Colt Cabana has been in the wrestling business for nearly three decades.
Cabana started his wrestling journey in 1999, but the 45-year-old didn’t really start to get recognition until he wrestled for Ring of Honor. Cabana fought future WWE and AEW stars such as Seth Rollins, Spanky (The Brian Kendrick), CM Punk, Samoa Joe, and Claudio Claudio Castagnoli, just to name a few.
Cabana has been in nearly every big promotion: TNA, ROH, WWE, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and his current home, AEW. Though he doesn’t wrestle much in AEW, Cabana is still going strong on the independent circuit.
During an interview with the Salud Cabrones Podcast, Cabana talked about the longevity of his career and credited his in-ring style as the reason he’s been able to remain active (Transcript courtesy of Fightful).
“Well, probably my style of wrestling. I saw very early that I wanted a long, consistent career, and a lot of the wrestlers I wrestled with very early in my career were doing crazy stuff, and some of them were getting kind of chopped out bit by bit, you know, neck injuries, leg injuries, just like- and then old vets constantly, I’ve been lucky enough to wrestle with just with so many different people. I just think of, like, what I just said, like, going to Japan, I remember my first tour of Japan, Nick Bockwinkle was with us there and so you just, like, think of just all these people who have told you like, slow it down, be smart, and so that, a lot of that resonated with me.”
Now that doesn’t mean that Cabana wasn’t taking risks because he felt that at one point, he needed to do crazy stuff in order to become a star. But as Colt stated above, slowing down really resonated with him.
“I had to do stuff to become a star in wrestling or whatever that means, but I also always listen to those people. Slow it down, make sure you have longevity, and you know, I think something about me is people know about my business acumen. So, that was always in the back of my head of just, like, I want this to be my business. Yes, it’s my passion. Yes, it’s my love. But also I want it to be my business. So I don’t want to be 35 or 40 and then now what do I do with my life? So luckily enough for me, you know, I’m 45. I’m still wrestling. You know, I got that office job with AEW. So it’s all kind of working out.”
Colt Cabana hasn’t had a televised AEW match since November 11, 2022 against Chris Jericho for the ROH World Championship. However, he's a promiment name behind the scenes. Meanwhile, he’s been competing in various indies such as Juggalo Wrestling Championship, AAW: Professional Wrestling Redefined, and Game Changer Wrestling.