Samoa Joe Opens Up About Returning To The Ring

Samoa Joe has opened up about recovering from his injury and getting medically cleared to compete at NXT TakeOver 36.

On August 22, Samoa Joe challenges Karrion Kross for the NXT Championship. Unless he returns to action sooner, his upcoming NXT TakeOver bout will be his first since February 2020.

Speaking on WWE After the Bell, Joe noted that he had no expectations to return to the ring, just to get healthy. Explaining why he kept his cards close to his chest regarding his hiatus, Joe said:

“I kept it simple. It was just getting healthy. A lot of times, people have a tendency to overcomplicate their problems and make them worse and adding to them by adding extra pressure. My focus was simply to just get healthy. No other expectations to put on it, no expectations to return to the ring. No expectations other than getting back to where I should be and getting my brain healthy and my body healthy. That was my main focus. I told people around me that was my approach. See how my body came along, see how I felt, be careful with it, take extra time, and really concentrate on getting better. That was my main focus and what helped me. (I wasn’t) thinking about ‘man, will I ever be back in the ring?’

“A lot of it was having the hindsight and seeing others I knew going through similar struggles and gathering the wealth of knowledge and taking the doctors advice and asking a lot of questions from others who have dealt with it throughout their career and making the best health decision for me,” said Joe. “Once we got through that process and got comfortable with that, we started concentrating on getting back in the ring and finding the best ways and opportunity. During that entire time, I like to keep busy and I’m never one to shirk away from work. When the opportunity came to do commentary and to do a panel or other things, I jumped at the chance.

“It was a much worse type of injury than I had dealt with before. It scared me, it scared a lot of people I cared about. It became very easy to make that the focus as far as what I wanted to do when I came back. Inevitably, it all hinged on making sure I was alright and feeling good and when I came back to the ring, I didn’t want to come back in a 70% or 60% capacity. I wanted to make sure I could come back and give the best I could to the fans. I do play my cards close to my chest, but that’s just the belief I have.”

Following his recent Raw appearances, NXT Champion Karrion Kross has discussed his WWE main roster debut.

Quote via Fightful.

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• Samoa Joe
• Return
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