Samoa Joe is one of the realest and most believable badasses in WWE history, which was evident in his interactions with Brock Lesnar in 2017.

Joe had made a big splash in WWE following his long-awaited arrival in the company in 2015 – alongside AJ Styles, he had arguably been the biggest American-based wrestler to not work for the company.

He had initially pitched up in NXT, becoming the first two-time World Champion on that brand before debuting on the main roster in early 2017, attacking Seth Rollins and aligning with Triple H, who was feuding with his former protégé at this time.

Joe was one of Lesnar's best title challengers ever

In the summer, Joe moved into Universal Championship contention, first challenging Brock Lesnar for his title at Great Balls of Fire. While he came up short, he tested The Beast both physically and mentally like few other wrestlers had before.

This led to a fatal four-way match at Summerslam, with Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman being added. This was a true clash of the heavyweights but Joe came off as the biggest threat to the Champion, which was clear in his no-nonsense verbal assault on him in the build up to the match.

Take a look at the Twitter clip below (provided by @Ritamrakshit516), in which Joe lets Lesnar know that he has his number and is the one to beat him, and that Paul Heyman knows it.

VIDEO: Samoa Joe lets loose on Brock Lesnar

The segment showcased Joe, but also Roman Reigns and Kurt Angle

Joe was always a brilliant promo but here he looks like a total killer, and someone you just do not want to mess with. The fact Lesnar seems genuinely concerned by him only adds to the believability of the segment.

Other interesting things to note are the roles of Roman Reigns and Kurt Angle. Reigns is a complete afterthought in proceedings, which perhaps summed up his miscast role as both a babyface and permanent main eventer before he was ready. The fans are much more engaged by what Joe has to say than anything to do with the Big Dog.

Brock Lesnar

Angle, on the other hand, at the time was the Raw General Manager and is there to keep things in check. It is a great shot however – the Olympic Gold Medallist in between his greatest WWE rival, Lesnar, and his greatest TNA rival, Samoa Joe. What a triple threat it could have been.

Despite Joe’s immense promo, he didn’t win the Universal title as Lesnar retained. His reign would continue on until the next Summerslam, clearing over 500 days in the process.

Joe's WWE career could have been so much more

Samoa Joe continued to be hugely over with WWE fans but it was not reflected in his main roster run, as a result of both booking and injury issues. He moved into commentary and then back to NXT (another title making him the only three-time winner) before departing as part of the mass releases in the last 18 months.

Samoa Joe

Joe is now both the Ring of Honor TV and TNT Champion in AEW, but for a while it seemed as he might become a World Champion in WWE.