Samoa Joe Reveals Why He Vacated The WWE NXT Title

After over a year on the shelf due to injuries, Samoa Joe returned to the ring in WWE at NXT TakeOver 36, defeating Karrion Kross for the NXT Championship.

Joe wouldn't be NXT Champion for long, though, and he relinquished the title less than a month later on September 12, 2021, ahead of the relaunch of NXT. 

At the time, Joe announced he had relinquished the gold due to "certain injuries" but The Samoan Submission Machine has now revealed he vacated the belt after he tested positive for COVID-19 and Vince McMahon wanted to start the relaunched NXT 2.0 with a bang.

"I popped for COVID. It was the weekend, my wife was making stew and I couldn't smell it. She said, 'Wow, doesn't that smell great.' I said, 'No.' I tested positive on Saturday. By then, Vince wanted to go in a different direction with NXT and he wanted to have the new opening with NXT 2.0 be with a bang and I agreed with him. I said, 'If that's the case, this is probably what's best for what your vision is for this product,'" Joe said on Busted Open Radio. 

After relinquishing the gold, Joe worked behind-the-scenes helping young talent before his release on January 6, 2022. 

"I went behind the scenes and started working with talent on a one to one basis, pulling guys individually in open gyms, working with them, and focusing on these new tremendous prospects were brought in and people that were hungry to learn and excited about this newfound opportunity. It was invigorating for me," he continued.

"When you're working with younger talent that are hungry and want to succeed on a high level, it amps up your own spirit. I was delving into that heavily. Working with Matt Bloom on revising things, training techniques, and evaluating what we were doing already and seeing if we could do it better. That was really the end of my tenure at WWE." 

Since his release, Joe has yet to return to another promotion but he did provide an update on his in-ring future. 

H/T to Fightful