In June 2015, TJ Wilson (Tyson Kidd in WWE) suffered a severe spinal cord injury when taking The Muscle Buster from Samoa Joe that ended his in-ring career. He then transitioned into being a producer for the women’s division.
Appearing on The Dropkick Podcast, Wilson says that if the decision had not been made for him he might have continued wrestling well past his prime.
“Yeah. There’s a lot of things I do miss about it. But, I got hurt at 34 right before I turned 35. Even then, I knew at some point this stage is going to come to an end. When I got hurt, I was forced to retire. The choice was taken out of my hands. I think with the way I’m wired, I think I’m a little bit glad… I’m not glad, but I can accept the way it happened. If that injury didn’t happen, I might have just kept wrestling past my prime. At least this way… it’s hard as an athlete. It’s hard to know when is it time to say ‘Okay, now this is your game. It isn’t mine anymore.’ In hindsight, I was a little fortunate that I didn’t have to make that choice, but I had it made for me. Now, I wouldn’t be as zen with it if I didn’t have this role as a producer and this special connection I have with the women. If I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t be sitting here so calmly saying my in-ring career is over,” he said.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription