An AEW star has rejected the idea of him wrestling for the rest of his life.
After losing to the House of Black for the AEW World Trios Championship on the July 22 edition of AEW Collision, Billy Gunn left his boots in the ring, walked away from the Acclaimed and teased a retirement.
However, “Daddy Ass” would make his return to the squared circle to reunite with Max Caster and Anthony Bowens to finally defeat House of Black’s Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews and Brody King to win the titles at AEW All In.
Speaking on AEW Unrestricted, Gunn reflected on his brief retirement and the reaction of the fans to it. He said:
“I think they knew something was up, only because of how the match went; not good for me. When I decided to do that, they all went, ‘oh gosh.'”
“I think it was more shocking because there is one guy from wrestling phase that moved it to present time that we all still love and have watched for so long that it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s over.'”
“I don’t know exactly how to put that, but it was partly because of me leaving the ring, but it was mainly because it was the end of an era, the end of me taking my kids to show them the guy that I used to watch when I was their age. That was the thing. I was okay with it.”
“I was really okay. People can say what they want about what I’ve done or haven’t done, but I’ve done so much in my career and I have no regrets, not one, not a single one.”
Gunn continued on to explain when he would call it a career, saying:
“The only thing is, if I can’t live up to my standards of wrestling, I’m not going to do it, I’m just not going to. My phone blew up and they go, ‘please tell me…you can’t.'”
“Everyone thinks I’m going to wrestle for the rest of my life. That’s not a thing. No matter how good I think I’m put together, things are going to have to come apart here before too long.”
“I don’t want to be that guy who is hanging on for the sake of hanging on. I want to be able to contribute. I don’t want everyone to do everything for me.”
“I have to hold up my end of the bargain. At that moment in time, I wasn’t, and I felt like that was the best thing to do. Then, just like before, they dragged me back,”
The trio of The Acclaimed have reigned as AEW World Trios Champions and successfully defended the titles against Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard and Angelo Parker at AEW Battle of the Belts VIII.
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