Samoa Joe Considered Retirement Before AEW Signing

Samoa Joe has revealed that he contemplated retirement prior to signing with All Elite Wrestling. 

Speaking on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, The Samoan Submission Machine noted that he was weighing up whether or not to continue wrestling before speaking with Tony Khan. 

"I was legitimately thinking about hanging it up, for health reasons. You know, obviously still coming off the concussion and still dealing with the very hidden effects of that and getting back in the ring healthy and transitioning back to a physical state where it's like, I could do something for a good period of time and not wanna pass out," Joe said. 

The 43-year-old's WWE career was consistently interrupted by injuries, including concussion issues. 

Since being released by WWE on January 6, 2022, Joe has emerged as a force in both AEW and Ring of Honor (which is also owned by Khan). He is the current ROH World Television Champion and - before dropping it to Darby Allin on the January 4 episode of Dynamite - also held the AEW TNT Title.

H/T POST Wrestling