Samoa Joe took to social media on Sunday evening to announce that, with immediate effect, he would give up the NXT championship. Joe won the title again NXT TakeOver 36 by defeating Karrion Kross, becoming the first man to win the top NXT award three times while competing in a wrestling ring for the first time since his injuries put him on the platform in early 2020. He explained that undisclosed injuries were the cause of his decision. , saying: “On my recent return, my goals were very simple: I tried to ensure respect and integrity due to both NXT and its championship. I tried to make everyone understand that an individual’s needs will never exceed the sum. of the brand. Today I am forced to adhere to these principles. “
“Recently, WWE Medical informed me that due to certain injuries, they would like me to leave for a short but still undetermined time,” Joe continued before alluding to the upcoming changes the NXT brand will make (starting with the this week’s episode) and that the new era deserves to have a wrestling champion. He then indicated that when he returns, he will try to win the championship once again.
– Samoa Joe (@SamoaJoe) September 12, 2021
This is the third time he has given up the NXT Championship because the reigning champion has suffered an injury. Tommaso Ciampa watched as he abruptly ended his 2018-19 career after having to undergo neck surgery. Last year Kross won the Keith Lee Championship in NXT TakeOver XXX, only for him to lose the title four days later due to suffering a separate shoulder during the match with Lee.
In addition to his return to the NXT brand, Joe has also started working in the WWE recruiting department. He was present with the rest of the WWE Performance Center coaches at the WWE Las Vegas Tryouts last month SummerSlam weekend.
“It was always a process,” Joe said during a recent interview with TalkSport. “It’s hard to give it an official timestamp, because you have to understand it with concussions, it’s not like‘ hey it’s repaired, it’s okay. ’And people keep applying that kind of blank state to it and black, cleaned / cleaned.But in reality, even when they are cleaned, it still monitors you.There are still reviews, there are still tests and therefore if there are differences, even after the recovery, is “no, no, no. We’re going to slow down, get back to it. ”And that was what it was for me, I spent that time. I took every opportunity to have a healthy recovery and get back to 100%. No. 60, No. 70, not working , but I come back healthy enough where I felt comfortable, go back and go 100 percent.
“Because I think that if you come back too soon and you don’t give your body and mind the right opportunity to heal, you will inevitably get more injuries and this is the cycle I started towards the end of my last career with the “I had to break this cycle. I had to take time to recover completely,” he continued. “There was an appointment where they deleted me, but after the observation, they were like‘ Okay, let’s take some time. You’re still clear, but we still want to make sure you’re okay. ”So it’s not this black and white process that everyone thinks it is, and it shouldn’t be. It shouldn’t be. That was frustrating for me when people talked about the injury as if it was a yes or a no. it comes down to brain injuries, it should never be that way. “