AEW Favourite Adjusts His Retirement Plans

Despite previous comments, this AEW favourite won't be hanging up his boots just yet.

by Andrew Pollard
Dustin Rhodes
AEW

Despite stating last year how he only has one year of his in-ring career left, Dustin Rhodes has now walked back on those plans and sees himself as, hopefully, having up to four more years of competing in the squared circle.

The topic of the Natural's retirement came up during a recent appearance on the Sports Guys Talk Wrestling podcast - as picked up on by Fightful - with the second-generation star explaining how he will not be calling time on his legendary career just yet.

As Rhodes put it:

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"The older I get, the harder [the idea of a final match] gets. The thing about me is my work ethic. I work hard, and every time that red light is on I try to do my very best. So far, being here for the five years that I have, in my 50s, I'm doing amazing. I've not had one bad match. It's been pretty cool to think back of all the good matches I've had in AEW. I've wrestled everybody. It's unbelievable.

[Retirement] has been on my mind. Last year, I said I got one year left, and I'm going past that. I don't want to say that again, because you never say never, right? I see myself, two to four more years, if my legs allow me to. If Tony Khan is gracious enough to keep me around and keep me on television, that's great. Whatever I can do to help. I love producing, too, so that's also what I can fall back on."

As alluded to in those comments, Dustin Rhodes has been with AEW since April 2019, joining the fledgling promotion ahead of facing his brother Cody in a stunning, brutal bout at Double or Nothing one month later.

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A 36-year veteran, the 54-year-old Dustin also works as an AEW coach and has his Rhodes Wrestling Academy in Liberty Hill, Texas. And as the former Goldust noted, he's had some fantastic matches in this AEW run - putting on good to great to excellent matches with the likes of Cody, Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Mr. Brodie Lee, Lance Archer, Claudio Castagnoli, the Young Bucks, and, most recently, Christian Cage.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.