Hall Of Famer Was “Heartbroken” After Being Forced Into WWE Retirement
A WWE Hall of Famer has taken an emotional look back at their in-ring retirement.
At WrestleMania 25, John Bradshaw Layfield stepped into the ring for the final time. Although he made a brief cameo in the 2014 Royal Rumble five years later, JBL’s retirement has been one of the few wrestling farewells that have largely stuck.
The match against Rey Mysterio ended in bizarre circumstances as he quit after just 21 seconds, giving up the Intercontinental Championship.
Speaking on the Something To Wrestle With podcast, JBL reflected on the moment when he realised he needed to retire. He also revealed that he hand-picked Mysterio as his opponent due to their love of the late Eddie Guerrero.
“I told Vince. I said, My back’s killing me, and it’s not getting better. And so we agreed that I was going to retire. And I also told him, you know, because of my love of Eddie, that I wanted to work with Rey. And I love Rey too. By the way, he’s not just, not just Eddie, but I love Rey. And I said, I want to give whatever I have in equity in me, I want to give it to Rey.
And so that’s when I started coming up with the idea of, I’m going to do something monumental. That was all for Rey, 100% from that point forward, where Vince said, ‘Hey, we’re going to we’re going to retire you at WrestleMania.’
We both agreed on that… And I knew the ending was going to be shocking. So I didn’t care what the build-up was, because I knew what the payoff was going to be.”
JBL Struggled In Immediate Aftermath Of WWE Retirement
Continuing on, JBL recalled being struck by a wave of sadness as he made his way backstage, realising that his career was now over. He added that he wanted to leave the show immediately, but ended up staying to watch Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker.
Layfield described that match as the best he’s ever seen.
“Absolutely heartbroken. 100% absolutely heartbroken. You know, I realized that was my last match, and I mean, heartbroken, that’s the only way I can describe it. I just felt terrible. I didn’t even stay for the rest of the show…
I came out of the ring, and, you know, I didn’t really want to retire, literally, I didn’t want to be in this business my entire life… And I realized now that it’s over… Vince came back and hugged me and told me, thank you. And I remember I just got my bag and thought, I’m just leaving, and oh, man, this sucks.
But I stayed and watched… Undertaker and Shawn. Their match was the next match… I stayed there at the monitor… I remember watching that match, and I remember thinking, that’s the greatest wrestling match I’ve ever seen… I sat there, before I left, I watched two of my friends go out there and have, in my opinion, the greatest match in the history of this business…
And I just remember thinking, it’s a good day to leave… got my bag, walked out, and I never thought I’d be back.”
Back in 2025, it’s been announced that JBL will be joining Corey Graves on commentary for AAA Triplemania XXXIII. Graves had worked with Konnan at Worlds Collide back in June with the event featuring both WWE and AAA talent.
At the time it was reported that Graves had earned a great deal of praise backstage for his performance.
At Triplemania, Dominik Mysterio, Dragon Lee, and El Grande Americano will all change El Hijo del Vikingo for the Mega Championship. Meanwhile, Natalya will face Faby Apace and Lady Flammer in a three-way match for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship.
H/t to WrestlingNews.Co