Social media is a strange place, but it's also one of the best places to network and connect with people that are otherwise out of reach. 

Samoa Joe made the jump to the WWE in 2015 after making a name for himself as one of TNA's biggest and brightest stars following a run through the independent circuit. 

Joe may not have landed in the WWE without a chance opportunity that unfolded after he sent a direct message on Twitter to Paul Heyman. The story from there is fascinating, and gives some interesting insight on the WWE's thoughts on TNA talent. 

Joe joined Chris Jericho's Talk is Jericho podcast and discussed the unique path that ultimately took him to the promised land of professional wrestling. All quotes transcribed via Aaron Rift of NoDQ.com.

"My first contact was Paul Heyman. I had sent him a Direct Tweet. I had known Paul for a number of years and I simply said, 'Hey Paul, I’m not on paper anywhere and wanted to pick your brain and see what you thought on the things I can do and how I should proceed,'" Joe explained.

It's not uncommon for people in the same industry to use direct messaging to discuss business matters. The direct message conversation eventually went from Heyman to the WWE's Talent Relations.

"From there, Road Dogg and a bunch of other guys had gotten into Triple H’s ear so he said let’s have a meeting and we set a meeting and sat down and talked about it and went from there.

"It was kind of like new ground for me and for the company because they had written a lot of us off. I don’t think it was out of malice and spite, but they had an edict they had and wanted to follow and I get that, but it wasn’t something they thought was a possibility," Joe said.

The WWE wanted to either build their own talent or dig into deeper independent territory, but bringing in talent from TNA was a no-no at the time. Joe credits Triple H for seeing past the precedent that was set to add his talents to the WWE. 

"I think Hunter saw it as a possibility that a lot of other people didn’t and it went from there. I had a TNA stamp. They didn’t want to sit there and rely on other people that had done things in other places, they wanted to be built in the realm of WWE," Joe said. 

Joe has yet to fully make his mark, but his match against Seth Rollins at Payback should be a great opportunity to showcase his stiff striking talents.