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Samoa Joe has been a revelation in the commentary booth on RAW and he has quickly risen to become one of the best announcers in the company. Joe's commentary duties have cast doubts on his in-ring future and Dave Meltzer revealed a few surprising backstage updates regarding the Samoan Submission Machine's WWE status.
Dave Meltzer revealed in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Samoa Joe is now considered a permanent replacement for Jerry Lawler as an announcer.
Joe has not been cleared to return to in-ring action just yet but that could change in the future.
Double duty for Samoa Joe?
Meltzer noted that the plan could be for Samoa Joe to work as an announcer and if/when he gets cleared, WWE could use his announcer's role to shoot the wrestling angles. Such angles have historically done really well and WWE could emulate the same with Samoa Joe.
It was also added that the plans could change if the company feels they have depth issues on the roster and Samoa Joe could then be pushed as a full-time wrestler. Meltzer said that there is a possibility that Samoa Joe can mix it up and do both announcing and in-ring duties in the future.
Regarding Samoa Joe, he is still not cleared to return, however he is also now considered the permanent replacement for Lawler as an announcer. What that means if/when he is cleared is that he may have the role where he announces and they can shoot angles for him to wrestle using that (since those kind of angles usually do well). Things could also change if later there are depth issues and they feel the need to have him as a full-time wrestler. Or he could mix the two.
The former NXT Champion has suffered way too many injury setbacks over the past few years. Joe's latest injury was a concussion he suffered during a commercial shoot and WWE has been cautious in Joe's case as the Superstar has suffered multiple concussions in a short span of time.
While Samoa Joe's work as an announcer has garnered rave reviews, the company reportedly sees a lot of value in the 41-year-old Superstar as an active in-ring performer.
There are currently no updates on when he will be cleared but the WWE is just playing it safe and Joe should inevitably be given the green signal to compete again sooner rather than later.
For now, let's just sit back and enjoy his brilliance as an announcer.
