Samoa Joe will go up against Karrion Kross for the NXT Championship tonight at NXT TakeOver 36. It will be Joe’s first match since February 2020.

During a media call in Las Vegas, Triple H discussed Samoa Joe’s backstage role in NXT. 

Here is what he said:

“Joe brings something to the table that is different,” Triple H said. “But Joe is one of those guys that, through my career as I’ve been around people, there are certain people I look at, I think that ‘man he’d be really good at this. He has the right mindset for it.’ He and I would always talk, I didn’t know him before he came to WWE, but when he came in to NXT we’d talk a lot through the day. And I would, man he’s just a business savvy guy.’

“He thinks about things in a different way, long term business, he’s not small minded. It’s not just in ring, he’s not just looking at ‘wow, that’s good technician.’ He has a different sense of larger picture thinking and I said ‘man when he’s done here, there’s a role for him doing something much bigger.’ I’ve had that conversation with a lot of people in the company to say there’s only a few people I’ve ever really said ‘oh that guy, this person, could do anything in this company because of the way they think of the business.’ And he’s one of them.

“So when the opportunity came for me to be able to work with him behind the scenes, and that’s sort of, when everybody talks about ‘oh Joe was going from not being an in ring performer, and then I came along and grabbed him.’ It’s nothing like that. It was a long term conversation that was happening prior to that, and then the timing of it made it appear a certain way. But we had been talking about it. So it was an opportunity to work with him from a business standpoint.

“What is he? He’s a little bit of everything but he’s sort of like a Regal where he can sit here and I can have a conversation with him after. And he’s talking about everything that people are bringing to the table with this. Not ‘do I think they’re technically sound?’ not whatever. We can talk about every aspect of it and what works and what doesn’t, what needs to happen. We send him places, he can represent, all those things. That’s where he works. We’re thrilled to have him."