Former WWE Divas Champion Layla enjoyed a lengthy run with the promotion, from 2006 to 2015. For some of that time, Layla was with Michelle McCool, and the two were known together as LayCool. Eventually, Layla would retire McCool from in-ring competition, only to follow suit a few years later, ending her WWE run.

According to Layla in an interview with “Sportshadow Wrestling,” her retirement wasn’t something she ever planned, but her body could no longer take the toll. “I was like 38 at that time. … I had been there nine years, I’ve done everything you could possibly do at that time, and it was just time to go; both for WWE and for myself,” she stated, further adding that she began to realize how she was aging on television and being on the road was rough.

“Would I have liked to have gone out better? Would I have liked to have been able to have made a bigger deal about my career retirement? Probably,” she admitted, recalling that she went to the gym one day and simply felt like she was done and just went home after talking to WWE about it. Layla explained that Vince McMahon had personally given her a three-year contract in 2015, but just a few months into the deal, she asked to leave.

“It wasn’t dramatic, it wasn’t anything!” she claimed. “As big as that moment was for me and that decision to just let it go, it also felt like I could just breathe! … That was it. I literally walked away from wrestling in every capacity once I retired.”

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Sportshadow Wrestling,” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

As WWE’s “Ring General,” GUNTHER has embodied a style that’s always been more comparable to old school wrestling rather than anything modern. During an interview on “HUGE POP!” he expressed that he’s always been a fan of the older wrestling, even while growing up.

“I always thought it’s a waste of time, especially right now,” GUNTHER opined, stating that he can’t really take much from watching Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns that he could apply to his own work. “For my whole development, I just looked at older stuff. And I always liked the old setting; the retro feel about certain things.”

When it comes to his own legacy, GUNTHER interestingly claimed that he doesn’t often think about it, but hopes his career will be a testament to those who follow that you don’t have to fall in with the most popular style to make it big in the industry. “You can figure it out and do it yourself in your own way, and less is more, and it still works,” he said.

“I feel like that’s a little bit of an issue that wrestlers have. Maybe it’s a little bit of a confidence thing, too, where a lot of people think they have to over-do it – over-perform – to reach certain points in the match,” GUNTHER said, seemingly criticizing those who emphasize spots in wrestling. He then added that they should instead learn to be more confident in their ability to make anything work in wrestling. “You can make everything work as long as, yeah, you believe in it!”

GUTHER further opined that a confident wrestler could take something as foundational as a Chin Lock and make it devastating if they truly committed to it. “If it’s just always one up, one up, one up, where’s the end of it?” he added.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “HUGE POP!” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription. 

Former AEW Men’s World Champion Darby Allin is likely to be remembered for many things, chief among them his association with wrestling legend Sting. The duo’s four year partnership in AEW not only provided Sting with a late career resurgence after he seemingly retired in 2015, but many believed helped launch Allin from a promising young talent into one of AEW’s most important talents. But their bond goes beyond the ring, and has influenced Allin not just as a wrestler, but as a man.

In an interview with the “Battleground Podcast,” Allin was asked about that bond, and what life lessons he had learned from Sting away from the ring. According to Allin, Sting imparted two separate yet equally important bits of advice to him.

“Just to know that life goes on after wrestling,” Allin said. “When this ride is all said and done, you want to look in the mirror and know who’s looking back at you. I don’t want to get caught up with the fame and the ego and everything like that, because when this is all said and done, if you’ve spent your whole career trying to undermine and backstab everybody, you’re going to have a very lonely existence when it’s all said and done. 

“And also, everybody, you’ve got to be your true self, you’ve to be as pure as possible, because if you listen to ten different people telling you ten different things on how to be yourself, you’re not going to know when this is all said and done, and the wrestling world is done with you, you’re just going to be ‘Oh, oh, I don’t know how to live without it. I don’t know anything about me.’ It’s like, no, just be humble and chill, you know?”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Battleground Podcast” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription

After Stone Cold Steve Austin famously walked out of WWE and took an eight month hiatus due to creative frustrations, the first match upon his return was not what fans were expecting, as he fought former WCW promoter Eric Bischoff at No Way Out 2003. The contest only lasted four minutes, with Austin delivering three Stunners to Bischoff following a one-sided beatdown from the opening bell, but “Easy E” knew he was in for a painful defeat before the six-time world champion returned to the squared circle.

“It was exciting. I wasn’t really worried about the in-ring part of it too much because I knew what was going to happen before Steve even agreed to do it. It wasn’t like I was going to go out and have a twelve minute match with Steve Austin, right? … Bruce Prichard, my buddy, he’s the first one that brought it to me. It seems like it must have come up in a production or a creative meeting or something,” he stated in an interview with “Complex.” “Nowhere in that conversation did I imagine myself having any offense because I’ve had those types of matches before. I had enough heat at the time. All people wanted to do is see me get my ass kicked. They didn’t want to see what I could do. They just wanted to see the other guy kick my ass.”

Bischoff also spoke about the eight years of backstory between Austin and himself ahead of No Way Out, as he reflected on firing “The Rattlesnake” from WCW, a move that sparked friction between both men for years. Additionally, before signing with WWE, Austin would enjoy a short stint in ECW, where he purposely buried Bischoff on TV.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Complex” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

During the final stages of John Cena’s retirement tour, Dominik Mysterio defeated the “Never Seen 17” to regain the Intercontinental Championship at Survivor Series, but he wouldn’t have been able to win back the gold without assistance from the Judgment Day. In addition to interference from Finn Balor and JD McDonagh, Roxanne Perez delivered her finisher Pop Rox to Cena before Liv Morgan returned and hit him with a low blow to help Mysterio claim the victory. Cena allowing a young star like Perez to use her finisher on him instantly became one of the most unforgettable moments from Survivor Series, and during a recent interview with “Complex,” the “The Prodigy” reflected getting to hit Pop Rox on the 17-time World Champion.

“Obviously, I just thought it was freaking insane. It was actually John Cena’s idea. And so when he asked us if we would be okay with hitting our finishers on him, I was like absolutely. I never thought that would have happened, but yeah, it was pretty insane. And again, it’s one of those things where the plan is greater than you’ve ever imagined because who knew that I would be the one to retire John Cena.”

Although Perez delivering Pop Rox to Cena was one of her greatest moments since being called up from “WWE NXT,” she claimed that lasting an hour and seven minutes in the 2025 Women’s Royal Rumble and being the final opponent to be eliminated by Charlotte Flair was when she realized that she belonged on WWE’s main roster.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Complex” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.