Dustin Rhodes Considering Retirement? AEW Veteran Reveals Expiry Date

AEW's Dustin Rhodes believes that his time in professional wrestling is short, revealing that he only has a year left on his contract with the Tony Khan-helmed promotion.

The elder Rhodes brother spoke on the subject during a recent appearance on the Sports Guys Talking Wrestling podcast. Absent from the ring since 24 August, when he wrestled Claudio Castagnoli for Rampage, Dustin estimate that he'll be back in action in around two weeks after having work done on one of his knees.

But at 53 years old and after 35 years as a professional wrestler, Rhodes is considering his future. Stating that the situation "weighs on my mind", Dustin ran through his knee problems, painting a picture of himself as an older wrestler in a "young man's game" (h/t POST Wrestling):-

"Well, I’ve had a lot of cleanings. I never had an ACL surgery so a lot of cleanings but this is 14 surgeries all together. I was feeling a little old because my knee, it was taking me a little longer to recuperate from it but now it’s like, once it went over the hill, it’s like, great. Now I got it, it’s good to go. But I am getting older and they’re getting younger and faster and I know my time is short so, I’m just trying, you know? I still have a year under contract or a little less than a year and I’m just gonna try to do the best I can and entertain as much as I can because I still love it, you know? And [I’m] still pretty passionate about it but it is a young man’s game, as everybody finds out, as The Undertaker found out, as Bret Hart found out, Stone Cold found out. All the greats that end up getting out."

Continuing, Dustin spoke on his fear of messing up while working so deep into his run. He believes that if he makes a mistake, people are going to call for him to retire, though this anxiety disappears the moment he hits the ring:-

"The old age is kicking in to where my stamina is not where it used to be. But when the red light goes on and I can say this for every single one of our talents and WWE’s and everybody’s talent, you’re nervous and you’re scared, am I gonna mess something up? And for me, lately, it’s like I’m getting really scared of working anymore or wrestling anymore because I’m getting older and I don’t wanna mess up and I know if I mess up, the audience is gonna call me out on it and say Dustin needs to retire. So that’s always weighing on the back of my mind but as soon as you’re ready to go out there and that red light comes on, it all disappears and it’s like jumping on your bicycle and riding it and you just go to it and it’s over and you come back to the curtain and the back and you’re like, okay, that wasn’t so bad. I can still do this."

Rhodes has worked only five AEW matches in 2022, technically going 1-4, though one of those defeats came in the July 2022 Royal Rampage battle royal.

Dustin Rhodes' AEW Future

The former Goldust has been with AEW since April 2019, when he signed with the young promotion ahead of facing brother Cody at Double Or Nothing the following month. The Rhodes brothers' blood-soaked classic remains one of the most acclaimed matches in company history. Since then, Dustin has rolled back the years in standout performances opposite the likes of Bryan Danielson, Brodie Lee, and CM Punk.

Beyond the ring, Dustin works as an AEW coach while running his Rhodes Wrestling Academy in Liberty Hill, Texas. But if the circumstances are right, 'The Natural' still thinks he can do a job between the ropes.

Dustin cited his Lee, Punk, Danielson, and other matches as examples of the story and scenario being just right:-

"Can I do it at a certain level? If I can tell a story, yes. It’s fun that way, right? And Tony [Khan] allows me that opportunity or gives me that opportunity to be an attraction, to tell some stories with some kind of dream scenarios for me. Like the Bryan Danielson, the [CM] Punks, being in there with The Young Bucks in a six-man, stuff like that and Cody [Rhodes] and Brodie [Lee], God rest his soul. Those guys, Lance Archer. Those matches, we got to tell our story and take our time and Sammy [Guevara] too, Sammy’s frickin’ awesome. I love Sammy."

Rhodes teased retirement in October, tweeting that "old age has caught up to me."