Chris Jericho Dismisses Idea of Year-Long Retirement Ceremony

Chris Jericho, a true veteran in pro wrestling, takes pride in his work with AEW and isn’t bothered by critics. While his in-ring career will eventually end, Jericho has now addressed retiring in the future and made it clear he isn’t interested in having a year-long retirement ceremony.

While speaking to Z100 New York, Chris Jericho revealed his thoughts on eventually retiring from wrestling. He stated that he hadn’t thought about it much because his career could end at any time. Jericho explained that wrestling has changed a lot, with big TV deals and star power letting wrestlers stay in the business longer, as long as they’re healthy and can still perform.

“I really haven’t, man, because it could end tomorrow. I mean, Sting quit at 65. You know, times have changed now in wrestling because there’s so much money involved from a television standpoint, and it’s still a very star power-driven business—it always has been. So, you can stay in this job a lot longer than you ever thought you would, as long as you’re healthy and can still perform.”

Le Champion made it clear that he’s not interested in doing a year-long, drawn-out retirement ceremony, calling it unnecessary. Jericho shared a story about Iron Maiden’s drummer Nicko McBrain, who announced his retirement on the morning of his last show, with a new drummer introduced the next day. He liked the simplicity of that but prefers to focus on what’s happening now.

“I don’t know; I haven’t really thought about that. I’ve never been the guy who’s like, ‘year-long retirement ceremony.’ That seems a little, kind of like, eh. But having said that, going back to rock and roll, I’m a huge Iron Maiden fan, and they announced one morning that Nicko McBrain, the drummer for 42 years, was retiring that night. Then the next day, they announced the new drummer. You had no time—it was like, ‘Morning: Nicko’s retiring. Last show tonight. Tomorrow: new drummer.’ Like, what?”

Jericho wants his retirement to be final and doesn’t want to keep coming back after saying he’s done. He mentioned how acts like the Scorpions, Cher, and KISS have had multiple “retirement” tours, while the Rolling Stones have never done one and will just stop when they’re ready.

“So there might be some merit to doing a final show, but I don’t think about that stuff. I really live in what’s going on right now. My Sid Vicious, Sex Pistols attitude is like, ‘I’ll just disappear, and no one will ever see me again.’ But I don’t know if I’d be able to do that. So, I’m sure when the time is right, I’ll know it, and we’ll figure out a way to do it and then go from there.

But when I retire, it’ll be ‘I’m retiring.’ I don’t want to do the thing where you come back or keep coming back. So, I might never have that ‘final match.’ I’d want it to be, ‘This is the match, and then I’m done.’ I’m not trying to put that kind of pressure on myself.

You know, I mentioned the Scorpions—they had a retirement tour 10 years ago, and then when it was done, they went, ‘Nah, we don’t want to retire anymore.’ Cher’s had like 30 farewell tours. KISS did it. Ozzy did it. So, it’s like, why? You know who’s never done that? The Stones. The Stones are in their 80s, and they’ve never had a retirement tour. When they’re done, I’m sure they’ll just be done. But to me, it’s like, why put that pressure on yourself?”

The ROH World Champion also said he might retire quietly without making a big announcement, leaving the option to wrestle again in a few years if he wants to. Jericho also pointed out the risk of having a bad retirement match, which could make him feel pressured to wrestle again. For now, he’s focused on enjoying his career and will decide on retirement when the time comes.

“Maybe I’ll just stop wrestling. Maybe five years from now, I might want to have another match. Maybe not. But it seems like there’s a lot of pressure on it. And you know what happens if you have your retirement match and it sucks? Well, then you’re like, ‘Now I have to have another one.'”

Therefore, we will have to wait and see what Chris Jericho decides to do when he eventually retires from wrestling. For now, it seems likely he will continue competing for the next few years.

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