Report: Samoa Joe Relinquishing The WWE NXT Title Not A Creative Decision

Only three weeks after he captured the NXT Championship at TakeOver 36, Samoa Joe was forced to relinquish the title due to "certain injuries" on September 12. Joe noted within a video statement that he would be stepping away from the ring for a "brief but indeterminable" period to heal from those injuries. 

As Joe relinquished the title so close to NXT's relaunch on September 14, some speculated The Samoan Submission Machine may not have been injured and that WWE creative instead just decided to vacate the championship.

That wasn't the case, though, according to Mike Johnson of PWInsider. WWE medical reportedly made the call that Joe would need to step away from the ring and WWE, therefore, made the decision to strip him of the gold and crown a new champion tonight to turn a negative into a positive. 

There is no word on when Joe will return to the ring or if he will be at today's NXT taping. 

A new NXT Champion will be crowned tonight, though, when Pete Dunne, Tommaso Ciampa, LA Knight and Kyle O'Reilly clash in a Fatal 4-Way.