It’s been an interesting 2017 for Samoa Joe to say the least. Positive: He was called up back in January. Negative: He re-injured Seth Rollins’ knee the exact same night. Negative: He was left off the WrestleMania card completely.
Positive: He was in two straight main-event Universal Championship matches this summer, including at SummerSlam, and he even made a fan out of Brock Lesnar. Negative: He tore the meniscus in his knee the week after that SummerSlam main event, requiring surgery that put him on the shelf for 4-6 weeks.
However, things are looking up for Samoa Joe once more. In an interview with the U.K.’s Sky Sports, Joe says he expects to return to WWE within the next few weeks and is currently waiting on final clearance from WWE doctors to get back in the ring.
In addition to the knee surgery, Joe also went under the knife a second time while he was on the shelf, this time for what sounds like a deviated septum. Joe explains:
“The recovery’s going really well but I’ve only been able to perform at about 80 per cent capacity since joining NXT. Back then I had no chance to take time off because of the WWE opportunity, before I was just treating the knee problem with ice and elevation at home. Now it’s the best I’ve ever felt, it really is. I also needed nasal surgery as I’ve broken my nose about eight times in my career so I was only breathing at around 60 per cent. You have no idea how invigorating it is now.”
Here’s to hoping Joe gets cleared sooner than later. He was a welcome presence in WWE’s main event scene all summer long, and we’d love to see what opportunities he can drum up this fall.
