Dustin Rhodes Suggests 2023 Might Not Be His Last Year In The Ring After All

Dustin Rhodes has clearly been winding down his in-ring career of late. Even if he hadn't said in December that 2023 would be his last year as an in-ring wrestler, he had just seven matches in 2022, down from 17 in 2021 and 25 in 2020, albeit with those seven including widely-praised bouts with CM Punk and Sammy Guevara. However, in a new interview released by "The Wrestling Perspective Podcast" on Monday, Rhodes said that his 35th anniversary as a pro wrestler may not signify the end for him after all.

"When you are 35 years in the business, and you're working pretty steadily on a television basis for so long, your body takes a toll, and I've had a lot of surgeries," he said. "My knees are getting bad, and it may be me saying 'maybe enough's enough.' But to answer you honestly? I don't know. Could I sign another contract at the end of this term here with Tony and go on with less matches, few and far between, some special, special things that come along down the pike? Yes. Could I do it 365 days anymore? No, I couldn't. But we don't do that anymore, so it's changed dramatically over the years. It's not like the olden days in the WWF, where we're on the road 60 days in a row, then you're home for three and you're back out for 30. It was a crazy time schedule back then, and there's a lot more time home now. I still love the business, so it hasn't left me yet, so I can't really say 'Hey man, this might be it.'"

The 53-year-old Rhodes is actually a perfect 3-0 so far in 2023, defeating Swerve Strickland on the February 17 "AEW Rampage" and winning both of his matches alongside Keith Lee in March.