During his recent interview on Ryan Satin’s Out Of Character podcast WWE star and former two-time NXT champion Samoa Joe spoke about his devastating Coquina Clutch submission finisher, and recalls some of his top memories of the hold, including why AJ Styles is his favorite superstar to put it on. Highlights from the interview are below.
Jokes that his favorite person to choke out is AJ Styles because of how good AJ’s hair smells:
I’ll say AJ [Styles] because AJ always has impeccably smelling conditioner in his hair. It’s always very pleasant for me. I get a little lavender, a little lilac with my pain and agony. It’s a rare thing, you don’t get that combination and you can’t buy that in the street. It’s a specialized and happy experience and I get to enjoy it every time I wrap my arms around AJ’s neck. He’s number one. You can’t beat that. Sometimes, the shea butter, I’m not a big fan when he puts that in his hair, it doesn’t have the same scent. When he goes lavender or when he goes to the body shop and gets the good stuff, trust me, it’s a great night for me. When I’m driving home at night, I don’t feel so bad about all the horrible things I did to the people I care about. It’s part of the whole ecosystem that I live in.
If he ever felt bad choking someone out:
No, that has never crossed my mind. Usually, I think of a lot of profound things, but that is never a thought that has crossed my mind, absolutely not. If you commit to wrapping your arms around another human being’s neck and compressing that neck until oxygen or blood stops flowing to the brain, that’s a big commitment. There’s no half-stepping when it comes to that. Either you’re strangling or you’re not. You figure it out. These are all conscious decisions, pre-meditated, that I made as a responsible adult. Somewhat sociopathic, some would say, I don’t think so, I just think it’s me trying to express myself and how I live.
Says turning Brock Lesnar purple was a highlight for him:
I usually blackout in an ecstasy-filled rage, so I don’t remember many of them. Anytime I was putting Kurt [Angle] out, that was a special time, and any time I had Brock [Lesnar] locked up. I never quite got him out, but I got him purple. Not a lot of people can make that man purple. I’ll take that.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)