WWE has announced that Samoa Joe suffered an injury during his match against Rhyno on this week’s episode of RAW.
A report at WWE.com features comments from WWE Senior Ringside Physician Dr. Chris Amann:
“During his match, [Samoa Joe] felt a pop at the bottom of his [right] foot. We took a look and believe he has a plantar fascia rupture, which is a thick tissue rupture under the foot. We will get an MRI to confirm. Treatment includes a period of immobilization in a boot with crutches and platelet rich plasma injections.”
RAW General Manager Kurt Angle announced that due to Joe’s injury, he has been pulled from the fan poll to determine Bayley’s partner in the Mixed Match Challenge tournament. Joe had been the front-runner in the poll by a longshot. As a result of Joe’s injury, Elias (the runner-up) will team with Bayley.
Thank you all for voting for @itsBayleyWWE partner in #WWEMMC, but due to an injury suffered on #Raw @SamoaJoe is unable to compete…
— Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) January 9, 2018
…therefore the runner-up @IAmEliasWWE will be Bayley’s partner. #WWEMMC
— Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) January 9, 2018
As of this writing, Joe is still advertised to participate in the Royal Rumble match on January 28th.
On the bright side, Samoa Joe wil be joining the cast of the new Transformers animated series, Power of the Primes. Joe be the voice of the character Predaking. The show premieres in mid-2018 and also features Mark Hamill and Ron Perlman as cast members.
Very happy to announce I am joining the cast of the new Transformers animated series. #PredaKingLives #transformers https://t.co/HCP5yxoQkk
— Samoa Joe (@SamoaJoe) January 9, 2018