At TakeOver 36, Samoa Joe will return to the ring for the first time since February 2020. Joe was concussed while filming a commercial and has been out of action ever since. This weekend, he’ll face Karrion Kross with the NXT Championship on the line.
Joe spoke to Sports Illustrated recently about finally being cleared to return.
“My goal has always been to get healthy and get back in the ring,” Joe says. “[Getting cleared], it was a feeling of reassurance and relief. It was very reaffirming. Everything we did, all the therapy, all that work was worth it.”
Joe spent a little under a year as a commentator on RAW. He was released from the role earlier this spring. He says it gave him something to put his energy towards while he was out.
“Commentary gave me something to focus on and put my energy into while I was recovering. I enjoyed my time in the commentary booth. I threw myself so deeply into that because it kept me from driving myself crazy. Only time and healing were going to solve anything, so doing commentary helped me alleviate a little bit of that stress I put on myself.”
Shortly after being cut from the main roster, Joe signed with NXT. At first, he was William Regal’s enforcer but that only set the stage for his feud with Karrion Kross and return to the ring.
“This is very real to me,” Joe continued. “The hours of training to come back, those are very real. It’s been very real to me for a long time. I can’t wait to get back in the ring and mix it up.”
Joe has a chance to enter the record books this weekend as the first person to hold the NXT Championship 3 times. He already holds the record as the first person to hold the title twice. Since Joe’s second title reign, Shinsuke Nakamura, Finn Balor, and Karrion Kross have all won the title a second time as well.
