– Samoa Joe is currently out of action recovering from a knee injury that took place at a recent WWE live event in a match against John Cena. Joe last wrestled on the post-SummerSlam edition of RAW on August 21st, when he Joe teamed with the Miz in the main event against John Cena and Roman Reigns.
While initial estimates had Joe on the sidelines until early October, the latest on Joe is that he’ll be probably won’t be back in the ring until late October – after the RAW brand’s Tables, Ladders, Chairs pay-per-view on 10/22.
– In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer provided additional information regarding the issues surrounding Mauro Ranallo’s hiatus from WWE earlier this year, the bullying culture in WWE and JBL’s recent announcement that he’s leaving his role as a broadcaster on SmackDown Live.
According to the report, Mauro Ranallo leaving the company back in April was not entirely due to JBL’s bulling, but more so about the culture of the company going back several years. JBL certainly played a role, but the belief is that JBL’s on-air comments towards him were coming from “somebody else.”
Prior to returning to WWE, Mauro Ranallo spoke to the Associated Press about his decision to walk away from his “dream job” on SmackDown. “I was willing to walk away from my dream job, let’s leave it at that,” he said. “In order for me to do that, I had to be true to my convictions and what makes you a human being.”
When Ranallo returned to the company in June as one of the lead announcers for NXT, the terms of his new agreement included that he’d be reporting to Michael Cole and Triple H, not Vince McMahon. With the Mauro Ranallo situation resolved, JBL made his own decision to leave WWE television and it was unrelated to their previous disputes.
