From the WWE rumour mill: Time frame for Samoa Joe's return from injury

What's the story?

Mike Johnson from PWInsider is reporting on an update to the health of WWE Superstar Samoa Joe. Earlier this week, Joe was in Birmingham, Alabama to have his knee injury diagnosed.

In case you didn't know...

Samoa Joe and John Cena have history dating back to 2000 in Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) in California. Some expected the potential feud to play off of their time together there, but that feud is on hold for now with Joe's injury.

The heart of the matter...

According to the report, the updated time frame that Joe will be out of action is four to six weeks. The injury occurred at a WWE Live event on August 26th in a match against John Cena. The rumor was Joe and Cena would have a match on this week's edition of Monday Night Raw, but Joe wasn't on the show at all.

The original plan for No Mercy seemed to be for Samoa Joe to face John Cena, but due to the injury they switched gears just hours before Monday Night Raw aired. The quick thinking paid off as it led to Roman Reigns and John Cena having a great promo on Raw to set up their match at No Mercy.

What's next?

As long as there are no setbacks, Joe will be back early to mid-October for a potential feud at Tables Ladders and Chairs. TLC is the next Raw branded pay per view after No Mercy, and it will take place from Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 22nd.

Author's take...

It is a shame that an injury has derailed Samoa Joe's great momentum that he's built since earning the #1 contender to Brock Lesnar's WWE Universal Championship for Great Balls Of Fire this past July. He has performed extremely well in the main event picture, and thankfully this injury is not a major one.