Ring of Honor has announced the final wrestler to be inducted into the promotion’s inaugural Hall of Fame class. CM Punk joins Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, and Mark and Jay Briscoe as the first inductees.

Punk is a 1x ROH World Champion, having held the title June 18th, 2005 until August 12th, 2005. He also twice held the promotion’s tag-team titles along with Colt Cabana.

News on Samoa Joe’s, Bryan Danielson’s, and the Briscoes’ Hall of Fame inductions is below.

Samoa Joe To Be Inducted Into ROH Hall of Fame

Ring of Honor announced today that Samoa Joe will be inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame. Joe joins Bryan Danielson and the Briscoes in the inaugural class of wrestlers to be inducted. The final inductee will be announced next week.

“Ring of Honor is proud to welcome Samoa Joe, the most dominant ROH World Champion in history, into the inaugural class of the ROH Hall of Fame,” ROH wrote. “From the first time he stepped into an ROH ring in 2002, Joe proved to be an intimidating force whose hard-hitting offense, intensity and relentlessness made him one of the sport’s most dangerous competitors.”

Joe was the 3rd ever ROH World Champion. He held the title for a record 645 days until dropping it to Austin Aries at Final Battle 2004. Joe would then win the ROH Pure Championship in May of 2005. He held that title for 112 days and 6 title defenses before dropping it to Nigel McGuiness.

Ring of Honor returns to live events on April 1st from the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas for Supercard of Honor XV. The only match announced thus far is Jonathan Gresham vs Bandido for the undisputed ROH World Championship.

Bryan Danielson To Be Inducted Into ROH Hall of Fame

Bryan Danielson has been announced as the next member of Ring of Honor Hall of Fame’s inaugural Class of 2022.

Danielson is considered a “founding father” of Ring of Honor. He wrestled for the promotion from its inception. He competed in the main event of the first ROH event, Era of Honor Begins. He defeated Low Ki and Christopher Daniels, setting the stage for what would be a very memorable run.

Danielson held the ROH World Championship from September 2005 to December 2006. He defended the title a record 38 times and had one of the longest ROH World title reigns in history.

Ring of Honor has referred to Danielson as “the embodiment of fighting spirit and technical wrestling excellence.”

The Briscoes Announced As First Inductees Into ROH Hall of Fame

The first inductees into the inaugural ROH Hall of Fame class are Jay and Mark, The Briscoe Brothers.

As announced on February 4th, “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson is also part of the ROH Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022.

Additional inductees will be announced on February 14th and 21st.

Ring of Honor will be rolling out new content to highlight the ROH Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022. Each episode of ROH TV in February will be devoted to a Hall of Fame inductee.

There will also be weekly YouTube specials focusing on these talented athletes.

For more information, visit ROHWrestling.com.

• ROH SuperCard of Honor Announced for WrestleMania 38 Weekend

Kurt Angle believes Samoa Joe has some time left before he decides to hang up his boots.

Angle and Joe had a memorable feud in TNA Wrestling. Joe was Angle’s first big rival in TNA. To this day, Angle doesn’t believe it was the right move to have a program with Joe right away because he would’ve rather had Joe go over.

Joe is known by hardcore fans for his ROH and TNA runs but of course, he also spent time in WWE. Joe was a former three-time NXT Champion and competed on the main roster. He even did some color commentator but Joe is no longer with WWE.

Samoa Joe Not Done In The Ring?

Taking to The Kurt Angle Show, the Olympic gold medalist and WWE Hall of Famer predicted that Samoa Joe will continue his in-ring career.

“I believe we haven’t seen the last of him. I think he has more time left, I think he has more in the tank and he’s gonna produce for the fans.”

When asked what would make Joe a good mentor for younger talent, Angle had the following to say.

“Well, he has incredible knowledge and he is one of the most articulate individuals I’ve ever known. Joe can cut a promo like nobody else.

“His in-ring skills are incredible and what he has as far as athleticism, he has a lot to teach the young talent. I think that he would be an incredible teacher. I hope he continues to be one.”

Joe’s WWE release was a part of a slew of NXT departures. WWE has been gutting HHH’s vision of NXT.

Gone are the black and gold colors and the push to sign indie talent. Instead, NXT is now back to being a developmental hub with WWE focusing on younger and larger talent.

Please H/T SEScoops with a link if you use any quotes from this article

Samoa Joe is leaving the WWE for the second time in less than a year.

Fightful Select reports that WWE has released Samoa Joe. Joe has not been on WWE TV since he dropped the NXT Championship due to injury. The company released him the first time due to budget cuts. It’s unclear what the reason is behind the WWE decision this time.

“…Fightful has confirmed Samoa Joe has been let go from WWE. The company has confirmed the news to us,” said the report.

Joe has released a statement on Twitter regarding his second departure from the WWE. In the post, he praised the new talent in NXT 2.0 and seems optimistic about his professional wrestling future.

“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 their future,… and mine,” said Joe

Recent WWE Releases

WWE has released both talent and employees in the last two days. Yesterday, the WWE released notable names like former NXT General Manager William Regal, Timothy Thatcher, Danny Burch, Hideki Suzuki, and Road Dogg. This news follows an unfortunate trend that the company has done over the last year, as the company released over 80 talent in 2021. WWE’s reason for letting talent go was also due to budget cuts.

Samoa Joe Last Run in WWE

Joe is coming off of a brief run in NXT. He returned to NXT on June 15, 2021, as Regal’s Special Enforcer. However, NXT had Joe challenge former NXT champion Karrion Kross for the title two months later at NXT Takeover 36. He defeated Kross to become a three-time NXT Champion.

Unfortunately for Joe, he wasn’t able to defend the title because Joe suffered an undisclosed injury that forced him to vacate the championship. During this time, NXT rebranded itself into NXT 2.0 and started to showcase newer talent. While NXT 2.0 introduced new talent like the current NXT Champion Bron Breakker, some NXT veterans have left the company.

While Joe’s departure from the WWE seems sudden, he seems focused on what’s next for him. It’s unclear how long Joe will be a free agent in the pro wrestling business.

A lot of people were skeptical about it until CM Punk actually made his return to wrestling. Though Samoa Joe knew it was bound to happen, long before anyone else.

The former NXT champion recently made an appearance on the Kurt Angle podcast. He discussed things such as wrestling the straight edge star very early in his career during their ROH days and more.

Talking about Punk making his pro wrestling return earlier this year, Joe claimed that he knew the former world champion would be back as soon as he saw him on the set of WWE Backstage:

“If I know one thing about Punk: if he’s out on something, he’s out on it,” he began. “You won’t see him being around it, you won’t see him looking at it. You won’t see him staring at it, it’s out of his.”

Joe added, “The minute I saw him on the FOX set, I knew his eyes were turning back towards it.”

He continued by saying that he thinks CM Punk was just looking for the right time to step back into the ring after that. He wanted to be happy and from whatever Joe has seen of his AEW run so far, the former WWE champion is happy.

CM Punk joined the WWE Backstage panel in November 2019. He officially made his pro wrestling return back in August this year and went on to make his in-ring return at the All Out PPV in September.

• Samoa Joe Approves Of NXT’s New Direction: ‘Just Another Era’

H/T to Fightful for the transcribed quotes

Kurt Angle wasn’t exactly gung-ho about his first feud with Samoa Joe in TNA Wrestling.

Angle signed with TNA back in 2006 after an eight-year run with WWE. In his first pivotal feud with the company, Angle went to war with “The Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe. It was a memorable rivalry for many fans who watched the product back then but the Olympic gold medalist took issue with it.

During an episode of The Kurt Angle Show, Angle discussed why he didn’t like the idea of going one-on-one with Joe right away.

“I don’t know. I did not like that because Samoa Joe was undefeated. I felt like if I came into the company and started out with someone else, Joe and I could work up to each other in six months to a year. Really build our program, but they wanted to slingshot this thing and do it really quickly. Unfortunately, I ended Joe’s undefeated streak the first pay per view I wrestled. It made no sense at all. I just felt like we could’ve built this up, done a lot more pay per view buys if we built it the correct way instead of slingshotting it. That’s what the company wanted, so that’s what I did.”

Joe did eventually pick up a massive victory over Angle. He defeated Kurt for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship back in 2008 in a Title vs. Career match. Joe’s reign lasted 182 days and it was his only run with the championship.

Today, Angle is retired from pro wrestling while Joe is featured on the NXT brand for WWE. Joe recently was forced to relinquish the NXT Championship due to an injury.

Before he vacated the NXT Championship over the weekend, Samoa Joe spoke to Sportsnet, the home of NXT in Canada. Joe was asked about the new direction for NXT and said that the brand has always been a place of change, NXT 2.0 is just the latest continuation of that.

“It’ll just be a continuation of what NXT has always been,” said Joe. “It’s always been a place of change, it’s always been a place of flux. I’m a little shocked that everybody is as surprised about the change because it’s never been the same from one year to the next.”

The 3-time NXT Champion says NXT has a history of defined eras. NXT 2.0 will just be yet another era for the developmental brand.

“With change always comes a little bit of uncertainty, but I’m looking forward to it.”

– Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe’s In-Ring Future

When Joe vacated the NXT title over the weekend he did not mention what his specific injury was or how long he will be out.

He spoke with Sportsnet about getting back in the ring after dealing with concussion injuries, however. According to Joe, he was not going to resume his in-ring career if there were lingering issues doctors felt were serious.

“If there were some lingering issues that I felt were serious (and) the doctors felt were serious … then I wasn’t going to get back in the ring,” Joe said.

“I was going to take the time, all the time that I needed, and I was going to come back feeling stronger, and 100-percent. I wasn’t really concerning myself with career moves (like), ‘oh is it over, is it this or is it that?’” 

Joe returned to NXT shortly after being released from WWE this spring. At first, he was not in a wrestling role but was positioned as William Regal’s enforcer. This led to a feud with Karrion Kross and him winning the NXT title for a third time.

Joe is the only wrestler to have won the title on 3 occasions. He’s held the title for a combined 156 days, good for 8th all-time.

Samoa Joe was originally going to make an appearance on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, per reports from Fightful select.

According to the site, the former NXT champion was scheduled to make an appearance on the red branded show to promote the relaunch of NXT:

“We’re not sure what Joe was scheduled to do or if he’ll remain on the program, but we were told it was in relation to promoting the relaunch of NXT on Tuesday night.”

WWE has been teasing the launch of a new version of NXT for this Tuesday with a revamped set, new logo, and a new direction for the brand in terms of storyline and character development.

Samoa Joe announced this past Sunday that he is relinquishing the NXT championship. He was informed by the WWE doctors that “certain injuries” will prevent him from wrestling anytime soon.

The company has since confirmed the plans for the vacant title. They have announced a fatal four-way match among Tommaso Ciampa, Kyle O’Reilly, Pete Dunne and LA Knight for this week’s episode of the show to determine the new champion.

There is no word yet on how long Joe is expected to stay out of action. We’ll keep you posted about his status and future with the black and yellow brand.

Samoa Joe has relinquished the NXT Championship due undisclosed injuries. Although Joe did promise to be back soon, Joe says WWE’s medical team would not clear him to compete or give him a solid timetable for a return. The situation involving Joe and the NXT Championship was recently addressed on Wrestling Observer Radio.

Joe surrendering the title reportedly has to do with him not being one of the talents is NXT will focus on moving forward. “It’s a weird story,” said Dave Meltzer. “Essentially, he’s still with the company but I don’t know if he’s going to be wrestling much.”

After being released from the main roster in the spring, Joe signed with NXT and was initially brought back as General Manager William Regal’s enforcer.

“The official thing that I was just told is that he was hired to be more of an administrator, more of a front office person than a wrestler, so that’s going to be his job.”

A revamped version of NXT will debut this Tuesday night on the USA Network. The new era will kick off with the vacated championship as a top storyline.

“The idea with NXT now is to develop stars for the future and Joe is in his 40s and is not the future. He’s going to be a coach and a trainer and things like that based on what I was told,” Meltzer continued.

Samoa Joe won the NXT Championship from Karrion Kross just a few weeks ago Takeover 36 during SummerSlam weekend.

The NXT Championship has been vacated.

Samoa Joe has relinquished the title just days before the black and gold brand is set to undergo an image overhaul.

According to a video he posted on social media, Samoa Joe recently met with WWE’s medical team. They informed him that “certain injuries” will prevent him from wrestling any time soon.

“Effective immediately, I relinquish the NXT Championship.”

– Samoa Joe

Joe sounds optimistic that he’ll be back soon, saying he’d be out for “a brief, yet still indeterminate amount of time.”

Samoa Joe returned to NXT in June to ensure NXT and its championship received the respect and integrity they are due. He won the title just a few weeks ago at Takeover 36 during SummerSlam weekend.

Joe wishes luck to whoever vies for the prize and warned that he’ll be seeking it again when he’s cleared.

WWE NXT Champion Samoa Joe recently spoke to Mediotiempo. The Samoan Submission Machine discussed several topics during the interview, including who he sees on the NXT roster as talents for the future.

“I open the doors to everyone, it’s time for them to stop looking and start acting” Samoa Joe responded when asked who should step up to him on the roster, including former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Santos Escobar.

“I didn’t see him show [what he has] when he should’ve done, but I always want to fight the best, regardless of whether they are Mexicans or of any nationality, [but only] if they worthy of challenging me for the championship. Of course I give the option to Santos, and all those who want to put themselves to the test,” Joe continued.

Samoa Joe on Santos Escobar

“He is an exceptional talent, comes from a family fighting legacy and knows perfectly well about this business” Joe added. “He is athletic, agile, he knows how to fly, but he has also understood what we are looking for in WWE, he shows personality and charisma, he is definitely one of the best in NXT. Not for nothing, but he has already held a championship.”

It remains to be seen if Santos Escobar will be used in a main event capacity on NXT going forward.

It will also be interesting to see how long Joe remains NXT Champion, as the company is reportedly looking to move away from ‘indie’ talents and develop more homegrown athletes to rise the ranks to the main roster.

Samoa Joe recently had an interview with Alex McCarthy of TalkSport. During the discussion, they touched on topics such as the recent WWE tryout in LA, former UK champion Walter possibly facing Joe, and more.

The Samoan submission machine has not only become the face of the black and yellow brand once again after winning the NXT championship, but he is also helping recruit new talents behind the scenes.

Due to his new backstage role, Joe is well aware of the new directive from the upper management. During the interview, he confirmed that the new orders come straight from the boss Vince McMahon himself:

“As for the directive, yeah, there is a directive and they do come straight from Vince [McMahon], Vince says, ‘hey, this is what we want.’  But, the directives, it’s weird. They’ve been around forever.  I worked for WWE in developmental when I very, very first started in California, and these directives existed.

But, they change. It changes based on the needs of the company. It’s funny, I read the articles – I know exactly what you’re talking about – I read the outrage about the directive, and I’m like, this is nothing different. And then next week, the directive will be different.”

• Nick Khan Confirms NXT Rebrand, Distancing From Indie Wrestlers

‘A Little Bit Younger And More Athletic’

Samoa Joe claimed that the company has had cycles where different types of people come in from independent talents to athletes. He explained that the directives change based on the needs of the company:

“The directive right now is probably a little bit younger and looking for a little more athletic, which isn’t terrible whatsoever, but that directive will invariably shift as the needs as the company shifts. So yeah, there is a directive, it comes from Vince, we all follow it and we get the job done for him. We’re happy to do so,”

Samoa Joe later compared the role of talent relations to a casting agency in Hollywood. He explained how agencies get requests for different kinds of talents at different times. Their job is to find suitable people according to the need.

Samoa Joe came face-to-face in the ring with then-WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at the Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view event in 2017. Lesnar was able to successfully defend his title against Joe but he was able to land in a few blows. Before the match had even started, Joe attacked Lesnar with a Uranage Slam through the announce table and then a Coquina Clutch after the match had officially started. Joe tried the move two more times in the match but Lesnar was able to counter every time and won with an F-5.

Speaking about this match, Samoa Joe said that Brock Lesnar likes his matches to be intense and they both had a gentlemen’s agreement that they were both going to smash each other in the face.

“I think it really comes down to the simple fact that, when Brock shows up for fight night, he wants to be in a scrap,” Joe told The Daily Star. “He wants to go out there and he wants someone who is going to smash someone in the face, and he wants to smash somebody back!

Samoa Joe explained that they had this understanding with each other that whenever they’d meet in the ring they would not hold back. “It’s an attitude. He wants people to go in there and go after him. It is all of those things.”

Samoa Joe added that the reason him and Lesnar have such chemistry in the ring is because they are both stepping in the ring for causing mayhem and nothing else. He joked that they both had this unspoken agreement about it. “I think that was the simplistic but major reason that we click the way we do; we step in the ring and we’re stepping in there for chaos and destruction to happen, and nothing less than that. I guess it’s some weird, unspoken gentlemen’s agreement we have!”

Read more: Samoa Joe Doesn’t See the Benefit of the Forbidden Door

Samoa Joe is a name that wrestling fans around the world know and love. An indie superstar who became a household name. From spells with ROH and Impact to spells in Japan and dominance in WWE. Joe has fought them all, beat them all and conquered every challenge that has come his way.

With the wrestling world starting a new phase in its continuing evolution. The forbidden door is well and truly open. Dream matches that many never thought possible are now happening week-in and week-out. Yet, Samoa Joe does not support this concept at all. In fact, talking in a recent appearance on So Catch by Hal, Joe made it very clear just how much he would like to close that door.

“I work for a company,” Joe said. “If I played for a major football club, you wouldn’t lend me out on the weekend to go play for the rival team. Messi’s ain’t doing day shifts over at Manchester United. I understand some fans want for that and they want to see that, but at the same time, just with the whole politics of that type of situation, it wouldn’t be a good outcome anyways. Nobody wants to look bad in that situation. Everyone’s getting pushed and pulled in a certain way and it becomes a convoluted mess.

Samoa Joe Doesn’t Need the Forbidden Door

There is an argument to be made that this stance of a WWE stance. However, it could just be that now, at his age he has achieved what others strive for. Joe simply doesn’t need the Forbidden Door. He has been around the world; he has fought everybody there is to fight. Not to mention being a record-setting three-time NXT champion. He has a base, and it is established.

“If guys want to show and get down with Samoa Joe, get on my level, then come find me and let’s do this. I ain’t making house calls right now.”

While for others, those hungry to get on the ladder or to make a name in the way Joe has done, the prospect of fighting on other promotions, and exposing their individual brand to new audiences is a means to obtaining that.

Either way, Samoa Joe, while steadfast in his view, still isn’t going to back down from a fight. Should anybody want to come sign for NXT he will be waiting for them.

The new NXT champion Samoa Joe was recently interviewed by French YouTuber Hal. He talked about things such as his firing from WWE, a potential return to Raw or SmackDown, and more.

Recent reports about upcoming NXT revamps have been a major topic of discussion among wrestling fans. People have been concerned about Vince McMahon’s apparent directions to change the hiring philosophy for the brand.

Joe was asked what the boss thinks about the brand during the talk. Replying to it, he claimed that Mr McMahon perceives NXT as the future of the company:

“I think he perceives it as the future of his company. I think that he’s heavily invested in it. It’s funny, you know, I read all this stuff that I hear from people…

At the same time, he’s probably the biggest proponent of its existence, and much of what has happened in it thus far.”

Samoa Joe On Taking Backstage Responsibilities In NXT

Samoa Joe also commented on his own return to the brand after getting released from the company. He explained why he took backstage responsibilities in NXT saying that he is excited about introducing new stars to the world:

“NXT – it’s the future of WWE, and it’s a big reason why I’m excited to be kind of associated with it. Because I get to delve into the future.

I get to work on new things and new projects and introduce new stars in the world. And that’s something that, at this point in my career, I’m very, very excited to.”

Apart from this, the NXT champion was asked about the forbidden door and the possibility of making an appearance for Impact Wrestling in the future. You can check out his full interview below:

The highly anticipated first-ever match between Samoa Joe and Karrion Kross for the NXT Title took place in the main event of the WWE NXT TakeOver 36 event.

The match was a strong showing for both men with them getting plenty of offense. Joe looked like he hadn’t missed a beat inside of the ring. Joe with the muscle buster for the win and to become the NXT Champion. 

Joe was favored to win the championship considering Kross made his main roster debut last despite some questionable booking after losing to Jeff Hardy. Kross is slated to be on the Raw roster going forward, but without Scarlett. 

Joe hadn’t wrestled since February 2020 due to concussion issues. He was working as a commentator for the Raw brand until he was released by WWE this past April. Fast forward to June, Joe returned as an on-screen authority figure for NXT and also worked in the talent scouting department in NXT.

Joe was supposed to keep order for NXT General Manager William Regal, but when Kross choked out Joe after retaining his title over Johnny Gargano then attacked Regal the following week, that was enough to make Joe snap and demand to be allowed to wrestle again. 

Joe wanted Regal to sign a contract to have him back as an active in-ring performer in NXT and sign a contract for the match at TakeOver. Regal agreed to what Joe was offering and made the match official.  

Kross won the title back from Finn Balor at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver – Night 2 this past April. 

Samoa Joe has weighed in on the changes that will be coming to the NXT brand.

Dave Meltzer of Wrestler Observer was the first to report that NXT will be overhauled. This applies to a new logo, new lighting, and a new feel to the brand. It’s also been noted that WWE will be taking NXT more in the direction of a developmental system rather than a third major brand.

WWE President and CRO, Nick Khan, confirmed the report during an interview with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport. Khan also confirmed that NXT will be shifting away from indie talent in order to focus on younger talent elsewhere.

Samoa Joe, who will be competing for the NXT Championship tonight (Aug. 22) at TakeOver 36, spoke to Wrestling Inc. on the upcoming changes.

“Absolutely, it always changes. This is the thing that really is a touch confusing about the ‘NXT is changing’ thing. It’s never been the same thing its entire existence. From when I entered NXT to now, it’s been drastically different, it’s changed so much.

“The athlete, the stars that have come from NXT have completely shifted over from 4,3,2,1 year ago. To see this big vale of surprise that things are changing in NXT, it’s just yet another evolution of NXT and it will change again and after that it will change yet again. I’m failing to see the uproar when NXT is essentially doing what it has always done and what it will continue to do in the future.”

Joe had been released by WWE back in April. He was brought back in short order to work on the NXT brand. Recently, Joe was able to get medical clearance to return to the ring.

Where do you think Samoa Joe will fit in once the changes to NXT are in effect?

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.

Recent reports of WWE management looking to shake things up with NXT have made fans worried. However, Samoa Joe is not startled by these changes. He seems to believe that constant change is in the fate of WWE’s third brand. The former NXT champion recently appeared on Busted Open Radio.

Among other things, he also commented on the reports of the expected changes to the black and yellow brand. Joe explained that NXT has always been at the impetuous for experiments. According to him, it won’t be anything different in the future and the show will always be in a state of chaotic flux:

“That evolution is going to continue. NXT has always been at the impetuous for experiment and change and doing things differently in WWE. A lot of that change has reverberated down to the SmackDown and Raw brand. I don’t think it’s going to be anything different in the future. It’s always going to be in a state of chaotic flux and the state of change just by the nature of what it is.”

Samoa Joe continued his explanation mentioning how they are always finding new talent and introducing them to the world through the NXT brand:

“We’re finding brand new talent and introducing these people to the world. In able to do that, you have to be able to keep mixing up the pot. It makes a lot of fans a little uneasy at times, but at the same time, it’s exciting to get in on the ground floor and see somebody become a star in front of your eyes.”

The former Raw star went on to name people such as Finn Balor, Bayley and Sasha Banks who grew up with the audience in NXT and have become big stars now. Samoa Joe is currently scheduled to challenge Karrion Kross for the NXT championship at the TakeOver: 36 event. This will be Joe’s first match in 18 months.

Samoa Joe will be competing in his first match in nearly 18 months this Sunday. However, despite his hiatus from the ring, Joe does not have any doubts about himself. He is ready to take on even the top WWE star in Roman Reigns in a single call.

The former NXT champion recently had an interview with Give Me Sport. He talked about things such as his recent WWE release, upcoming SummerSlam PPV, and more.

He was also asked about Roman Reigns during the talk. Replying to it, Joe, who has faced Roman on multiple occasions before said that the tribal chief merely needs to say his name and he will show up to take the challenge:

“What Roman’s been doing has been fantastic. He’s really embraced what he probably should have been a long time ago. He’s built a hell of a squad around him. And you know, Head of the Table – that’s an interesting moniker. But Roman knows what’s up. I’m never too far away.

He merely needs to say my name, and I will show up. No problem.” said Samoa Joe, “He knows that. And I ain’t interested in sitting at your table, man. I’ll flip it over and I’ll eat your birthday cake in front of you. That’s about it.”

The Samoan submission machine has crossed paths with the head of the table before. The two feuded over the intercontinental championship back in 2018.

Samoa Joe is currently scheduled to face Karrion Kross for the NXT championship at the upcoming NXT TakeOver: 36 event on Sunday, August 22.

Just months after being released by WWE due to budget cuts, Samoa Joe didn’t just get signed back, but also to put him back in the ring at a time where some fans questioned whether he would ever be cleared to wrestle again inside of a WWE ring. 

Joe spoke with Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT to talk about his return and during it, he noted that WWE did have talks about moving him back from the main roster to NXT a few years ago, but it was nixed. 

“I just think a decision was made on one-end, but this tenure and position in NXT I currently have now was kind of talked about two or three years ago. It was a matter of when we were going to get the opportunity to make the transition and there really wasn’t an opportunity because I was so busy with Raw and SmackDown. So it’s not like they were going to pull me from there and move me to NXT at the time.”

Joe was moved from an active in-ring performer to being an announcer after he suffered a concussion in early 2020 during a Raw commercial shoot for the USA Network.

He’ll challenge Karrion Kross for the NXT Title at TakeOver 36 next Sunday.

The entire wrestling world was shocked when news broke about Samoa Joe being released from his WWE contract. They were equally shocked when he re-appeared on NXT. Since then, Joe has gone from being the non-active right-hand man to William Regal to the number one contender for the NXT championship. With current champion Karrion Kross pulling double duty on NXT and the main roster, it is looking likely that Joe will secure his third NXT championship.

The NXT brand is currently in a very precarious position. There are lots of unknowns, heavy releases and big talk about structural changes to the entire company. Talking during a recent interview on the WrestleSlam podcast, Samoa Joe talked about the two men who have been leading NXT from the front lines. Heaping praise on both William Regal and Triple H citing their importance to the product.

During the interview, Samoa Joe talked about both men, who are incredibly active in NXT.

“You know, when you’re around Regal he has so much information packed in that brain. It’s almost as if he doesn’t have the processor just to get it all out at once. But, you hang around him long enough and then, these kinda spouts of wisdom will kind of flow out of him. And then, you’re kinda like ‘oh that a good one, oh I’ll take that too’. Anytime you’re around them, you’re always gonna learn something.” Samoa Joe said about William Regal.

Samoa Joe Gives Respect When Respect is Due

Samoa Joe, the wrestler, is a badass who has a problem with authority. However, he is also a man who recognizes and gives respect when it is due.

When talking about Triple H and his impact on the NXT brand he was very clear with his praise.

“I think the biggest thing is, the biggest influence he has, is he has an ability to kind of look at a superstar and figure out, what that extra little need is.”

– Samoa Joe on Triple H

A lot of those entrances, a lot of the spectacle that you see produced on NXT, a lot of that comes out of his head and you know it just works so many times. It’s amazing to see him kind of sit down with the character, and kind of figure out this is how we need to put it together. This is how we need to make it look, and it’s going to be awesome. Then, lo and behold, we’ll come to TakeOver and it’s this amazing entrance. It’s just this great introduction to the world. So, I tip my hat to him for that.”

The future of NXT remains unclear. However, one thing that is for sure, Samoa Joe will be there, leading from the front line.

WWE NXT Superstar Samoa Joe recently appeared on WWE’s After The Bell podcast. The Samoan Submission Machine discussed several topics during the show, including his return to the ring at NXT Takeover 36 on August 22nd.

“I kept it simple. It was just getting healthy. A lot of times, people have a tendency to overcomplicate their problems and make them worse and adding to them by adding extra pressure” Samoa Joe began on the podcast, discussing his return to in-ring health.

Joe also discussed the actual injury and how it was beyond anything he had suffered with before. “It was a much worse type of injury than I had dealt with before. It scared me, it scared a lot of people I cared about” Joe added.

“It became very easy to make that the focus as far as what I wanted to do when I came back. Inevitably, it all hinged on making sure I was alright and feeling good and when I came back to the ring, I didn’t want to come back in a 70% or 60% capacity” Joe revealed.

“I wanted to make sure I could come back and give the best I could to the fans. I do play my cards close to my chest, but that’s just the belief I have” the former NXT Champion concluded. 

As expected, the main event of NXT TakeOver 36 will be Samoa Joe challenging NXT Champion Karrion Kross for the title on Sunday, August 22, 2021.

On Tuesday’s episode of NXT, Joe offered his resignation as an enforcer to NXT General Manager William Regal. 

This was done as a way for Joe to be able to fight Kross. Per the stipulation of the original agreement he had with Regal when he made his return about a month ago, Joe couldn’t get physical unless provoked. Well, after last week’s attack by Kross to Regal, he couldn’t let that stand. 

He also wanted Regal to sign a contract to have him back as an active in-ring performer in NXT and sign another contract for the match at TakeOver. Regal agreed to what Joe was offering and made the match official. 

It will be an interesting booking decision made by WWE as Joe will likely be favored to win the championship considering Kross made his main roster debut earlier this month and entered into a program with Jeff Hardy. Kross is also slated to be on the Raw roster going forward, but without Scarlett. 

WWE NXT UK Champion WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov is the only other match announced thus far.  

At the recent NXT television tapings held at the Capitol Wrestling Center, Samoa Joe’s in-ring return was confirmed. During the tapings, Samoa Joe offered NXT General Manager William Regal his resignation so that he could face Kross. Regal agreed and signed the paperwork for a match between Kross and Joe at Takeover 36 for the NXT Championship.

For Samoa Joe this would be his first match since February of 2020. He has been out of action dealing with concussion issues. Following his release from WWE’s main roster this spring, Joe moved to NXT where he became something of Regal’s enforcer, although he only lasted a short while in the role.

Joe appeared on Ryan Satin’s “Out of Character” podcast at the end of June and spoke about his transition to NXT.

“I’ve kind of been in this situation before. A younger me probably would have been really, really freaked out. But, I mean at this point you just roll/pivot. That’s really all there is to it when it comes to life in general. That’s kind of the mantra I’ve kept. At that point I think I was already kind of in the works and setting up the next framework for whatever else I was going to do. A few hours later I get a call from Hunter and it pretty much all kind of changed.”

WWE NXT Superstar Johnny Gargano challenged for the NXT Championship on this week’s episode of the show. Johnny Wrestling took on Karrion Kross with Samoa Joe in the role of special guest referee.

Gargano was unsuccessful in his attempt to regain the NXT Championship from Kross, following a great match that headlined the episode on USA Network. Kross and Samoa Joe went toe to toe multiple times in the match between Kross would choke Joe out after the match.

Johnny Gargano took a nasty bump into a table during the main event of the show, and Fightful Select have reported that despite this the leader of The Way is not suffering from any clear injuries.

It’s not clear what the future is for Johnny Gargano or The Way, with WWE looking at potentially moving more Superstars across the three main brands as fans begin to return to shows.

It’s very unlikely however that we will be seeing Gargano appear in the NXT title picture for quite some time, after Kross got a definitive win over the former EVOLVE star.