Though he's currently down one of his two television titles, Samoa Joe, the “Contested King of Television” finds himself in a very interesting spot heading in the first AEW Dynamite of the month of February. After being unseated by Darby on the first Dynamite after New Year's Day, Joe has another shot at the TNT Championship in Dayton, Ohio, the sight of Danhausen's debut at Beach Break 2021, with a chance to roll into Supercard of Honor 2023 with both of his belts and his Television Kingdom intact.
But did you know Joe's current run as the “King of Television” almost didn't happen? It's true, when Joe stopped by The Sessions with Renee Paquette, he detailed to his former WWE co-worker how he almost hung up his boots when he was fired during his pandemic.
“I mean, immediately threw all my morals away and — no. I was legitimately thinking about hanging it up, for health reasons,” Joe said via E wrestling news. “You know, obviously still coming off the concussion and still dealing with the very hidden effects of that and getting back in the ring healthy and transitioning back to a physical state where it’s like, I could do something for a good period of time and not wanna pass out.”
Wow, pro wrestling without Samoa Joe, who is somehow only 43? While he did deal with a number of injuries during the back half of his WWE career, resulting in a near-permanent spot on commentary with Michael Cole, losing one of the best performers in Ring of Honor and TNA/Impact Wrestling history would have been a crushing blow. Still, it's nice to see that Joe didn't decide to go that route, as his current run in AEW has been a lot of fun, and the entire Tony Khan-verse has been better off for having him under contract. Allin, by contrast, may not be so happy that Joe has found a new home in AEW come Monday, as when you put those two performers in a No Holds Barred match with a championship on the line, it's impossible to imagine both performers come out of the bell the same way they came in.
Samoa Joe gives his thoughts on why WWE fired folks during the pandemic.
Elsewhere in his interview with Paquette, Joe was asked why he thinks WWE decided to purge so much talent during the pandemic. Though Joe isn't an expert on the subject, he felt as though he and many of his peers were using the contracts as a way to “play out a war” between the two factions in upper management.
“That, initially, as I understand it, unconfirmed, there were issues between the two upper echelons of management and they were playing out their war with the careers and contracts of the people underneath them,” Joe said via Fightful. “After the initial one, I didn't have much of a chance to breathe because, essentially, I was hired back within hours. The second time, I just kind of chuckled as I realize it was very much the same situation. At the same time, I wasn't bitter or mad. The truth of it is, and this is to give WWE some credence, is that I was expensive. I was expensive to keep around. If cutting my contract, if they say that saved the company money, trust me, I believe it did. I wasn't hot about that. It was just more the silliness of the situation, what they were doing, and the reasoning why they were doing it, which I can never officially confirm, but I've heard from enough people that I have a pretty good idea…including many of the people involved. After that, I think I spent a day pissed. More of the situation than the actual firing. Then, all these super awesome opportunities literally materialized.”
While it's impossible to know exactly why WWE decided to fire so many performers when they were making record profits during a global pandemic, it is interesting to see so many of those talents, from main eventers like Bray Wyatt to greener comedy characters like Chelsea Green, return under Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who probably didn't want to release after spending years building up their careers in NXT for years. Still, now that all of that dust has settled, it's hard to look at the wrestling landscape as a whole in 2023 and not believe that the industry is as strong as its been in years. Some performer who were released, like Joe, Swerve Strickland, and Ruby Soho, are all killing it in AEW while others, like Hit Row and the extended Johnny Wrestling family, have recaptured what made them special in NXT on the main roster with a little help from Triple H's supportive booking.
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