WWE: Samoa Joe Injury Update, Candice LeRae NXT Contract Update, More NXT Talent Name Changes

Samoa Joe Injury Status Update

As noted before, Samoa Joe announced earlier this week that he will be out of action for NXT for the foreseeable future due to him currently dealing with several injuries. As a result of his injuries, Joe also vacated his NXT Championship, which was won by Tommaso Ciampa during this past Tuesday’s episode of NXT.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources within the company stated that Joe’s injuries are legit but WWE officials currently do not expect him to be out of action for a long period of time. Johnson also reported that the decision to strip Joe of his NXT Championship was made by WWE’s medical team and not by their creative team.

Johnson also reported that the exact injuries Joe is currently suffering from is still unknown.

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Candice LeRae NXT Contract Status Update

As noted before, Johnny Gargano’s NXT developmental contract with WWE is currently set to expire this December.

Fightful Select reported that their sources within the company stated that Candice LeRae’s NXT developmental contract has a lot more time left on it than her husband Gargano’s contract. It was reported that LeRae’s contract is currently expected to expire sometime in 2022.

It was also reported that LeRae’s contract was not extended in length due to her recent time off for pregnancy reasons. Their sources stated that the reason why LeRae has remained on screen during her pregnancy was due to LeRae insisting on it and NXT officials being happy with her work both in and outside of the ring.

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More NXT Talent Name Changes

WWE recently changed the ring names of several more of their NXT brand talent, according to PWInsider.

PWInsider’s Steven Fernandes reported that Anriel Howard will now be known as Lash Legend, Sean Tan will now be known as Dante Chen, and Josh Dawkins will now be known as Malik Blade going forward in NXT and WWE.