Why Samoa Joe Was Written Off AEW TV

Samoa Joe announced on the May 27 episode of AEW Dynamite that he was "stepping away" from All Elite Wrestling for a few months, with the two-time AEW World Champion saying, "Opportunity calls...and Hollywood's ringing."

The Hollywood project will, once again, be Twisted Metal. Season three of the Peacock series is due to be filmed in Toronto from June 15 until August 26, with Joe set to be in a starring role once again as the physical portrayal of Sweet Tooth, while Will Arnett will provide the voice for the psychotic clown.

Samoa Joe has often taken time off from AEW programming to work on Twisted Metal. He was off TV for several months in 2024 to film season two of Twisted Metal and he missed one month of AEW TV in the summer of 2025 to conduct promotional work for the Peacock show.

Samoa Joe has seldom been on AEW TV in 2026. He missed three months of action from late January until April 22 after the 47-year-old suffered a non-contact injury during training and was placed into concussion protocol. Altogether, Joe has only wrestled five matches this year, with the latest being a loss to Will Ospreay at Double or Nothing in the quarter-finals of the Owen Hart Foundation Men's Tournament.

During Samoa Joe's absence from AEW TV, HOOK will, once again, be the leader of The Opps ahead of Katsuyori Shibata and Anthony Bowens.