Samoa Joe recently appeared as a guest on WWE Hall Of Famer Booker T’s Heated Conversations podcast. During his appearance on the show, Joe spoke about the injury he suffered during a match against Rhyno on the January 8th episode of RAW.
As noted, the injury resulted in Joe being pulled from WWE’s first-ever Mixed Match Challenge, as well as this month’s joint-brand WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view, where he was scheduled to compete in the 30-man Royal Rumble match.
Joe claimed he understood the situation and is just trying to go with the flow and get back to prime physical condition so he can return to the ring.
“Anytime that you miss, like you say, one of the ‘Big Four’ shows, or, you miss shows in general, missing these opportunities on PPV, it’s always devastating,” Joe said. “A younger version of me would definitely be stressing out and probably making this situation a lot worse. For me right now, I know what I need to do in order to get healthy and get back. I understand the timetable, I understand what I need to do to exceed that timetable. I’m more accepting of the process, because I realize it’s unavoidable. So, now it’s really just about concentrating on just getting back and being healthy. Just getting back out there in front of the people.”
As the interview went on, Booker T would go on to ask Joe if he had a specific timetable he was working with in terms of when he plans to return. Joe claimed that right now he’s in a situation where he has to take a “wait-and-see” approach week-by-week.
“As of right now it’s kind of a week to week thing,” Joe replied. “With these injuries sometimes they heal sooner, sometimes they heal later. They are going to do a little bit of an ultrasound, check it out every week. They’re going to be giving me treatments. It’s not something that can be fixed surgically. It’s basically a lot of time, rest, and elevation, and letting it heal. It just depends on how quick it heals. Hopefully, it will be sooner than later. Obviously, we’re going to be past the [Royal] Rumble, but I don’t know how much further past that.”
Check out the complete Samoa Joe interview from Booker T’s “Heated Conversations” podcast at Radio.com.