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Christopher Daniels Reflects on Retirement: "My Body Was Breaking Down"

Posted By: Ben Kerin on Jan 29, 2025

Christopher Daniels Reflects on Retirement: "My Body Was Breaking Down"

Christopher Daniels has officially announced his retirement from in-ring competition following his match against "Hangman" Adam Page at AEW Collision: Maximum Carnage. At 54 years old, Daniels closed the chapter on his legendary career with a Texas Death Match loss, marking his final bout. Though he will no longer wrestle, he remains an integral part of AEW, continuing his role as Head of Talent Relations.

During an appearance on Talk Is Jericho, Daniels reflected on his decision to step away from the ring, revealing that injuries played a significant role. He shared that his body had started breaking down in 2023, which made competing increasingly difficult.

“As far as the match goes, I’m very proud of how the match went,” Daniels said. “Knowing that was my first match in four months at that point, it was something. How we all sort of came of that, so in 2023, I was wrestling a lot. Tony, not specifically in storyline stuff, but the way Tony thinks sometimes is he’s got the stuff that he has and he’s like, ‘Alright, I’d like to feature this person. CD, would you mind wrestling this guy?’ It’s like, okay okay.

“At the end of 2023, I thought to myself, okay, you know what? I’m getting along in the tooth. Honestly, my body was sort of breaking down. I’ve had knee problems for a while, but through 2023, I started to have hip issues, my right hip was tightening up and it was sort of difficult to be flexible. I didn’t feel very athletic anymore.”

Daniels explained that his struggles with injuries dated back decades, recalling a severe neck injury from 2001 during a WCW Nitro match. He noted that his left arm had been weaker ever since, and by late 2023, he noticed signs of atrophy in his bicep and shoulder. Determined to make the most of a potential final run in 2024, he started training with Cezar Bononi, who had helped several AEW talents, and even invested in new gear. However, as time went on, his in-ring opportunities dwindled.

“I worked with [Cezar] for a period of time thinking, okay, I’m gonna do my best to make — if this could be my last run, I’m gonna make something out of it. [So] I went and got new gear, started working with Cezar. Right around that period of time, this was the beginning of 2024, right around that time, all of the sudden, there wasn’t as much where Tony was booking me. It was less and less frequent through the very first half of 2024. You know, a lot of that has to do with the fact that we have limited television time. I was doing some ROH, but for whatever reason, there were less opportunities where it was like, ‘Hey CD, can you wrestle this person?’”

With in-ring appearances becoming scarce, Daniels transitioned into more of a managerial role, including a stint as an Interim EVP. However, his desire to wrestle again led him into a storyline with Adam Page. Around this time, medical evaluations revealed the extent of his physical condition, including bone spurs in his neck.

“I spoke to surgeons and they had to said to me, ‘Oh, you know what, we did an MRI.’ I’ve got so much spurring on the back of my neck it looks like the skeleton of [a xenomorph] from Alien. There’s all these spurs coming from the base of my skull to the middle of my back, it’s this crazy amount of bone spurs," Daniels said.

Doctors presented surgery as an option but warned that it would not reverse the damage or restore lost muscle strength. This left Daniels with little hope of regaining his former physical capabilities.

His match against Hangman Page proved to be a turning point. After taking a bump that caused a tingling sensation in his arm, he underwent another MRI, and doctors strongly advised him to retire.

“The match happens with Hangman,” Daniels said. “I was gonna take this move and I ended up sliding a little bit too far down and I actually bumped my head a little bit and got a little tingley in the arm. The finish was meant to be the Buckshot Lariat to the back of the neck but when it hit, I got a little bit of a jolt again. I’ve had stingers before, I didn’t think anything of it. I go check with the docs. They’re like, how do you feel? I feel okay, there’s a little tingling here in this arm. I did another MRI. They’re like, you really should stop doing this. I was like, seriously?"

The doctors emphasized that at 54 years old, his condition was only going to worsen. His neck vertebrae were beginning to fuse, making him less flexible and more susceptible to serious injury. This stark reality ultimately led Daniels to accept retirement.

“I grew up loving wrestling. Near the end, because of the amount of work I’m doing — I recognize that the stuff I was doing backstage was a little bit more important specifically to the company than my in-ring participation. Having that in mind, it’s like, why are you stressing yourself out about trying to get in the ring again when you’ve got a job that you have to do, that the company sort of depends on you to do.”

With his wrestling career officially behind him, Christopher Daniels remains a key figure in AEW’s operations, ensuring the next generation of talent thrives under his guidance.

Source: Fightful for transcription
Tags: #aew #christopher daniels

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