Jaxson Ryker has been offered chances to wrestle again since calling it a career, but don’t expect another comeback match. The former WWE star says he’s perfectly happy staying retired, especially now that his body feels “100 times better” without wrestling.
Speaking on Developmentally Speaking, Ryker was asked whether he immediately planned to continue wrestling after WWE released him or if he was already thinking about doing something else. By that point, retirement had already started creeping into his mind because his neck and lower back were giving him serious problems.
“No, I think I had in the back of my mind that it was time to start maybe pursuing other things. My body, when I got released from WWE, my body was hurting real bad. I’d had a neck injury and a lower-back injury that was causing some — causing some numbness in my arm and my hand. Just really, really excruciating pain for the most part.”
Ryker had actually made a deal with himself years earlier about when enough would be enough. If wrestling stopped being fun or his body reached the point where the pain was taking over, he wasn’t going to keep going just for the sake of it.
“I always told myself years ago, if I got to where I didn’t enjoy it anymore or my body hurt really bad, I’d walk away on my own. I didn’t want to be 50 and crippled. And so when it happened, man, I was like, ‘Okay, well, what do we do?’”
Ryker didn’t immediately hang up the boots after WWE, though. Once his 90-day non-compete period was over, he decided to squeeze in one final independent run rather than suddenly disappearing from wrestling altogether.
“So, I was like, ‘Let’s just do kind of an independent run. I could go all over these places. I’ve worked for NWA and just do an independent run.’ And that’s basically what I did for the — well, I took three, four months off after they released me because I had a 90-day no-compete clause.”
That became what Ryker personally considered his retirement run beginning in 2022. He only worked a handful of matches before finally deciding his body had given him the answer he needed.
“And then after that, I started — this was the beginning of 2022 — I started kind of what I called my retirement run. I had a series of six or eight matches and ended in August of 2023. That’s when I had my last match, man. So, I knew it was time to kind of walk away. My body was just not feeling good.”
Ryker did get the traditional emotional goodbye when the time came. After his final match, he untied his boots and left them sitting in the ring before heading backstage and realizing that chapter of his life was really over.
“No, man. I get asked that quite often. And, you know, of course, when I had that last match and I did the old untie my boots and put them in the ring, and I get to the back and I’m like, ‘This is it.’”
That could have easily turned into one of those wrestling retirements that lasts until somebody calls with the right offer. Ryker says those calls have actually come, including from friends and promoters asking if he’d consider getting back in the ring one more time.
“But I’ve gotten, even since then, three years ago, I’ve had people call me, buddies of mine, promoters, ‘Hey, man, would you consider one more match?’”
So far, none of those offers have tempted him. Ryker says retirement has been good to him physically, and that’s a feeling he’s not interested in giving up just to squeeze another match out of his career.
“And I am so content in my retirement life. ’Cause my body feels 100 times better, you know. I don’t ache and moan and groan anymore as much as I used to.”
His priorities have changed as well. After 23 years in wrestling, Ryker can look back at the punishment he took while also realizing he managed to avoid some of the catastrophic injuries that have ended other careers.
“The wrestling business changed for me. And I think my views in life changed. What was important to me changed.”
Ryker doesn’t sound bitter about walking away either. Instead, he views those 23 years as a career that gave him opportunities most wrestlers will never experience, and he’s happy he got out when he did.
“And so it was — no. I just, I sat back and I was like, ‘Dude, I’ve given 23 years of my life to pro wrestling. I’ve escaped with — I mean, I’ve had broken fingers and nose and stuff, but never broken a neck or anything crazy.’”
That’s ultimately why another match doesn’t seem to hold much appeal for Ryker these days. He got his retirement run, left his boots in the ring on his own terms and, most importantly, finally stopped waking up with the same punishment that came with wrestling for more than two decades.
“And I was like, ‘I’ve had a blessed career, and I’ve got to do a lot, a lot of stuff that a lot of guys never get to or never will get to do.’”
Ryker has already received the “one more match” calls, but his answer hasn’t changed. After years of neck and back problems, feeling this much better in retirement appears to mean more to him than another night under the lights.
What do you think about Jaxson Ryker turning down opportunities to wrestle again after finally getting his body back to feeling good? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
