WWE Black Wednesday 2021 Releases - Where Are They Now?

10. Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe's April 2021 release was undone via returning exclusively as an NXT talent in the summer. A unique situation to say the least, this appeared to denote a divide like never before between the wrestlers under Vince McMahon and Triple H’s purviews.

That too was ultimately short-lived - the 'Samoan Submission Machine' vacated a newly-won NXT Championship ahead of the programme's move to the 2.0 format and he was released again in January 2022.

With his 90-day release served, Joe returned to Ring Of Honor at Supercard Of Honor XV - Tony Khan's first show for the company - then appeared on Dynamite for AEW the following Wednesday.

Authored by Michael Hamflett

Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.

Posted On: 12th Apr 2022

In this post:

Eddie Kingston Tucker Knight