He has wrestled in 5 different decades, from the 1980s to the 2020s, but Dustin Rhodes retirement could be coming soon than most people think. A recent interview revealed that his career could be over as soon as next year, but the future is not so bleak for the former Intercontinental Champion.
Dustin Rhodes Retirement
Dustin Rhodes recently spoke at a Terrificon 2022 about his future plans in wrestling. The AEW wrestler was a key part of AEW Dynamite in the early years of the company, but with his advancing age has dropped off of the main event scene and moved to focus on his work training the next generation of wrestler.
The former Goldust in WWE signed for AEW in 2019 after being released by WWE upon his request. He was immediately placed into a program with his brother Cody Rhodes and the pair faced off at the first AEW show ever – AEW Double or Nothing 2019. The Dustin Rhodes vs Cody Rhodes match was one of the best matches of 2019 and was awarded 5 stars by Dave Meltzer.
However, since then he often been featured as an enhancement talent, putting over the younger generation of wrestlers. He seems happy with his role at the moment, as it gives him the freedom to train the future of AEW in his training school, the Rhodes Wrestling Academy.
At Terrificon 2022, Dustin Rhodes was joined by fellow AEW star Abadon where he spoke about his future in wrestling. He spoke about ending his career, hinting that this could be his last year in the year before Dustin Rhodes’ retirement from wrestling.
He also revealed that he loves teaching and it has given him a new purpose in life outside the ring.
“Right now, I think my head is at passing it on. I have done just about everything. Whatever I can contribute this year last, I’ll do my best, but coaching is really a lot of fun to me. I know it’s not for everybody but for some reason it just clicked and it’s my next step. I’m really good at it,”
“I’m very patient with it. I’ve noticed, it’s like, I’m not a patient person and I’m very patient teaching. I love it. So, if I can pass on some knowledge that has done me well in the years, that’s the payoff. It comes full circle like that.”
With him saying “Whatever I can contribute this year last, i’ll do my best” implies that this will be Dustin Rhodes last year in wrestling and that he could follow Keiji Mutoh by retiring in 2023.
You can the full video featuring Abadon and Dustin Rhodes below.
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