Samoa Joe is bringing together two different Warner Bros. Discovery properties together for his first AEW World championship defense.
Joe will face FTW champion Hook, the son of the legendary wrestler Taz, on Dynamite on Wednesday (8 p.m., TBS) in a match sponsored by the new Rocksteady third-person action video game “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League”, in which he voices the King Shark character.
Joe said the partnership won’t impact the presentation of the match other than him “displaying the viscousness of my character King Shark” as “I eviscerate this young man in the middle of that ring, but he’s happy to spearhead the joint venture with DC being a Warner Bros. Discovery property.
Before the match and the game’s release on Feb. 2, Joe took time for a Q&A with The Post’s Joseph Staszewski.
(Edited for clarity and length)
Q: What does it mean for you to bring this collaboration together with AEW, Warner Bros. and the game for your first AEW championship defense?
A: It makes absolute sense. We are working on a couple of different sides of WB. It felt like a natural partnership. I’m glad I was able to help facilitate it. We are very, very proud of the game, and I’m very proud of being AEW World champion, so it felt only right to bring the two together.
Q: What do you hope to accomplish with your championship reign? I don’t think AEW has this type of dominant and imposing heel champion. It feels like it could be something very fresh.
A: I think that’s the exact approach. This is gonna be a championship reign froth with a lot of first-time matchups, a lot of fresh blood out there that I haven’t been in the ring with, that a lot of questions remain on how they would do in the bounds of the ring with me.
Q: Do you feel like at this point with what Hook’s accomplished, he’s a worthy world championship challenger? There was a lot of debate online last week with Tony Khan jumping in too about Hook getting this opportunity.
A: He’s put in the numbers, but let’s see if he can put in the heart. That’s really the way I see it. On paper, he should be there, but there is nothing on paper in that ring, so we are gonna find out.
Q: How much of what Taz was and his approach to things did you pull into what you do in the ring?
A: I think there’s a lot of similarities between me and Taz and I think even he would agree with this, it comes from just having a very similar martial arts background and having very similar stoic figures be the guys that were responsible for training us an indoctrinating us into the business. In that aspect, I see a kinship in a lot of what Taz was representing when he was wrestling. To say that it wasn’t an influence on me and almost everybody else at the time would be selling short his tremendous influence on the industry
Q: Hook, in his promo, alluded to you guys maybe having spent some time together or crossed paths before. How much did you get to know or interact with Hook on his way up?
A: I’ve met Hook several times throughout his lifetime, just knowing his father and their family connection and being kept apprised of all his athletic exploits [in lacrosse] as he grew up because he’s a very proud pop and he’s gonna talk about the accomplishments his son has and they’ve been quite impressive. Now, he’s stepping into the world of wrestling trying to make those same accolades and he feels this is his path to do so. It won’t be, but you got to admire the moxie.
Q: What’s impressed you watching Hook grow in the ring?
A: The kid’s a honey badger. He just keeps coming forward, doesn’t care what’s in front of him, the size, the shape, the level of danger he may be in. He keeps charging forward and trying to bite at your ankle, bite at your neck, get a hold of you any way he can. That’s admirable. That’s a quality that a champion would possess. At this level, you are just walking into the wood chipper. It’s gonna be a bad night.
Q: After hearing about Hook and Taz keeping you up to date, what’s it like that he’s standing across from you in your first title defense?
A: There’s some lessons a father can’t teach his son. There’s some things that a father, within reason, can’t teach his son without going to jail. I’m gonna teach Hook that lesson. That lesson that maybe Taz wanted to teach him, no I’m gonna teach it to Hook. He’s gonna learn really fast how the world works when he steps into the ring with me.
Q: You have seen a lot of people rise in this business. Swerve Strickland is someone who has made his intentions known. What do you think about the way he’s gone raising his stock?
A: I think you are watching an athlete come into his own. It’s exactly as it’s described. It’s somebody who has finally found comfort in their own skin, has found a successful formula and getting to expand upon it and exploit it. That’s what you get with Swerve. He’s been a student of the game for a while. Maybe he wasn’t given the best opportunities but he’s come to AEW and he’s crafted his own opportunity. He’s crafted a nice little edge around him to help ensure those opportunities. I’ll never fault a guy for making better for himself.
Q: Do you feel like anything was taken away from your championship moment at World’s End when you are not the last thing on the show? You walk off and now we have to play out the Devil angle to close things.
A: No, because I’m not a child. I’m the world champion. Oh, would you like me to go out and celebrate and go kiss a child maybe go run around in the bleachers? Is that what everybody missed? Was there supposed to be confetti and a big fireworks show and I high-five a bald eagle who is flying across in an F-14 jet? What soft-ass sorry stuff. The champion walked out of the building with the championship. That’s all you need to know. Unless that’s hard to comprehend. If it is, I’m sorry. I feel bad for y’all.
Q: What’s your take when you make the deal with Adam Cole and he’s out here saying Wardlow will win the title and he’s just gonna give it to him?
A: It’s an adorable plan. It really is. I mean, I say a lot of crazy stuff too every once in a while that doesn’t mean it comes to fruition. Adam made a bad deal. He couldn’t get the job done himself. Let’s face it, as devilish as he wants to be, he had his bone to pick and he has his reasons. All I know is it still took the champ to actually execute the plan. He can make all his innuendos. But all I have seen is other people challenge me, and Wardlow is nowhere to be found.
Q: Fans have pretty high hopes for “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.” They are craving for another Arkham-style experience. How much of it have you gotten to play and what do you think people will take to with this game?
A: I played the alpha [version] like many other people. [We] enjoyed the different style of the game. I love the [Batman] Arkham series myself. I enjoyed all the entries immensely, the nuance of it. This is new ground for Rocksteady. It is a very new feeling game. Once people realize this is going to be a very, very new experience I think they’ll fall into it and enjoy it.
Q: In what way is it a new experience? I know there is co-op play involved.
A: Everything. From the co-op aspect to the traversal mechanics to the openness of the city and the verticality of the battle zones. It’s a very different game just in battle scale from the Arkham games. You will find the Arkham DNA heavily fused throughout the game, I think it’s gonna be a very new experience Rocksteady is putting out.
Q: What approach did you take to do the voice work for King Shark?
A: He’s an incredibly well-read and intelligent Shark, but he’s naive to the word. A lot of what he’s experiencing, after being locked up in Bell Reve and later being inducted into the Suicide Squad and being under [Amanda] Waller’s command he has a very limited view of the world. It’s almost like everywhere he goes he’s a tourist on vacation taking in the sites and he’s stoked about it. It’s kind of cool to play this very viscous and cerebral shark that can’t get over the fact that the Daily Planet is so bitching looking in real life.
Q: Did you get to interact with Kevin Conroy at all during the process, his last voicing Batman?
A: Outside of a brief conference call, I didn’t get to interact with Kevin much at all, unfortunately. I’m a massive fan. I grew up with “Batman: The Animated Series.” I think when you talk about the iconic voice of Batman, even despite all the fantastic actors who have portrayed Batman, I think for a lot of people Kevin’s voice resonated in your head. It’s incredible that he’s a part of this game.
“Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League” will be released on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC.