WWE Hall of Famer JBL appeared on a episode of Something To Wrestle With, where he discussed various topics, including his emotions during his retirement match against fellow WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania 25.
JBL said, “Absolutely heartbroken. 100%, absolutely heartbroken. I realized that was my last match, and — I mean, heartbroken, that’s the only way I can describe it. I just felt terrible. I didn’t even stay for the rest of the show.”
He continued, “We had a big deal, they’re going to do a pose-off with I think Cody and Santino or something at the WrestleMania party. Kid Rock was gonna be there or something. And I didn’t even stay for that. I’d been having the scenes backstage promoting this thing. We’re having a lot of fun with it. And I didn’t even stay for that. I just drove home. And I watched — I remember I came out of the ring. And you know, I didn’t really want to retire. Literally, I’d wanted to be in this business my entire life. Since I was a kid, one of my youngest memories was telling my grandfather I was gonna be a wrestler. And here I was, I got to live this life. And the life itself exceeded every expectation I ever had about being a wrestler.”
JBL added, “I loved every second of it, every bit of it. I loved being in the ring. It was so much fun being out there. And I realized now that it’s over. And I was sitting there and I was talking to Rey, Vince came back and hugged me and told me, ‘Thank you.’ And I remember, I just got my bag and thought, ‘I’m just leaving.’ And ‘Oh, man, this sucks.”
On staying to watch Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels:
“But I stayed and watched, I don’t know if they were on right after me or like two matches later. I stayed and watched Undertaker and Shawn. So I stayed there at the monitor before I left. I had my bag, I was about to leave, and I stayed and watched that match because I figured it was going to be something special. And I remember watching that match, and I remember thinking, ‘That’s the greatest wrestling match I’ve ever seen.’ And now, understand my mindset. I just retired. I’m out of the business now. And I sat there, before I left I watched two of my friends go out there and have, in my opinion, the greatest match in the history of this business. The millions of matches, I thought that was the greatest — to this day I think it was the greatest match ever. And I remember thinking, ‘It’s a good day to leave.’ And I just remember smiling at it, thinking, ‘God man, this — it’s the right day to quit.’ Because I remember thinking, sitting, thinking, ‘I’ve watched the greatest match ever. I’ve gone out there and I’ve put over my friend. Every equity that I had in me, I did everything I could to give that to him. That’s a great legacy for Rey, for Eddie Guerrero. And then I gotta watch in my opinion the greatest match ever.’ And I just remember thinking, ‘It’s a good time to leave.’ Got my bag, walked out.”
On thinking he may never be back in WWE:
“I never thought I’d be back. I didn’t know. You know, life’s long. You don’t know what’s going to happen. I missed it and had the chance, Kevin called me I think a couple of years later, [he] asked me to do something. ‘Hell yeah, I’ll do it. I’m bored. I miss you guys.’ And so it was — after seeing that match, I just remember thinking, ‘Man, this is a perfect ending.’”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania for transcribing the above quotes)
