Bad News Concerning Samoa Joe's Injury Timeline

When news first broke, there was a reason to hope Samoa Joe's plantar fascia rupture would heal before the Royal Rumble. But now, fans can officially start to worry about Joe being back in time for WrestleMania.

According to the Wrestling Observer, Joe has been pulled from not just the Royal Rumble but from the upcoming live event in mid-march. This means that Joe will miss most, if not all, of the WrestleMania build up and could conceivably be left off the entire April 8th mega show.

There is the chance that WWE is overshooting its estimations, though. Joe's injury may be a fluid situation and WWE doesn't want to be caught advertising him for shows he may not be healthy for. So, to be safe, WWE pulled him from everything.

Regardless, this comes as tough news for Joe. The 38-year old journeyman missed a decent chunk of 2017 due to injury and 2018 will begin in an all too familiar fashion. Even more, Joe, even if healthy by March, likely won't be given a WrestleMania level field. Seeing that Joe just missed the cut last year, it looks like Joe will have to wait until 2019 to get his first ever 'Mania match.

Joe's time in WWE has been frustrating, to say the least. Not that he's underwhelmed, it's the opposite in fact - every time WWE uses Joe he excels. His Great Balls of Fire match with Brock Lesnar established him as a top-level player for the company and WWE positioned him not once but twice to work with John Cena. however, Joe was sent the disabled list prior the idea manifesting.

Now, instead of Cena vs. Joe, WWE is going forward with the up and coming to Elias positioning himself against 16-time WWE champion. For Joe, we'll have to hope he can make a speed every otherwise he may return to a WWE that has passed him by.

We'll keep you updated as Joe's situation changes.