMOA JOE ON … HIS TEMPER

Joe says he has a “medium” fuse, rather than a short one. He tells a good story about a fight he got into in high school. It’s funny because the fight starts with two random guys, then it turns into a fight between him and his brother.

MATCH #9: TNA X-Division Title Match – Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles©, Turning Point, 12.11.05

This feud is an extension of the Samoa Joe versus Christopher Daniels feud. As soon as Styles started mouthing off, Joe started kicking his ass instead. These two had an awesome match back in Sacrifice in August and of course as part of the three-way at Unbreakable the following month. Styles attacks immediately and actually hits a snap suplex. Joe comes back and starts really laying it in to AJ. Joe just dissects AJ, not letting him get away with anything and clobbering him. Every time AJ starts to rally Joe just knocks him right back down. AJ finally comes back and hits a running shooting star to the outside on Joe and stays on offense when they get back to the ring. AJ gets a couple of near-falls. AJ’s lip is busted open pretty badly. He powerbombs Joe but doesn’t hook the leg and it gets two. He goes for the Muscle Buster but instead decides to go for something else, which Joe decides to reverse to a Muscle Buster. AJ reverses that to a powerbomb of sorts and then hits a Styles Clash but it only gets two. AJ goes for an Ohkana Roll, which Joe reverses to the Choke. AJ passes out at 18:54. Your new TNA X-Division Champion is Samoa Joe! That was a terrific match that really builds well on their series and just kicked all kinds of ass. Joe pulls AJ up to his feet just so that he can hit him with his new belt. Joe goes out and grabs a chair and goes for the Muscle Buster, but Christopher Daniels’s music hits and he runs out to attack Joe. Joe of course takes him out because he can. TNA has done a phenomenal job in booking Joe to his full effectiveness.
Rating: ****½

SAMOA JOE ON … HIGH POINTS AND LOW POINTS

He mentions several highlights of his career, mostly working in Japan. He says that just before he signed with TNA he was going to take a break from wrestling and go to school. Thankfully he got the call from TNA, and here we are today.

MATCH #10: Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal, Impact, 12.17.05

Joe and NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett have a staredown on Joe’s way to the ring. Joe and Lethal trade moves in the early going, with Joe making Lethal look pretty good early on. These two have wrestled with and against each other in Ring of Honor many times. Lethal hits some kicks and knocks Joe down for a one count. Joe comes back and hits the face wash and a chinlock. Lethal is already pretty over in the Impact Zone. Snap powerslam by Joe, followed by the Muscle Buster and the Choke to give Joe the win at 3:32. Fun little TV match, and Lethal looked really solid.
Rating: **

SAMOA JOE ON … CHOOSING TNA

He says that the decision to choose TNA was an easy one. He says they gave him an honest opportunity and that’s all he wanted. He talks about how he thinks it would have been different had he chose to go to WWE (without actually saying those letters).

MATCH #11: TNA X-Division Title Match – Samoa Joe© vs. Christopher Daniels, Final Resolution, 1.15.06

The setup for this match is basically that Joe murdered Daniels a few months ago, and now Daniels is back. Don West says that Daniels will have to use every brain in his head. That’d be a pretty impressive feat, to have more than one. These two are pissed at each other, so the action starts off fast. Joe goes for power-stuff, and Daniels tries to out-quick Joe. Joe of course wins the battle and dominates Daniels, who as the commentators hinted at before the match, may not be at 100% after the injuries he sustained at the hands of Joe. Joe gets up on the ropes and tries to choke Daniels, but it gets reversed to a Death Valley Driver for two. Moments later, Joe actually hits a hurricanrana out of a powerbomb and a lariat for two. Daniels hits the Best Moonsault Ever for a near fall. Daniels goes for the Arabian Press, but Joe blocks it and winds up eating a big kick to the face. Daniels hits a springboard elbow to the floor, taking a nasty bump on his hip. Joe just gets all mean on Daniels, going right for the head. AJ Styles comes down to check on Daniels, who actually fights back and goes for the Angel’s Wings, but he can’t hit it. Daniels is busted open. Joe hits a kick to the head and a big knee. The Muscle Buster follows and Joe goes for the Choke but Daniels reaches the ropes. Joe brings a chair into the ring and goes for the Muscle Buster again. He hits it on the chair, so I guess this is a no-DQ match as well. Joe says he’s going for the choke but then takes to kicking Daniels in the head a few times and driving his knees into the side of Daniels’s head. AJ gets up on the apron and finally throws in the towel for Daniels at 15:33. Joe looked like an absolute killer there, and kudos to Daniels for putting him over so strong. That match was smart and intense, and probably the best match I’ve ever seen between these two.
Rating: ****¼

SAMOA JOE ON … WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE

Joe wants fans to think that they had a good time and were entertained when they watched him. If he did that, he did his job.

BONUS

– Samoa Joe Slideshow: This just has a bunch of still photos.
– Samoa Joe Music Video: This is set to the band The 7 Method song “This is Goodbye,” from the album “Roses Like Razorblades.” This video makes Joe look like a badass killer, which really shouldn’t be that hard to do.
– Bonus Interviews: This is some more stuff that didn’t make it into the final interviews on the main program. There’s some good stuff here.

The 411: This is an AWESOME disc, with eleven full matches, and six of them clock in at four stars or higher. For someone like me who buys all the DVDs of their pay-per-views as well, you have all the big matches on this, but the addition of three Impact matches sweetens the deal for collectors. Whether or not you have the matches is irrelevant when rating the quality of this DVD, however. Watching this makes me sad, thinking about how badly TNA is blowing it by not having him kill Jarrett for the title and having Sting in there instead. After all, he is Samoa Joe, and he is pro wrestling.

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]