Samoa Joe may be done with wrestling after his current deal expires.
Being notable for his respective time in ROH, TNA, WWE and now AEW, few wrestlers have achieved a wide array of success quite like Samoa Joe. With over 25 years of in-ring experience, ‘The Samoan Submission Machine’ is an icon of the industry and is still as prominent today as he’s ever been. However, at 46 years old, it’s fair to say that time isn’t on Joe’s side as far as his career goes, and he’s now discussed when he might call it a day.
Speaking with SHAK Wrestling, Samoa Joe revealed his wrestling career is ‘most likely’ done when his AEW contract expires.
“I’d say most likely. And honestly, I think it’s for a lot of reasons, and I think most of them are responsible. You never want to overstay your welcome in this industry. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to be involved with it for over 25 years now. And the other thing too is, I think many of us want to preserve what we can of our health for our latter years. So, it is something that is probably the most likely scenario. But hey, it is an unusual world, and unusual opportunities come up, so we’ll see.”
-Samoa Joe
Joe was then asked whether he could give the date his deal expires, though the AEW star turned down the chance to indicate how long he may have left in the ring.
“No, not at all. It might be a surprise. It might just be one day I’m gone and leave it at that. I’m not as ceremonial as everybody else. I like disappearing into the sunset. I’ve always been somebody that’s been firmly planted with my head toward the future and never tried to dwell too much in the past. And it’s kind of been my theory with the industry too. I would hope we always look towards the future and not, obviously, appreciate the past, but not miss it too much.”
-Samoa Joe
However, despite being towards the tail end of his career, Samoa Joe is eyeing up another world title. At WrestleDream this Saturday, the former TNT Champion will challenge Hangman Page for the AEW World Championship, looking to become only the fourth man in history to hold the gold more than once.
On that note, Joe recently discussed feeling as if he has more left on the table as AEW World Champion. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Samoa Joe’s wrestling future as soon as we hear more.
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcriptions.
