Samoa Joe Shoots Down Injury Story And Reveals How It Turned Into A Social Experiment

By Marc Middleton

Former WWE Superstar Samoa Joe took to Twitter this week to dismiss a story that's been making the rounds for several years now.

The 2008 TNA Bound For Glory pay-per-view saw WWE Hall of Famer Sting defeat Joe to capture the World Heavyweight Title in the main event. There was a now-infamous spot in that match where Joe went for a huge running dropkick and landed on the concrete steps in the crowd. Word started making the rounds that said Joe broke his tailbone and almost suffered other devastating injuries.

The injury was blamed for affecting Joe's in-ring work for the rest of his career, with many fans saying he was never the same in the ring after that spot.

It was never actually reported by any credible sources that Joe suffered the broken tailbone. Joe was asked about the story on Twitter this week and he responded to shoot the myth down.

Joe noted that he has refrained from commenting on the story because he's enjoyed how the legend has grown over the years. A fan linked him to another fan's investigation on Reddit, and Joe gave them props for doing their homework, confirming that he never missed a day of work due to the spot.

"Nope, in fact I didn't miss a day of work. I have refrained commenting on this because I have enjoyed how the legend grew over the years & it been somewhat of a social experiment for me watching it manifest as such a absolute truth. Person did his homework. Myth busted," Joe wrote.

Joe continued and gave some insight into what happened in the crowd, with what was supposed to be a flying forearm.

"Also it was never suppose to be what it was in the chaos of the crowd Sting was moved down the steps and what was supposed to be a cool slightly dangerous flying forearm had to be audibled into that mid air much to my surprise," he continued.

The Samoan Submission Machine made another follow-up tweet and commented how he would agree with wrestlers who would bring up how the spot forced him to change his style, continuing the social experiment.

"The social experiment started when wrestlers I would meet would bring it up to me as a fact some even saying that 'Man that changed your style up huh' which I would agree with, then internally shake my head at how easily rumor becomes fact," Joe wrote.

He continued, "In fact in this media environment I stopped trying to debunk things said about me because in the battle of "truth" vs "narrative", narrative will always find a way to justify why truth is wrong. Also it makes it easier for me to sus out who is full of it. Just to clarify if you where a colleague who ASKED me about it I told the truth, even some fans I met a autograph signings BUT if you stated it to me as fact, I let you believe what you want. Mainly because you didn't have the common courtesy to even see if it was true."

Joe was released from his WWE contract back on April 15, along with 9 other Superstars as the company made budget cuts. He will be free to sign with other promotions on Wednesday, July 14 after his 90-day non-compete clause with WWE expires.

You can see Joe's full tweets below, along with video of the spot:

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