Tay Melo isn’t retired, and she wants to make that very clear. After fans noticed a change to her Instagram bio and started saying she had quietly called it a career, Melo quickly shut that idea down herself.
The speculation started on September 4 when a fan noticed that Melo had removed “wrestler” from her Instagram bio. With Melo already on her way out of AEW after asking for her release, the change was taken as another sign that she was done with wrestling completely.
“She removed the wrestler from her bio. It means she really did retire, thanks Tay Melo 🇧🇷”
Melo took to Twitter and didn’t leave much room for interpretation with her response, as she made it abundantly clear she has not retired as an in-ring competitor.
“Nope, I didn’t retire.”
That’s an interesting clarification considering what Tony Khan previously said about Melo’s AEW exit. During the AEW Redemption media call on July 23, Khan confirmed that Melo had recently asked to be released from the company. According to Khan, Melo approached him after her June 6 Collision match and told him she wanted to step away from both AEW and wrestling.
“Tay had said she wanted to step away from wrestling. She said, ‘I love AEW and I love the people here, but I want to step away from AEW and step away from wrestling.’ That’s what she told me.”
Khan also made it clear that there wasn’t some lengthy battle between the two sides. He said Melo asked for her release only weeks earlier and that their conversation was completely amicable.
“That wasn’t in 2025. That was weeks ago at Collision after she wrestled against Divine Dominion. She came to me after the match and said, ‘I would like a release.’ I was taken aback, and we had a very nice talk. Since that talk, I haven’t brought her back or booked her, and I am going to give Tay that release.”
At the time, Melo wanting to “step away from wrestling” naturally left questions about whether she was finished with the business entirely. Removing “wrestler” from her Instagram bio only added more fuel to that speculation.
Melo may be stepping away from AEW and may not be wrestling right now, but that doesn’t mean she considers herself retired. Where Melo eventually wrestles again—or when—is still anyone’s guess. For anyone already writing the goodbye messages, though, she apparently isn’t ready for those just yet.
Where would you like to see Tay Melo wrestle next if she eventually decides to return to the ring? Let us know in the comments.
