On Wednesday Lio Rush announced his retirement from pro wrestling, but will still finish up his dates with NJPW.
Lio Rush made a huge surprise debut at AEW Double or Nothing on May 30. This made Rush the first man to ever be signed to and wrestle for two major promotions at the same time. Those two promotions being AEW and NJPW.
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However, during the Casino Battle Royale match Rush separated his shoulder. As days passed his shoulder got worse. This injury was more than just a bruise like Rush first thought. While recovering from his injury Rush made the decision to retire from pro wrestling via his Instagram. Rush cited his reasons being to be a better father and a better husband.
Lio Rush: Retired But Not Completely…Yet
However, what complicates the retirement decision is that he is still under contract with NJPW. NJPW allowed Lio Rush to sign with an American wrestling promotion like AEW. I bet they are kind of regretting that choice right about now. NJPW could have blocked non-NJPW bookings and the deal even allowed Rush to wrestle for MLW and other indies. The only rule when it came to Rush’s bookings was that NJPW had priority.
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As this injury is not a career ending injury and Rush is retiring voluntarily, Rush announced he will honor his remaining NJPW dates once he is fully healed. For those who still want to see Rush wrestle he will be featured on this week’s NJPW Strong as it must be pre-recorded. Rocky Romero and Lio Rush will go up against Clark Connors and The DKC. I wonder how far in advance they record these episodes as Rush was injured May 30 unless he just wrestled with his injury. Regardless, Rush will wrestle this week and perhaps in the next few episodes.
Just About To Become A Big Name
Rush’s retirement comes as a shock to everyone in the wrestling world as he is only 26 and was a wrestler which people were keeping their eyes on. He has a very acrobatic lucha libre style similar to Ricochet. While in the WWE Rush demonstrated his skills on the mic as Bobby Lashley’s heel manager. This seemed like the perfect time for him to really blow up. People know him from his WWE days and he just signed with two of the two biggest promotions in the world, NJPW and AEW. His skills were sure to be recognized and seemed to be on the cusp of breaking through.
It is very honorable for him to focus his attention on his family and we wish him the best of luck in his future. Hopefully we will see him in the future and he doesn’t stay away from wrestling for too long.
Do you have any favorite Lio Rush matches or moments? Do you think he will ever return to wrestling? Are there any matches you would like to see if he does return? Rush over to the keyboard and leave some comments before it’s too late.
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Sources: WrestlingInc, Lio Rush’s Instagram
