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Major Injury Updates On Samoa Joe & AJ Styles

Posted: Jan 30th 2020 By: Alex Hoegler - Sportster.com

As WWE begins its buildup towards WrestleMania 36, the Raw brand could be without two of their premier superstars, A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe for considerable time.

The Phenomenal One suffered a shoulder injury during Sunday's Royal Rumble event, having landed awkwardly after taking a spear in Edge during the 30-man showdown. Styles was in visible pain and was seen talking to WWE officials in the ring while the match was still ongoing.

It unfortunately sounds like Styles could miss considerable time. But the good news is that he should be back for WrestleMania 36, according to Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Cageside Seats).

Samoa Joe was concussed on this week's episode of Raw, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Paul Davis of Wrestling News). Joe took a hard fall to the floor after diving inside the ropes, and he was removed from his tag team match with Kevin Owens against Buddy Murphy and Seth Rollins.

It's always difficult to determine how much time a concussion will keep somebody out of action for. Sheamus suffered one during a match in April of last year, and he didn't wrestle again for nine months.

It's just another unlucky break for Joe, who recently returned to action after missing over three months due to a broken thumb. He also missed two months of action in 2017 due to a knee injury, and he was sidelined three months in 2018 (missing the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania) after suffering a foot injury.

Hopefully, Samoa Joe won't be out of action for too long. It'd be extremely disappointing for everybody if he was forced to miss another WrestleMania event. But again, it's impossible to guess how long the concussion will sideline Joe for.

Other Superstars Need To Step Up On Raw

Joe was aligned with Owens against Rollins, Murphy and the AOP, while Styles and his O.C. counterparts formed the other main stable on Raw. With these two superstars out of action for the time being, WWE really needs other superstars to step up in their absences. Nobody should be surprised if Paul Heyman and co. begin to push other talents even more while Joe and Styles are hurt, especially considering they're both among WWE's top main event stars.