Samoa Joe’s savage taunting of Seth Rollins & his fans on Twitter is best for business

Even as most of the wrestling media with actual sources inside WWE come out with reports the Seth Rollins’ knee injury the company revealed this morning (Feb. 1) is real and not a storyline, some fans aren’t buying it.

Their chief piece of evidence is the Twitter account of one Samoa Joe, the wrestler who attacked Rollins on Raw, where the injury looks to have occurred.

Whether or not Seth is hurt, Joe’s job is to sell his Raw angle and get a reaction from audiences. To that end, he’s engaging in full-on kayfabe savagery today with just a couple Tweets:

Some believe there’s no way Joe would be so cold if his co-worker was really hurt. Those folks don’t remember the numerous times when WWE’s used real injuries in storylines, I guess.

Beyond that, the reaction Joe is getting from some quarters borders on hatred, especially for those who view a possible second knee surgery in a little over a year for Seth as a “tragedy”. It’s important to remember that, just like heel Rollins cackled about putting Finn Balor on the shelf after their SummerSlam match, the Destroyer is acting in a role WWE pays him to play.

Of course, as with Seth in that situation last August, Joe is walking a fine work/shoot line regarding injuries. He was wrestling Tyson Kidd when the Muscle Buster finish led to a career-ending injury for Kidd, and was taken to task for it by at least a couple veterans, so this latest incident has resulted in his being labeled “unsafe” by some. Fellow wrestlers and insiders have defended both Rollins and Joe against such accusations, but they’ll likely continue to linger.

Personally, as someone who’s never worked or even trained as a pro wrestler, I can’t judge. But even being “just a fan”, I know to not blame - and even appreciate - Joe for doing his job on social media.

Be bummed about Rollins possibly being on the shelf for a while, but don’t turn a work into a shoot.