AEW Star Discusses Decision To Retire

AEW

An AEW name has opened up about their decision to retire earlier this year, bringing to an end a three-decade career.

Christopher Daniels brought his feud against Hangman Adam Page to an end with a loss in a Texas Deathmatch on AEW Collision in January 2025.

The former AEW Tag Team Champion would go on to reveal that been advised that he would never wrestle again, bringing his in-ring career to an end.

During a recent episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Christopher Daniels opened up about realising it was his time to retire, saying:

“So at the beginning of 2024, I knew my contract as a performer was coming to an end. I sort of said to myself at the beginning of the year, All right, you’ve been doing this for a while.

“Your body feels eh, and you’re not wrestling that often. So let’s try and make this a good year and see how we feel at the end of the year. So I said to myself that I’m gonna try to make this a good year for me.

“I started working with Cezar Bononi to try and get in good shape, and I just said, let’s see how we feel at the end of this year. I’m gonna wrestle this year like it’s my last and see how I feel. But one of the things I sort of kept in mind was I only wanted to wrestle if Tony wanted me to wrestle.

“I didn’t want to go to him and be like, ‘Hey, please can I wrestle?’ Because I felt like if Tony needed me for the show, or if Tony wanted me for the show, then he would think of something for me to do on the show.

“But I didn’t want to be that guy that was like, ‘Hey, I’m not doing anything this week. Can I do something this week?’ And have him possibly feel obligated to give me something and then jam it into a show that’s already (full).”

His final months as an in-ring performer would see Daniels in a program with The Young Bucks, who were, at the time, abusing their authority as EVPs.

Still seeking an opportunity to bring his career to an end, Daniels would go on to discuss how he and Hangman Adam Page ended up working together, stating:

“And I went to Hangman one time, and this was in the middle of the time when he was getting booed out of the building. He was in the midst of the thing with Swerve. He was just starting this thing with Jay White. And I was like, ‘Hey, man, what if you ended my career? That would be great heat for a heel to be if you crippled me so bad I couldn’t wrestle anymore, that would be cool.’

“I didn’t think anything of it after that, just Oh, that would be cool. That’d be a good way to go out. And then, near the end of the year, he was like, ‘I went to Tony, and I think we’re going to do this thing with you and me.’ I was like, oh, okay, cool. So, I mean, if it wasn’t for Hangman asking for that, I don’t think it would happen. I might have ended my career with that match with Jack (Perry) and just said, I’m done.”

Daniels revealed that he was the one who put himself forward for a match against Jack Perry on the September 14 episode of AEW Collision, which saw The Scapegoat retain the TNT Championship.

Speaking about the retirement match itself, Daniels would note that he didn’t want it to be known that it would be a final in-ring encounter, stating:

“I also didn’t want people to know it was my final match. To me, you watch television. You watch dramas or whatever. They never advertise okay, this is the last episode for this guy, because he’s gonna die at the end.

“Tony had asked me too. He’s like, ‘Hey, why don’t we call this a retirement match?’ I was like, ‘No, you’re missing the point. I don’t want people to know it’s a retirement match. I want people to be shocked.’

“It’s more heat, even though it wasn’t really heat on Page at that time, because by that time, he was sort of turning babyface again. But to me, I thought it was more meaningful, and it sort of lent itself to the reality of professional wrestling that we don’t always know when our last match is.

“So what I wanted was to have the match and then announce the retirement the week later and say, ‘Hey, man, I got so messed up I can’t do this anymore.’ It’s funny how the original idea went from not putting heat on him, but when I pitched it to him what if at the end I say, ‘Hey, I can’t wrestle anymore. Are you happy now?’

“I said to him, ‘We can do this one of two ways. Either you start to feel bad, or you double down and you say, “No, I wish I killed you.” And they’re dependent on where he was going to go. You could go either of those routes.’ So, yeah, I went into it thinking this is a good way to go out. And the surprise of it would have been cool.”

Daniels would conclude his reflecting by revealed he wished that the news of his retirement hadn’t leaked before the show was aired before saying that he was “really happy with how it played out”.

He would also comment that he knew it was time to slow down from the beginning of the year, having also previously on multiple injuries he was dealing with over the years.

The storied star currently works in a backstage capacity for AEW, where he serves as Head of Talent Relations.

Transcript from chrisvanvliet.com.

To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, follow us on Threads by clicking this link!

• Christopher Daniels
• retirement
• AEW

Share this article with friends