• Former World Champion Is Training For His In-Ring Return
Earlier this year, Samoa Joe was released from his WWE contract.
Joe tweeted the following about his release from the company:
“Extremely fortunate and grateful to all the young & amazing talent I had the pleasure of working with in the past months.
Only saddened at the loss of an “excuse” to see their continued growth & achievement. I am very excited for their future…and mine 🙃 “
Joe was on the WWE main roster at the start of 2020. He wrestled on RAW till February 2020, but suffered a concussion and was then made a Commentator on RAW.
He was then released from WWE in April 2021, but Triple H brought him back in June as a part of the NXT brand, where he defeated Karrion Kross to win the NXT Championship in August.
However, Joe relinquished the Title due to an undisclosed injury, and he then began working as a Coach backstage. He helped out with the recent tryout camps in WWE.
According to Andrew Zarian of The Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast, Joe is currently training to return to in-ring action.
No word yet on which company he’ll end up in, but it’ll either be AEW or Impact Wrestling (fka TNA, where he is a former World Champion).
Joe will turn 43 years old in March.
WATCH: Lana In A Hot Outfit (Part 2):
• On This Day In Pro Wrestling History (February 5, 2021) – Old School WWF Veteran Passed Away
On this day in 2021 we lost Old School WWF Veteran “The Natural” Butch Reed (Real name: Bruce Reed) at the age of 66, due to heart complications.
Most Old School Wrestling Fans remember Butch Reed for his time in Bill Watts’ Mid-South Wrestling (1983-1986), the World Wrestling Federation (1986-1988) and Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling (1988-1992), where he formed a famous Tag Team with Ron Simmons called ‘Doom’.
During his time in the WWF, Reed was considered to become the Intercontinental Champion, but the decision was changed, when Reed no-showed an earlier house show, so they decided to put the belt on The Honky Tonk Man instead.
Unlike his former Tag Team partner Ron Simmons, Butch Reed was not inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame yet, which might not happen anytime soon either, as he was named part of a lawsuit against the WWE regarding traumatic brain injuries, which was dismissed in September 2018.
† REST IN PEACE BUTCH REED!
July 11, 1954 – February 5, 2021
