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Samoa Joe Released By WWE, Reveals What He Will Miss Most

By TJR Staff • Published 7th January 2022
Samoa Joe with NXT Championship

Samoa Joe has been released from WWE for the second time in nine months and revealed the one thing that saddens him about his departure.

The first man to capture the NXT Championship three times, Samoa Joe, has been released from his WWE contract. The news was first broken by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful on Twitter on January 6th. He is one of many figures associated with NXT to be let go by the company in recent days.

Joe’s exit comes only nine months since he was initially released back in April 2021. On that occasion, he was let go as part of a series of budget cuts alongside the likes of The IIconics and Mickie James. However, the ‘Samoan Submission Machine’ was not gone for long and returned to the company only four weeks later at the personal request of Triple H.

Most recently, Samoa Joe has been working as a scout for the developmental brand. He briefly returned to the ring at NXT TakeOver: 36, winning his third NXT Championship from Karrion Kross. However, he was forced to relinquish the title due to “certain injuries” and has not been seen on television since.

Shortly after the news of his departure broke, the wrestling veteran took to Twitter to express his gratitude to the “young and amazing talent” he had been able to work with, and his regret at not having an “excuse” to continue watching their growth.

“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 there future,….. and mine”

Other big names released in the latest round of cuts were William Regal and Road Dogg. Regal had been with the WWE in some capacity since 2000, most recently working as head scout for the company under the title Director of Talent Development and Head of Global Recruiting.