Samoa Joe’s path to his current AEW run and his starring role on Peacock’s “Twisted Metal” traces back to a brutal 24-hour stretch that turned around almost immediately.
Speaking at Grace Family Church with Craig Altman, Joe looked back on his chaotic exit from WWE. He’d already been let go once following a run as a commentator, only to be brought back for NXT, before being released again in 2022 after a shift in the company’s corporate structure.
Joe described coming home that second time and telling his wife the news, with her responding by reassuring him everything would work out, since they’d already prayed over the situation.
It was a rough morning, obviously,” he recalled.
“It’s hard to explain how that happened so close together in a matter of a few weeks but I remember walking in at this point and being this far in the journey and looking at my wife and saying ‘I got fired’ and I remember her looking up at me and going ‘Ah, it’s alright. God’s got this, we’re going to be fine. We prayed on this already, it’s going to work out.’
That reassurance turned out to be remarkably well-timed. Just four hours later, Joe got a call from a friend he hadn’t spoken to in close to 15 years, who was putting together a new Peacock series and asked him to send in an audition tape, believing Joe was the right fit for the role. Joe got the part, landing him his starring role in “Twisted Metal” the same day his WWE run ended.
And he calls me and goes ‘Hey, listen. I don’t know what your schedule is. I don’t know if you’re busy. I haven’t talked to you in forever, but I’m doing a brand new TV show for Peacock. I’d love you to come in and star in it. Please, please, please will you send me an audition tape? I think you’re the right guy for the job,’” he recalled.
“And lo and behold, I started Twisted Metal, walked back into the room, looked at my wife and said ‘Well, I’m now starring in a TV series, so I think everything’s okay.’ She said ‘Told you it would all work out.’
Joe signed with AEW shortly afterward and has remained with the company since, becoming a former AEW World Champion along the way. He’s set to face Jack Perry in a Clockwork Carnage qualifier this Tuesday at AEW Grand Slam France.
