Samoa Joe on possible in-ring retirement: ‘You never want to outstay your welcomeâ€

Samoa Joe isn’t sure the end of his career will be as ceremonial as it’s been for John Cena.

Joe is set to challenge Hangman Page for the AEW World Championship tonight at WrestleDream in St. Louis. He spoke with CBS Sports to promote the bout, and mentioned that similar to many wrestlers from his generation, he is considering an end to his in-ring career.

“You never want to outstay your welcome in this industry, and I have been fortunate that I have been able to be involved with it for over 25 years now,” Joe said. “The other thing, too, is that many of us want to preserve what we can of our health for our later years.”

Unlike Styles, Cena, or Hiroshi Tanahashi, Joe isn’t sure there will be much fanfare leading up to his retirement, saying he’s “not as ceremonial.”

“It might be a surprise. It might just be one day I’m gone and leave it at that,” Joe continued. “I’m not as ceremonial as everybody else. I like disappearing into the sunset. I’ve always been somebody who’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.”

Joe is on the current ballot for the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame, with voting underway for 2025. In 2024, Joe received 23.2 percent of the vote (60 percent is needed to get in). Dave Meltzer addressed Joe’s chances for getting into the Hall of Fame in Friday’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, writing:

“Samoa Joe is interesting. He fares well in awards. Has strong longevity. As weâ€ll get to, he has a strong on paper case. In the context of you have to get to WWE (or now AEW) and be at the very top to be a modern top guy, he falls short of Hall of Fame. Even in TNA Iâ€d say that. Heâ€s very good, for a long time, and his ROH title run was exceptional both in how he was booked and how he performed. He should have been pushed harder in WWE. Heâ€s shined when he was pushed in AEW. Is he a bigger star for this era than a Randy Orton or Edge? No.”

The full issue of this week’s newsletter is available here.

Exclusive access to podcasts and newsletters

previous story

Source link