Major AEW Star Not Cleared To Compete As Injury Concerns Grow

There’s some concern in AEW as one of the company’s top stars is not cleared to compete.

The January 28th edition of Dynamite proved to be a big night for AEW. After bringing in former WWE star Zayda Steel as well as former TNA faction The Rascalz, Tony Khan has struck again.

Former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa made his AEW debut just days after confirming his exit from WWE. Ciampa will compete in his first bout in his new wrestling home on the January 31st edition of Collision.

While all of this is good news for Tony Khan’s company, there was some bad news as well.

Samoa Joe Not Cleared To Compete In AEW

It was announced that former AEW World Champion Samoa Joe sustained a non-contact injury while training. AEW announcer Excalibur noted on Dynamite that, as a result of the injury, Joe was currently not cleared to compete. It remains unknown how long the injury will keep him out of action.

Samoa Joe lost the AEW World Championship to MJF in a four-way match that also featured Hangman Adam Page and Swerve Strickland at Worlds End in December 2025. Things got even worse for Joe on Maximum Carnage Collision when he teamed with Powerhouse Hobbs and Katsuyori Shibata to lose the AEW Trios Championship to Adam Page and JetSpeed. That proved to be Hobbs’ final match in AEW before he made the jump to WWE.