CW Anderson Details Decision To Come Out Of Retirement After Being In A ‘Very Dark Place’
CW Anderson was a fixture in ECW and a familiar face on the pro wrestling scene, but the veteran of the squared circle made the difficult decision of retiring this past June. Never say never in wrestling as Anderson found himself in a better spot after getting engaged and just recently revealed that he’d be lacing the boots up once more.
Anderson spoke with James Walsh of Wrestling Epicenter about his decision to make a comeback (or “Terry Funking” it as he calls it):
“Without getting into too many details, those who know already know, I was in a very dark place over the summer to where you would only hear the bad news from the other wrestlers. You know, I know some people believe in God, some people don’t. I was one that didn’t. I believed the Bible was a book of myths. But, the day I posted that (retirement announcement) video was kind of my own cry for help. A local preacher reached out to me a few days after that and that is when things changed for me. The reason I did it, again, is I was in a real dark place and I was listening to others and I thought it was the thing to do to make others happy but at the end of the day, it was supposed to be making me happy. I realized after a few months, I made a big mistake. I wanted to walk away from wrestling on my own but when I felt I had nothing left to give. For people that know me, I just turned 50 years old. I get called Benjamin Button. (laughs) The older I get, the younger I look! If you look at me in ECW, and January 7th was the 20 year anniversary of the (ECW Guilty as Charged) I Quit match on my 30th birthday, I look better now than I did then. I’m in better shape, I move faster… I get called, yeah, that I’m Terry Funking it. But, after this, when I do decide to retire, it will be when I have nothing left but there won’t be another one of those emotional videos. The night after that video, I collapsed. It was bad. It was really bad. But, since then, things have done nothing but gone upward. I was talking to my fiance, my girlfriend at the time, she used to be my valet and she still will be when we get back going again. She told me to do what makes me happy and she knows that wrestling makes me happy. I knew it wasn’t going to be like it was before with this pandemic but to get back in the ring again, man, it is like my home! It is something that I’ve been doing for 27 years.”
Anderson also described the reaction to his retirement video being a little heavy for viewers as he did happen to be in that dark place, but it has now since been deleted.
“I’ve had several people message me and tell me it was hard for them to watch – even some who weren’t fans and maybe didn’t know me. When I decided to come back, I went on Instagram and deleted it because I never want to see it again. At that time, I was under 200 pounds in weight! It was really bad. I hadn’t been under 200 pounds since high school!”
(Transcription credit should go to James Walsh of Wrestling Epicenter)
There’s a whole lot more from this interview which you can check out below:
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