Billy Gunn Says He Doesn’t Want To To Be “That Guy Who Is Hanging On For The Sake Of Hanging On”

Billy Gunn addresses his brief retirement.

Back on the July 22nd episode of AEW Collision, Billy would retire from the ring and although it was a brief retirement, fans were incredibly sad in the interim as it seemed Gunn had brought an end to his career. Gunn would return to the ring just a month later.

Gunn and The Acclaimed would end up capturing the AEW Trios Championships at AEW All In, remaining champions to this day.

On a recent edition of AEW Unrestricted, Billy would discuss his brief retirement, making it clear that he doesn’t want to hang on to his career past his time.

“I think they knew something was up, only because of how the match went; not good for me. When I decided to do that, they all went, ‘oh gosh.’ I think it was more shocking because there is one guy from wrestling phase that moved it to present time that we all still love and have watched for so long that it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s over.’ I don’t know exactly how to put that, but it was partly because of me leaving the ring, but it was mainly because it was the end of an era, the end of me taking my kids to show them the guy that I used to watch when I was their age. That was the thing. I was okay with it. I was really okay. People can say what they want about what I’ve done or haven’t done, but I’ve done so much in my career and I have no regrets, not one, not a single one. The only thing is, if I can’t live up to my standards of wrestling, I’m not going to do it, I’m just not going to. My phone blew up and they go, ‘please tell me…you can’t.’ Everyone thinks I’m going to wrestle for the rest of my life. That’s not a thing. No matter how good I think I’m put together, things are going to have to come apart here before too long. I don’t want to be that guy who is hanging on for the sake of hanging on. I want to be able to contribute. I don’t want everyone to do everything for me. I have to hold up my end of the bargain. At that moment in time, I wasn’t, and I felt like that was the best thing to do. Then, just like before, they dragged me back,”

Billy Gunn

Gunn most recently competed on AEW Battle Of The Belts VIII when he and The Acclaimed defended their AEW World Trios Championships against Daniel Garcia, Angelo Parker and Daddy Magic.

H/T to Fightful for transcription

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