Joe Coffey Says He Was “Landlocked” in the U.S. After WWE Release

Joe Coffey is stuck—and not just in his wrestling career. The former WWE NXT UK standout recently opened up about the fallout from his WWE release, revealing a visa nightmare that has left him grounded in the United States with no way to work or return home.

While speaking with MuscleManMalcolm on the Muscle Memory podcast, Coffey explained how his U.S. work visa was directly tied to his WWE contract. Once that deal ended, so did his legal right to work or travel internationally. Now, he and his fellow Gallus members—Mark Coffey and Wolfgang—are in limbo, unable to wrestle or even leave the country.

“Just to cut a long story short, with the release and the contract, our visa goes with that. So we’re in the process of going through a new visa, which hopefully won’t be too lengthy—it’s costly, but it’s going to be an investment. Unfortunately, just now we have to be landlocked in the U.S. So it means we can’t work in the U.S. or get back to Europe or Japan or anything. So it’s just a bit of a waiting game.”

Coffey further revealed that U.S. immigration law typically allows for a 30 to 60-day grace period after a contract ends. But for him, leaving the U.S. wasn’t really an option.

“Being an international talent, with that contract comes a visa, and unfortunately the visa goes with the contract. So going through a new visa process, we cannot leave the country. Like we only had like, I think it was 30 to 60 days to leave America. And to me, that’s just not an option just now—because for the past two years I’ve had a missus here, and I’m going to have to split my time between Europe and the States and maybe Japan if that comes calling. So we have to kind of be landlocked just now until that visa process goes through.”

For now, Coffey is forced to wait on new paperwork before he can get back in the ring—or even fly home. It’s a harsh reminder that the life of an international wrestler isn’t just about contracts and storylines—it’s about legal status, too.

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