Samoa Joe Reportedly Out of Action With an Injury

Samoa Joe may be one of WWE's most valuable Superstars on SmackDown, but he'll never get a chance to prove that if he can't stay healthy—the 39-year old is reportedly injured.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Samoa Joe is on WWE's shelf with an unspecified injury. Joe has wrestled since the October 9 episode of SmackDown. Joe was supposed to challenge AJ Styles at last weekend's series of Supershow Live Events but was nowhere to be found.

Right now the details are limited. But if Sasha Banks is a working precedent, it's possible Joe is suffering from a concussion. Like Banks, Joe has seemingly disappeared with little information available on his status. We just found out Banks was dealing with a concussion and given the optics of that injury, WWE prefers to keep concussions out of headlines. That may have been a little speculative, but we'll keep an eye on Joe regardless.

No injury comes at a good time, but Joe's health injuries have happened in the middle of his bigger opportunities. When Joe was in the early stages of a feud with John Cena and Roman Reigns, he went down with a pair of lower extremity injuries. And while his WWE Championship storyline with AJ Styles is all but over, they were still working together at Live Events. Hopefully whatever he's dealing with is minor and can soon return to become a main event player in WWE.

Joe's run in WWE has been frustratingly sporadic. When he's healthy, Joe shines as a potential WWE Champion. His run-ins with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman in 2017 may be his highest point, but the Samoan Submission machine has left several high water marks in WWE's main event. But just as he seems ready to claim WWE gold, an injury happens. Considering Joe spent the last several months pursuing Styles and his WWE Championship, the 39-year old had never been closer.

Injured or not, it did appear the Joe and Styles were done with their rivalry (at least, for now). However, Joe would have picked up another high profile opponent as 2018 comes to a close and a strong performance there may have pushed him into another WWE Championship opportunity. Those plans could still very well be intact, but Joe will need to get healthy first.

While seeing Joe as WWE Champion would be great, we'd like to see him have the chance o who WrestleMania first. the Wrestling mercenary has never participated in WWE's mega-show, due to his poorly timed injuries. Hopefully, 2019 is his year.