More on Samoa Joe’s WWE Release

As noted before, WWE released Samoa Joe this past Thursday as part of a larger batch of talent and staff releases this week targeting their NXT brand and Performance Center. This was the second time within the past year that Joe was released from the company.

Fightful Select reported that their sources within WWE stated that the company’s plans for their latest round of releases was to not include any talent. It was reported that Joe’s release meant that WWE officials viewed him as being done as an in-ring performer for the company. It was reported that this same reasoning would explain why Timothy Thatcher and Danny Burch were also given their releases as well.

Several talent at the Performance Center reportedly had learned beforehand of Joe leaving the company on Wednesday, which was a day earlier than initially reported. It was reported that those spoken to all had the same view of Joe’s release being part of Vince McMahon’s continued dismantling of NXT’s prior vision and what Triple H had built up over the years for it.

In regards to Joe’s disappearance from NXT programming, it was reported that those spoken to stated that following Joe being stripped of the NXT Championship, there was very little, if any, chatter backstage regarding the idea of him returning to the ring. It was reported that part of the reason was due to Joe had settled well into his new backstage duties for the brand.

It was also reported that those spoken to stated that if William Regal was released, many within NXT had also expected Joe to be released as well.

One high level source stated that Joe had handled the situation “as professionally as possible, and considering the last few years he’s had here that’s easier said than done.”

It was reported that it is currently not known if Joe was given a non-compete clause as part of the terms of his release. It was also reported that at least four longtime indie promoters have already shown interest in booking Joe should he be interested in continuing his in-ring career.