Why WWE Hall Of Famer Won’t Retire

A WWE legend isn’t ready to leave wrestling behind.

Retirements in pro wrestling tend to mean different things to different people. While the likes of The Undertaker and Batista are adamant that they’ll never wrestle again, Ric Flair, Terry Funk, and Mick Foley all enjoyed multiple returns to the ring post “retirement,” and even Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin couldn’t resist the call of one more match.

The topic of retirement has been a hot one throughout late 2024 and into 2025 with John Cena vowing to end his career by the end of the year. Goldberg, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Meiko Satomura are also set to retire within the next 12 months.

However, more big names are wrestling longer than ever, with several wrestlers in their 40s and beyond enjoying high-profile runs in both AEW and WWE.

WWE Legend Keeping Options Open

In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Rob Van Dam looked back on his own career, and suggested that he may never retire. The Hall of Famer pointed to all the wrestlers who have said goodbye only to return, and he’s keen to ensure he won’t add his name to that list.

“I don’t [think I am], and I don’t think I will [retire]. That’s how I feel right now. I feel like even if I don’t take wrestling bookings anymore. I don’t think I’ll make a big deal out of retirement. Because when wrestlers retire they end up coming back and wrestling anyway. ‘No, I want one more match.’ For me, that is completely eating up the credibility that I had in wrestling retirement matches.

I doubt that I’ll ever feel like, ‘No, I’m going to be different. I never want to wrestle right now. I’m done.’ I just see me is just going with the flow. And someday, when you say, are you still wrestling? I might say, It’s been six years, and then I might have a match.”

After making his name in ECW, Van Dam was an immediate hit with WWE fans in 2001 and eventually went on to win the World Championship in 2006 after winning Money In The Bank as well as European, Hardcore, Intercontinental, and Tag Team gold.

The star left the company in 2007 and returned to the independent scene before joining TNA in 2010. Van Dam headed back to WWE for a short spell in 2013 but he’s enjoyed a somewhat nomadic wrestling existence since.

“Mr Monday Night” hasn’t wrestled since appearing on the April 20, 2024 edition of AEW Rampage.

H/t to WrestlingNews.Co