Samoa Joe has been reportedly released from his WWE contract for the second time in under a year. The news of Joe’s release broke on Thursday January 6th. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful broke the news on social media:
Samoa Joe has been released by WWE, Fightful has confirmed with the company.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) January 6, 2022
More details to come on https://t.co/jy8u4a7WDa this evening. pic.twitter.com/qmr6AC8mpR
The news of the release comes shortly after another round of cuts to hit NXT, which included former NXT General Manager William Regal. The release of the former NXT Champion continues the theme of WWE releasing mainstays of the black and gold version of NXT to move forward with the new direction of NXT 2.0. While WWE have not commented on the release of Joe, the former WWE star has said the following:
Extremely fortunate and grateful to all the young & amazing talent I had the pleasure of working with in the past months. Only saddened at the loss of an “excuse” to see their continued growth & achievement . I am very excited for there future,….. and mine 🙃
— Samoa Joe (@SamoaJoe) January 7, 2022
Samoa Joe was initially released in April 2021 as part of one the first round of many cuts that year. The former United States Champion would then return to the company shortly after, where he was reinstated as an active superstar and won the NXT Championship from Karrion Kross at NXT TakeOver 36. However, the 3 time NXT Champion never defended the title, as Joe vacated the gold due to injury shortly after the victory. The nature or length of this injury was never addressed, and Samoa Joe has not been seen inside of a WWE ring since the victory at TakeOver. It should be noted that in a report by Fightful Select, it was believed that Joe was “all done in-ring.” and once he was stripped of the title “there wasn’t much chatter of him returning to the ring.”
It is believed that Samoa Joe will have a 30 day non-compete clause following this release.
Featured image: Post Wrestling
