AEW star and World Trios Champion Samoa Joe, at 46 years old, is looking towards the final chapter of his in-ring career. During a recent interview with Shakiel Mahjouri for SHAK Wrestling, Joe discussed his plans for retirement, indicating that he will “most likely” call it a career once his current deal with AEW expires. This aligns with statements he made in a previous interview with Insight with Chris Van Vliet.
Joe emphasized that his decision is rooted in responsible considerations, stating, “I obviously never want to outstay your welcome in this industry, and I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to be involved with it for over 25 years now.” He also highlighted the importance of preserving his health for the future: “The other thing too is, I think many of us want to preserve what we can of our health for our latter years. So, it is something that is probably the most likely scenario, but hey, it is an unusual world and unusual opportunities come up. So, we’ll see.”
When asked about a specific retirement date, Joe said, “No, not at all. No, it might be a surprise. It might just be one day, I’m gone, and leave it at that. I’m not as ceremonial as everybody else. I like disappearing into the sunset.” He also expressed his philosophy on making way for new talent: “It’s in a lot of ways, I feel it’s important, maybe to me more than anybody else. I wouldn’t want to hold up a young, burgeoning industry for on behalf of myself… I’ve always been somebody that’s been firmly planted with my heads toward the future and never tried to dwell too much in the past, and it’s kind of been my theory with the industry too. I would hope we always look towards the future and not obviously appreciate the past, but not miss it too much.”
