Samoa Joe Returning To WWE? – Samoa Joe was released back on April 15 along with other budget cuts, but word now, via Fightful Select, is that he could be headed back to the NXT brand, at least if talents there have heard things correctly.
Multiple NXT wrestlers and staff members say that they heard NXT officials, not anyone specific, have been interested in bringing Joe in. There have been pushes within WWE to bring back some of the recently released wrestlers, and Joe is one of those. We noted before that there is also a push to have Aleister Black brought back, but he is also rumored to join AEW later this summer.
Regarding the push to bring Joe back, apparently the support is working as multiple sources in the company and one outside of the company have heard that NXT officials want to bring Joe back as a wrestler. He had been working as a RAW commentator at the time of his release.
Joe originally signed with WWE in May 2015 and went on to become a two-time NXT Champion. He also won the 2015 NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Joe was called to the main roster on the January 30, 2017 RAW, and immediately received a push. He won the WWE United States Title twice, but ended up moving to the RAW announce table in 2019 after suffering injuries. Joe returned to the ring after that, but another injury put him back on the shelf and then he violated the WWE Wellness Policy in late February 2020. Joe had been working commentary for several months before he was released. His last match came on the February 10, 2020 RAW, when he teamed with The Viking Raiders and Kevin Owens for an eight-man tag team loss to Seth Rollins, Buddy Murphy and AOP.
There is no word yet on if a deal has been reached or even offered to Joe, but it’s heavily speculated within NXT, and some believe the return will happen.
