Samoa Joe opens up about his departure from TNA Wrestling.
All Elite Wrestling‘s Samoa Joe was a recent guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet. When asked about how his departure from TNA came about, Joe spoke about the way the company handled AJ Styles’ contract and the lack of creative direction and regard for their talents made him decide his time with the company had come to an end.
“Well, I left, so my contract was up, I think, at the end of a European tour. And at the time, it was tough. AJ had gone, I totally disagreed with that. I was livid about that because the situation was horseshit,” Samoa Joe said. “How they treated him was disgusting, especially because he was the hardest working guy. He was the guy that was married to me on the — when we did house shows, all these other guys there, they didn’t do house shows. No, it was me and AJ at the top, and that’s why we worked so much together.
“I know him like the back of my hand, because every single house show the main event was AJ Styles, Samoa Joe for TNA for five years. And yeah, that sat wrong with me. And then I remember, we were over in the UK, and we were trying to book a title match.
A messy situation overseas…
“I think Low Ki was X Division Champion, but the night before, he had gotten smacked in the head accidentally with a lead pipe by Drew McIntyre. He was bleeding very badly and had a head injury. And I was concerned for him, because I was like, it’s not good, and he was still X-Division Champion, so they were trying to figure out a way to get the belt off him the next night.
“And all the parties involved, it involved Austin Aries and Spud and all these guys. Everybody’s arguing about how it should go down, and this and that. And I don’t want to get into it because I don’t want to really hurt anybody, because some people do look real bad in this story. But essentially we’re about to go through the curtain, and there is no set game plan about how this title change is going to go down.
“And it was something where I think I was replacing Low Ki and wrestling for him or something like that. It was all convoluted, and nobody was really trying to get the situation solved. I looked around, creative guys are all over the place. And I ended up at the curtain just kind of booking the whole segment and not telling anybody, just going, this is how we’re going to do it. Because I was trying to keep certain people safe, especially Low Ki, who was concussed, had a big gash and bleeding all over the place, and I didn’t want him to take any bumps or get hurt, and get everybody organized.
No one in TNA cared that Samoa Joe booked the title change
“We do the thing. I walk in the back and I have just booked a title change in a company, and nobody cares. Everyone’s like, oh, that was good. And nobody was like, oh, that’s not what we talked about. What was that? Everybody was just like, okay, cool. And I was like, this is how we care now?
“And then I remember I talked to Dixie at an after-party and said, hey, I think I’m done. She was, oh, with wrestling? I go, no, I think I’m done here, because my contract was expiring. We tried to have a meeting at the time with John Gaburick. He had been drinking a little bit, and he popped off, and I was, and I was about to escalate, and I just went, I’m done. Thank you guys. And I remember I flew home, and that was the last I ever saw of TNA.”
READ MORE: Samoa Joe Reveals The Largest Regret In His Career
What do you make of Samoa Joe’s comments? Did you enjoy his run in TNA Wrestling? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of these quotes, please credit INSIGHT with a link to this article for the transcription.
