Last week, Lio Rush made a statement that he may never compete inside a professional wrestling ring ever again. The former NXT Cruiserweight Champion has remained quiet over his comments until now, as Rush addresses the statement with Forbes about never entering the squared circle again:
“Yes, that was definitely a tweet that I made and have thought that it was very real comment.”
It appears that the thought of retirement has crossed the 25-year-old's mind for some time now as the former WWE star notes how he’s discussed hanging up the boots with family and friends:
“Even before the release, I would talk to family members, I would talk to friends—people that I'm close to in the wrestling business—people that I'm close to outside of the wrestling business. And I would just have this feeling in my gut or in my heart that my wrestling days were going to come to an end. So I don't know why. I don't know why I was feeling like that. I just said to myself, ‘I don't think I'm going to be wrestling for that much longer.
His release from the company only fueled his fire to explore a different avenue going forward:
“And then once the release happened, it made me just think about it even more and I said to myself: Why jump right back into something when I have all this time where I don't have to wrestle right now? I had good times in WWE. I had bad times too. And some of those bad times were a little traumatizing to me. I just thought to myself: Why put myself back in a situation where I was going to be unhappy?”
Rush also speaks about the possibility of going over to All Elite Wrestling and the former NXT Cruiserweight Champion doesn’t shut down the idea of lacing up the boots for the new promotion; however, it does have to feel right for him mentally:
“I feel like it's going to take a lot for me to consider going anywhere because it's not just about the money to me, you know? It has to be right for me mentally. It has to be like my family. You know, I got a wife, I got two kids and although that money will provide for myself, my family at the end of the day, if I'm not right mentally and I'm not right emotionally, then I'm not even going to be able to do this job.”