AEW star Chris Jericho has addressed his potential retirement, shooting down rumors that he’s preparing to hang up his boots.
Jericho was one of AEW’s top stars when the promotion launched, with the wrestling veteran becoming the inaugural AEW World Champion in August 2019.
The former WWE star has teased retiring several times during his run with AEW, with Jericho notably putting his career on the line against MJF at All Out 2021.
In the years since that match, there has been a lot of speculation about what Jericho’s final match will actually be.
In an interview with Daily Star, Jericho noted that he doesn’t intend on retiring until he feels he has to.
Addressing ‘please retire’ chants he’s previously received from the crowd, Jericho said:
“To me, when the ‘please retire’ chants were going, I was laughing because I have zero intentions of that. I’ve got a six pack and I can do a moonsault and I know exactly what I’m doing in the ring. I know how to write storylines, I like the company I work for, I like my boss, I like the guys and girls in the company, why would I wanna retire? What’s the point? Just because somebody told me to? Like, f**k off.
“I remember the (Rolling) Stones in ’89 when they did the Steel Wheels tour, they were calling it the ‘Steel Wheelchair’ tour – ‘The Stones are too old, the Stones should retire’. I just saw the Stones two months ago and they were amazing. So they didn’t care.
“You retire when you know it’s time, when you know it’s right, and it’s not the right time right now. It’s not. I say it all the time – as long as I know I can still have the best match of the night, not every night, but I can still do it, I’m gonna stay, and as long as I can still continue to have good ideas and feel motivated and passionate, I’m gonna stay.
“God willing, I physically don’t have any issues, and I don’t, which is amazing after 33 years and I think that’s another reason why people are mad because I’ve never had to take any extended time off for that. So what’s the hassle?
“It’s the epitome of age is just a number – if you saw me walk down the street, I don’t think many people would go, ‘That guy’s 53 years old’. I don’t. Some might. But showbusiness is part of it too, you have to look the part, and I still look like Chris Jericho and act like Chris Jericho and work like Chris Jericho. So until that moment where I feel like, ‘Okay, this needs to stop’, I’ve got no intentions of that.
“And like I said, I’ve got no time limit on it. It could be this week. It could be five years from now. I don’t know. I just know that as of this moment at 2:30pm Eastern Time on Monday, August 19 as I’m talking to you, I’m having a great time, I love going to work, I love contributing, and there’s no reason to stop doing that.”
Chris Jericho will defend his FTW Championship against Hook at All In London 0n August 25. If Hook loses this match, he won’t be able to challenge for the FTW Title again while Jericho is champion.
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