Samoa Joe Explains The Real Reason He Vacated The NXT Title And Left TV

That’s a valid reason. NXT has been shaken up like nothing else in wrestling over the last six months, with several wrestlers departing the promotion and the entire show being relaunched as NXT 2.0. This has included dropping almost everyone from the original version, including the then reigning NXT Champion. Now we know a bit more about that specific change.

Samoa Joe won the NXT Title for a record tying third time on August 22, 2021 but vacated the title three days later, with the explanation being that he had suffered an unspecified injury. Samoa Joe appeared on Busted Open Radio where he revealed that he was removed from television due to testing positive for the Coronavirus. By the time he tested positive, Vince McMahon had decided to take NXT in a different direction, leaving Samoa Joe to work behind the scenes to coach younger talent. He was released from WWE in January 2022 without ever returning to television.

Opinion: While this does explain a bit, it also makes WWE’s take on the Coronavirus that much more interesting. The company did not like to announce that someone had tested positive, with only a handful of names ever announcing that they had done so. I’m not sure why WWE decided to announce this as an injury instead of what really happened, but they have done weirder things in the past.

What did you think of Samoa Joe’s title win? Where do you see him going next? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 60,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 6,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books

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