Samoa Joe Removed From WWE Live Events Until After WrestleMania
As Daniel reported last night, John Cena's match for the upcoming WWE live event at Madison Square Garden on March 16th has changed once again. Cena is now scheduled to team with fiancee Nikki Bella against Elias & Bayley. Unless Nikki is added to more live events before the MSG show, it will be her first house show in a year.
Cena was originally scheduled to face Elias at the show, and Roman Reigns before that. His first announced opponent was Samoa Joe, however that was changed after Joe suffered an injury during a match against Rhyno on the January 8th episode of RAW.
In an update, Joe has been removed from all WWE live events until after WrestleMania. He is not listed for any WWE events until the European tour in May. This could simply be a precaution and he could always be added if he's cleared to return to action before then. During an interview on Booker T's Heated Conversations podcast, Joe said that his return to the ring is "a week to week thing."
"It's kind of a week to week thing," Joe told Booker. "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."
Joe has yet to make a WrestleMania appearance. While Joe was healthy for last year's WrestleMania, he was never used on the show.
Joshua Gagnon contributed to this article.