Whilst it’s not uncommon for professional wrestlers to train martial arts, it’s not that well known that Samoa Joe is actually a skilled grappler. If you’ve followed his wrestling career though, this shouldn’t be too surprising – he is known as ‘The Samoan submission machine’ after all and has displayed various moves inside the ring, such as the rear naked choke.
It turns out that Samoa Joe actually trained Judo as a kid and even became the California State Junior Judo Champion. In fairness, if you looked at his body then you can see that he’s the ideal build for Judo and similar martial arts.
These days, he also mixes his training up with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Similarly, glancing at his build – you would also see that he would be a tough spar in the gym. Not only this – but Joe is also known for his fluid movements for a big man, which can also be explained by his training as a youth.
As seen in the image above, Samoa Joe is posing in a BJJ gym with the legendary Gracie family members painted on the wall behind him. To this day, Samoa Joe is a still a professional wrestler, having previously been employed for the likes of TNA and WWE.
