Samoa Joe Recalls Chasing a Guy Down Thinking He Tried to Rob Him at a Backstage Poker Game

On the lucrativeness of the poker game:

“I think we were doing a show in the UK, and at the time myself, AJ Styles, and Christopher Daniels were involved in a very, very long-term poker game in which the stakes had grown to considerable amounts. And one of the things about England, as you know, at the time — and this is early as the UK scene was kind of emerging. Or the new UK scene, as I should say that we see now. Merchandising was awesome there. We used to go over there and to be quite honest, the British fans were amazing. They wanted merch, they bought it in droves and oftentimes on the independent circuit, a lot of us would make more money that night in merch than we would in our actual payday.”

On what kicked off the altercation:

“So after a very successful merch night between the three of us, we’re sitting at a table in this — it was a very old hotel, it like used to be an ex-manor I think. And we were playing poker with a considerable amount of money on the table. And I feel something hit me as we’re playing the game. Like, something hit me from behind. And I look up, and AJ’s sitting across from me. And AJ for the most part at this time at least is somewhat of a voice of reason. Never once would fly off the handle. And I look at him, and I go — and to my head, I’m thinking, ‘Okay, we’re sitting here. We’ve probably got several thousand dollars worth of cash on the table.’ I thought somebody tried to come and rob the game. So I look up at AJ and I go, ‘Was that legit?’ And AJ, who normally would be like ‘Aw, it’s whatever man.’ He just looks at me, and I think he was so shocked, he goes, ‘Get him.’”

On chasing the guy down:

“So in my head, I’m thinking this guy tried to come and hit me, rob the game. And he ran away when I didn’t f**king go down. So I rush down the hall and now I’m looking for this guy. And then I see this guy running and I catch up with him. By that time I think I was incensed. And this part I’m a little fuzzy on. But as has been described to me by you [Graves] and Chris Abyss, and Daniels and AJ, I merely grabbed him by the throat, lifted him off the ground. Had him up against the wall, was preparing to launch several rounds of punches into his face when the hotel staff and several other people had informed me that the police were on the way. And I think they finally peeled my hands off his throat, pulled me back and we calmed down.”

On what happened after that:

“It was a prank gone wrong. But in the grand scheme of cosmic justice, this gentlemen turned out to be a very, very, very large piece of human excrement for several [reasons] including stealing from locker rooms in the United States and I guess in the UK. And yeah, I think this guy’s behind bars now, and that’s what’s best said about him. But, very very stupid individual, probably not the best response by myself. But then again…like I said, I’m very particular about cats trying to rob me, so…I have a weird reaction to it. Maybe it’s just me.”

(Pro Wrestling & MMA World)