Tyrus Wants To Be Involved With NWA In A Non-Wrestling Capacity Following His Retirement

Tyrus retired from in-ring competition following his loss to EC3 at NWA 75.

In a recent appearance on “The Wise Men” podcast, Tyrus addressed his decision to hang up his boots and his plans to remain in the National Wrestling Alliance in a non-wrestling capacity.

Tyrus revealed that his ongoing health issues forced him to retire from the ring.

You can check out some highlights from the interview below:

On making the decision to retire: “It’s one of those things where Trevor and I, we had a pretty physical match, and I’ve never had anything but physical matches. It’s never unsafe, but we’re always snug. When we had the tag match for the Crockett Cup, I got hit weird and I landed weird. I’ve never had a burning sensation before, in my shoulder and neck area. It just wouldn’t go away. It was bugging me when I was benching, it was bugging me when I was squatting. It was bugging me all time, and you don’t say anything. I’ve always been, a big thing [for me], you just kind of work it out, and you’re world champ. Not just that, but even if you’re not world champ, there’s still a certain level of, you want to compete at a high level. You don’t want to compete at a low level. So when I was hemming and hawing about the deciding to retire, and after I talked to my kids, and they were fine with it, because I was like, ‘Man, I’m starting to get the tinkles in my fingers, and I notice that my fingers are kind of curling a little bit, and I started leaning forward when I was walking a little bit.’ I was like, ‘Okay. You got some decisions to make here.’ It was one of those things where, selfishly, Billy would have had to kick me out of the ring. But I was like, we’ll see how this match goes, but just coming into that weekend, at any time, I could have said to Billy, ‘No.’ Because the cool thing about our boss is that he’s like, ‘It’s your call.’ He goes, ‘This wasn’t my idea, this was your idea.’ But everything fell into place, especially seeing the live events and not being there. That was really bothering me. I understand the selfishness, because you have to be a little selfish to be a wrestler. You have to. Bring the world champion is great.”

On the physical match at NWA 75: “During the match, when I hit EC3 with a T-bone, I got that damn burning in my shoulder again. We were doing the deal and the chairs shots and everything. Every chair shot hurt more than it normally did, especially the ones on my ankles. The Garvin stomp Is designed for the foot. There’s a reason why they didn’t use the chair. But hey, you don’t know until you try it. Don’t try it. I had lumps and bumps everywhere.”

On if he regrets the decision: “Absolutely no regrets. I even talked to Billy this morning. I’m still gonna be a part of the NWA. I’m just not sure what form I want to do it in. He’s like, ‘Whatever you want to do, you just tell me what you want to do, and it’s done.’ That’s a great feeling. I will always be an ambassador for the NWA as long as they will have me. I will still use my platform to promote the NWA. A lot of people were like, ‘Did you talk to Billy and Pat [Kenney]?’ No, I didn’t. It was my decision. Billy always told me that I could make my own decision, and I did. Were they thrilled about it at first? Not really. You go on a live show and make that announcement, they’re like, ‘What does this mean?’ As Pat put it, ‘How does your retirement look? What does it look like?’ I said, ‘I retire’ in quotes. He’s like, ‘Okay.’ But again, I called my shot. I Babe Ruth’ed it. I pointed. I called my shot, and I’m happy with it. But I’m also excited. Looking at the shows and the guys coming up, and it’s a just good time to be an NWA fan.”