Why Samoa Joe Was Written Off AEW TV Revealed

Samoa Joe won’t be showing up on AEW TV for a little while—and the reason has everything to do with his other hit project.

At AEW All In: Texas, The Opps retained the AEW Trios Championships in a brutal match against The Death Riders and Gabe Kidd. But after the bell rang, Joe was attacked and stretchered out of the arena in a dramatic post-match scene. According to Fightful Select, the segment was done to write Joe off TV temporarily.

Sources confirmed Joe is “scheduled to take a brief hiatus from AEW programming to handle promotional work for the new season of Twisted Metal,” which hits Peacock on July 31. While the exact timeline for his return is unclear, he’s expected to be off AEW programming for “at least a couple of weeks.”

AEW has used similar strategies in the past to cover outside projects, and Joe’s exit was clearly part of a bigger plan. The beatdown wasn’t just brutal—it was a clean way to temporarily pull one of the company’s most dominant stars off television.

Are you looking forward to Joe’s role in Twisted Metal, or are you going to miss his presence on AEW shows? Let us know what you think in the comments.