Samoa Joe is back under the WWE umbrella; he returned to the promotion just two months after he was released in a wave of cuts. In some ways, this move was quite surprising, as it’s rare to see WWE let a wrestler go and quickly bring them back in such a prominent way.
In an interview with Joseph Staszewski of the New York Post, Triple H, WWE’s executive vice president for global talent strategy and development, explained how Joe’s new role in the talent scouting department had been in the works for a while. He described how Joe wants to help WWE from a business perspective in addition to his on-screen work.
“It was something that we were already talking about anyways,” said Triple H. “And what people tend to focus on, because it’s the visual, is the in front of the camera, the character side of it. But what Joe and I have been talking about for a long period of time, before COVID, probably from the time he started in WWE in general [is] that’s he’s a very smart guy that’s very business-oriented, has a level head, and all those things. And [we discussed,] ‘What is the future like and how can he help build the future,’ and he was enamored with the other side of the business and what we do.”
Triple H also responded to the notion that the WWE main roster released Joe and NXT separately brought him back. He emphasized that WWE is one connected company, and he called the decision to bring Joe back a “transition” into his new responsibility.
“It wasn’t like he got let go from one part of the company and the other part of the company [hired him],” said Triple H. “It’s all one big company. Everybody knows what everybody’s doing. … There was an opportunity for him to transition, no different than you would say, ‘Well, he was released from this pitching contract and started managing the team and became a coach.’ It’s a similar situation.”
Since he returned to WWE NXT, Joe has quickly regained his status as a featured star on the black-and-gold brand, and as a member of the talent scouting team, he’ll have the chance to help the company from within.
