Samoa Joe Names NXT Stars He Wants to Wrestle Once He's Medically Cleared

Samoa Joe officially returned to NXT earlier this month after being released by the WWE back in April. And while the former NXT Champion still isn't cleared to compete, he made it clear during an interview with Ryan Satin on the Out of Character Podcast this week that he's working his way back to wrestling. During that same interview, Joe listed off a few NXT stars he can't wait to face.

"I think Karrion Kross, Pete Dunne definitely top that list," Joe said (h/t FOX Sports). "I think a guy like Walter — hey, people have been asking for it. I'm not blind. And it's for good reason. The guy is a powerhouse, and people want to see some furniture moving. It's not just one or two guys. Guys from Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Kyle O'Reilly. I mean, there's several very, very accomplished athletes in NXT. Bronson Reed! I know he's always yappin'. He wants to get some. He always running his mouth. Aussies, you know, they got big mouths down there. The kangaroos got big pouches, they got big mouths. That's Aussies for you! What can you do?"

The recent episodes of NXT has teased Joe feuding with both Kross and Dunne. Who do you think Joe should face first? Let us know in the comments below!

Joe also revealed in the interview that Triple H called him hours after his release to discuss bringing him back to NXT.

"[John Laurinaitis] called me, and I thought it was a rare call from Johnny. 'Hey, what's up, Johnny? How you doing?' He told me, 'Hey, listen. We're going to have to release you from your contract.' And I said, 'OK.' You know, like '... cool.' And 'Joe, we think the world of you, we'd love to work with you again.' I was like, 'All right. No, absolutely, Johnny.' And, honestly, I did have a bit of an understanding," Joe said.

"Obviously, at the time, dealing with injuries, coming back, getting ready to get my rehabilitation going and all that stuff, we're in a pandemic, all this other stuff, so I got it," he continued. "It wasn't unexpected. But at the same time, I was relatively calm about it. I've kinda been in this situation before. A younger me probably would've been really, really freaked out. But at this point, you just roll pivot. That's really all there is to it when it comes to life in general. That's kind of the mantra I've kept. So at that point, I think I was already kind of in the works on setting up the next framework for whatever else I was gonna do. A few hours later, I get a call from Hunter, and that all pretty much kinda changed."