Former ECW, WWE, WCW, TNA and ROH star Jerry Lynn recently talked to The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling. Lynn talked at length about his storied career, his injuries, the way he was booked on his retirement tour and more:
On his recovery from neck surgery:
“It was overwhelming. I saw fans from all over the world. Fans from Japan, Mexico, England even Helsinki was one of them. It wasn’t just the fans because there were promoters that I worked for, there were wrestlers and it was really amazing and like I said very overwhelming. I always said there is no crying in wrestling but it brought tears to my eyes.”
On his injuries catching up to him:
My first back injury. I ruptured a disc training for the first time I was supposed to wrestle RVD in TNA and it pretty much ended my full time career, just like that. I knew I wasn’t a spring chicken anymore and I was hurting and I knew I couldn’t move like I could ten years before. The time to quit was coming I just didn’t know it was going to be that abruptly. After that injury I felt better and I didn’t have the shooting pain down my leg and thought I would just wrestle part time. But after every match my body was just screaming at me “what are you doing” so finally I knew it was time but it’s hard to accept. I was into my 24th year of wrestling and it was kind of hard to just give up and it just so happened I was wrestling Dan Maff for Pro Wrestling Syndicate and he had gotten concussed during the match, I didn’t know it and I don’t think he did either but he was pretty loopy and then because of that he took a DDT bad and got a bad stinger and couldn’t feel his legs. i had to pretty much pull him on top of me for the pin and when they were taking a look at him it was like a light went off and I just realized I’m pushing my luck. It was right then and there looking at him that I grabbed the mic and announced that was the last year I was going to wrestle.
On being booked on his retirement tour, working with Indy talent:
I thought alright, I’ll just have one or two matches a month and call it quits at the end of the year. As soon as word got out that it was my last year the phone started ringing off the hook and I forgot how many regulars I used to have on the Indy scene because I never killed anyone with my fee because I wanted repeat work. All of a sudden all these regulars that I worked for are coming out of the wood-work to book me one last time. So I ended up wanting to only have or or two matches a month to having double and triple shots every weekend. It was hard and in a lot of them they wanted me to work their best guy and they want some twenty five to thirty minute X-Division spectacular and I’d say I can’t do that anymore. I’m retiring for a reason, my body is shot. I’d be begging for them to put me in a three way or a four way.
