3-Time WWE Champion Confesses He May Retire At 45

WWE and retirements have a close relationship these days.

Unfortunately, it’s the top stars leaving the company, much to the chagrin of wrestling fans.

2025 saw the retirement of Goldberg and 17-time world champion John Cena. AJ Styles then retired at the 2026 Royal Rumble.

The perpetrator behind these retirements was ‘The Ring General’ Gunther, who made Goldberg and Styles pass out, whereas Cena tapped out for the first time in over two decades.

A former United States Champion recently discussed their imminent retirement. Rusev is 40 years old now and returned to WWE last year after WrestleMania.

Since then, he has been featured in feuds with the likes of Sheamus and Dominik Mysterio, and even reached the quarter-finals of The Last Time is Now tournament, where he lost to Jey Uso.

After being off TV briefly, he competed in the 2026 men’s Royal Rumble match. On the February 16 episode of Raw, he was shown eyeballing Oba Femi in a backstage non-wrestling segment.

Ex-WWE Champion Might Retire At 45

While Rusev got a lot of TV time in WWE in 2025 owing to his feud with Sheamus, he has been away of late.

He competed at the Royal Rumble, but only lasted 32 seconds before being eliminated by Oba Femi.

While speaking to Chris Van Vliet on Insight, the Bulgarian wrestler confessed that he has set his retirement age as 45, but would finalized it depending on how his body feels at the time.

I said 45 and then reevaluate the body, see how it feels. But so far, I feel great. I haven’t felt that good in a long time, because it’s not like you have matches every day. So the body is way more protected. I take care of my body a lot more. I do a lot of stretching and massages. I eat a lot better. I train a lot smarter. So I just take care of my body, and I know that the body’s going to take care of me.