The Destroyer Profile
Samoa Joe is one of professional wrestling's most decorated and respected veterans — a career spanning over two decades that has produced world championship reigns in virtually every major North American promotion. In AEW, Joe has been a cornerstone performer since joining the promotion: a physical, credible, menacing presence whose matches consistently deliver quality irrespective of opponent or stipulation.
Joe's career includes championship reigns in TNA/Impact (multiple TNA World Championship reigns), ROH (ROH World Championship), and NXT (2× NXT Championship) before his AEW career. His submission finishing hold — the Coquina Clutch (rear naked choke) — has put some of the most resilient wrestlers in history to sleep. In AEW, Joe has captured the AEW World Championship twice, proving his relevance at the highest level of the promotion well into his veteran years. His challenge to Jon Moxley at Dynasty 2026 is not a nostalgia booking — it is a legitimate main event collision between two of the most violent brawlers in the industry.
Finisher
Coquina Clutch
AEW World Reigns
2×
Career Span
20+ Years
Style
Power / Submission
Joe's Path to the Dynasty Title Shot
Samoa Joe's route to the AEW World Championship match at Dynasty 2026 has been built through sustained credibility — not a gimmick, not a surprise, but the accumulation of in-ring results that demanded the company take him seriously as a contender once again. Coming off a strong recent run that demonstrated Joe at his most focused and motivated, AEW management and fans alike recognised the compelling nature of this matchup: Joe versus Moxley is the kind of hard-hitting, no-frills main event that AEW's core audience came to the promotion for in the first place.
His recent form has been impressive. Joe has been working at a high physical standard with notable wins over credible opponents in the months preceding Dynasty 2026. His submission win rate is one of the highest on the roster and his psychology in multi-man and singles matches has been consistently lauded by the wrestling press. The combination of proven championship pedigree, current form, and the natural storytelling tension with Moxley gave AEW a clean, no-risk path to a Dynasty main event that sells itself.
This is not a transitional challenger. Joe is a former two-time AEW World Champion walking into the building where the title lives — and his Coquina Clutch is the most credible threat to Moxley's reign from a pure submission danger standpoint.
3 Ways Joe Can Beat Moxley
The Coquina Clutch
The rear naked choke is arguably the most legitimate finishing hold in professional wrestling — and Joe's application of it is the tightest in the business. Moxley brawls, bleeds, and fights through pain, but once the Coquina Clutch is locked in with Joe's full body weight behind it, even the most resilient champions have gone unconscious. If Joe can survive Moxley's opening intensity and isolate one opportunity to lock in the choke, the match is over. A submission victory over Moxley would be one of the most memorable AEW moments of 2026.
Strikes & Knockout Power
Joe's striking game is underrated outside hardcore wrestling circles. His jabs, chops, and running enzuigiri are stiff enough to look legitimately dangerous — and in a war with Moxley, where both men trade heavy shots, Joe's conditioning and striking precision could be the difference. A well-timed lariat or powerbomb combination that catches Moxley off-guard during a brawl exchange is a completely believable path to a pinfall victory. Joe hurts people. It is not a character trait — it is his in-ring reality.
The Mental Game: Outlasting Mox
Jon Moxley's brawling style is designed to drag opponents into chaos — blood, weapons, frantic pacing — and overwhelm them psychologically. But Samoa Joe has walked into violent matches his entire career and never blinked. His mental fortitude is a championship asset. If Joe can slow the pace, frustrate Moxley's attempts to escalate the violence to a chaotic level, and grind the match into a technical submission battle, Joe neutralises the one arena where Moxley truly thrives. The champion who fights a controlled, patient Joe is in more danger than the one who brawls with a frantic Joe.
Joe vs Moxley: A Long and Violent History
Samoa Joe and Jon Moxley (Dean Ambrose in WWE) share a professional history that spans from Ring of Honor to WWE to AEW — a connection that makes this Dynasty 2026 main event feel less like a randomly assigned title match and more like a long-overdue reckoning between two men who have fundamentally shaped the same era of professional wrestling.
ROH Origins — Shared DNA
Both men passed through Ring of Honor during their career formative years. Though their ROH tenures did not extensively overlap, the influence of ROH's hard-hitting, no-frills style on both performers is unmistakable — and creates an unspoken understanding between them when they lock up.
WWE NXT — The Emergence
Joe and Moxley (as Dean Ambrose) both achieved major prominence through WWE — Joe as NXT Champion, Moxley as a member of The Shield and later WWE and Universal Champion. Their parallel rises during the mid-2010s made them natural candidates for a definitive singles collision that WWE ultimately never fully delivered.
AEW — The Collision Finally Happens
Both men joined AEW in different capacities and their paths have crossed repeatedly. The AEW World Championship has been the backdrop to their most meaningful shared storylines — two men who respect each other's violence, who understand what the other is capable of, and who both believe they are the most dangerous person in professional wrestling.
Dynasty 2026 — The Definitive Chapter
With Moxley as the entrenched AEW World Champion and Joe as the challenger who has earned his shot through merit, Dynasty 2026 represents the clearest possible expression of what these two men do best: violent, legitimate-feeling professional wrestling with championship stakes and genuine unpredictability.
The mutual respect between Joe and Moxley does not soften the match — it intensifies it. Neither man feels the need to grandstand or resort to cheap tactics. They will fight, and the better man on March 30 will either capture or retain the AEW World Championship.
Prediction
Our Prediction
Moxley Retains — By Controversial Means
Joe makes this match extraordinarily competitive. The first half of the match is Joe's — he slows the pace, absorbs Moxley's early aggression, and locks in the Coquina Clutch in a sequence that makes the entire arena believe he has won the AEW World Championship. Moxley escapes — barely, and suspiciously — possibly due to a rope break, a distraction, or a borderline referee error that keeps the crowd buzzing with controversy.
Moxley eventually retains via a close near-fall after a Death Rider that Joe kicks out of at two, followed by a second attempt that gets the three count — or alternatively a referee stoppage after Moxley locks in his own submission on a bloodied Joe. The finish is designed to leave Joe's credibility intact while protecting Moxley's reign. The post-match dynamics set up the next chapter for both men heading into the spring and summer AEW calendar.