Samoa Joe’s Injury Reportedly Resulted In AEW Creative Plan Shift

Samoa Joe is currently out of action, and a new report has some additional context on how the matter has affected AEW’s creative plans. As noted, Joe is out with what was described publicly as a “non-contact injury,” with this morning’s report noting he is in concussion protocol. Joe’s status has been described as “week to week.” Fightful Select has a new report with a minor update on the injury, noting that it is not clear how long he will be out or how severe the matter is.

More relevantly, the report notes that (as many would expect), Joe was part of planned storylines at the top of AEW’s card, particularly in regard to the AEW World Championship hunt. Hangman Page, Kenny Omega, Swerve Strickland, and Joe have all been targeting current champion MJF. Plans ended up being shifted and Andrade El Idolo was factored in due to Joe being out.

The report notes that according to sources, people in AEW have been pleased with El Idolo’s performance, as well as the reaction to his beating Swerve Strickland to advance to the match with #1 contenders qualifier against Kenny Omega on last week’s Dynamite. El Idolo won that match and will face Hangman Page at AEW Grand Slam Australia this weekend.

Joe’s most recent match was against Mike Bailey on the January 12th episode of AEW Dynamite. For clarity, there’s no word on whether his injury happened in that match or outside of the ring.

On behalf of 411, our best wishes to Samoa Joe for a quick and full recovery.