Samoa Joe's First TNT Title Defense Announced For AEW Dynamite
It's now been a week and a half since Samoa Joe became the second double champion in AEW history. At Full Gear, he defeated Powerhouse Hobbs and Wardlow and added the AEW TNT Championship to his collection to go with his ROH Television Championship. After a well-deserved breather, Joe will be putting that title on the line tonight on "AEW Dynamite" against the newest member of the AEW roster.
AEW boss Tony Khan revealed the details of Joe's title defense via Twitter: "TNT Championship Open Challenge, Samoa Joe vs AR Fox. The new TNT Champion, the double champ Samoa Joe will defend the TNT Title in an open challenge against the newest signing in AEW AR Fox LIVE on TBS TONIGHT!"
TONIGHT@TBSNetwork
8pm ET/7pm CT
Wednesday Night #AEWDynamiteTNT Championship Open Challenge@SamoaJoe vs @ARealFoxx
The new TNT Champion, the double champ Samoa Joe will defend the TNT Title in an open challenge against the newest signing in @AEW AR Fox LIVE on TBS TONIGHT! pic.twitter.com/61MCCW9W83
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) November 30, 2022
Khan's announcement came not long after he had officially introduced Fox as "All Elite" this afternoon. The long-time independent wrestler — arguably best known for his run in Lucha Underground as Dante Fox – was offered a contract weeks ago after impressing Khan both on "AEW Dark" and "AEW Dark: Elevation" and then on "Dynamite" where he and Top Flight challenged Death Triangle for the AEW World Trios Championships.
While both Fox and Joe are veterans who had significant success in the past on the independent circuit, this will be their first-ever singles encounter and only the second match the two have ever had together. The two had previously teamed together one time for Tri-State indie promotion Squared Circle Wrestling in April of 2015, where they defeated Cheech and JT Dunn.