There are a few more details on Samoa Joe’s exit from WWE.
Fightful reports that Joe handled everything as professionally as possible. He was actually let go on Wednesday but the news of his release did not break until the next day.
Since WWE sent out a statement about backstage personnel (not talent) being let go, this would mean that they considered Joe to be done as an in-ring competitor. Joe had been coaching at the Performance Center and he was at the recent talent tryouts along with William Regal. It was also noted that one source was shocked when Joe was cleared to wrestle in NXT again last year.
Last August, Joe told Corey Graves on the After The Bell podcast that there was a lot of concern about his health and whether he could wrestle again. Joe has not said what his injury was but the belief among people in WWE is that he was dealing with concussion issues. Joe said this in August: “It was a much worse type of injury than I think I had dealt with before. It scared me. It scared a lot of people that care about me too. They were very, very concerned. It became very easy to make that the focus as far as what I wanted to do, and when I wanted to come back. It inevitably all hinged on that, just making sure I was alright, and making sure I was feeling good. When I came back to the ring, I didn’t want to come back in a 70% capacity. I wanted to make sure I can come back and give the best I could to the fans.”
Joe’s return to NXT was short-lived and his name was not mentioned again after the NXT Championship was stripped from him. Dave Meltzer reported in September that Joe’s NXT role was not to be a full-time wrestler. Fightful reported today that people in WWE are under the impression that Joe will wrestle again.
