Kyle O’Reilly on his wrestling future: ‘I would love to wrestle into my 50s’
Days before returning to AEW Dynasty and winning the Trios World Championships, Kyle O’Reilly shared a realistic outlook on his wrestling future.
Appearing on This is VANCOLOUR, O’Reilly opened up about the prospect of wrestling even in his 50s.
“It’s hard to say. I think the most important things is that wrestlers, we look at ourselves as professional athletes now. It wasn’t always like that in a bygone era, and so, we put a lot more into our recovery, into our rehab. I work with a strength and conditioning coach now who does all my programming and all my rehab,” O’Reilly shared.
O’Reilly, 39, reflected on his health challenges and the stress it puts on his body. However, fighting the “grind,” he still wants to continue his in-ring career.
“I don’t have to think about that now, so I can just think about my rehab and things like that. So I think that does add years to your career. It is a grind; the travel’s hard. Being away from your family is hard. I’m a Type 1 diabetic as well, so that puts a lot of stress on my body as well. Lifelong diabetic on top of being a wrestler. That said, I would love to wrestle into my 50s. I’ll be 40 next year,” he added.
Recovered and back from his neck injury, O’Reilly heaped praise on Adam Copeland, Christian Cage, and Chris Jericho for wrestling at their ages.
“I’ve been in the business since 2005, so 21 years this year, which blows my mind to even say. But yeah, it’s an inspiration seeing guys like Edge — or [Adam] Copeland and Christian [Cage] and [Chris] Jericho still going and still putting out amazing matches. That’s awesome to see, and so yeah, and the thing about wrestling, you’re involved. Doesn’t mean that I would always have to remain a wrestler. There’s producing jobs, there’s coaching jobs, and I could open a school. I think in some way, I’ll always be involved in the business, whether it’s as a wrestler or in another capacity.” (H/T Fightful)
Making his return at AEW Dynasty, O’Reilly teamed up with Roderick Strong and Orange Cassidy to defeat Clark Connors, Gabe Kidd, and David Finlay to win the AEW World Trios Titles.
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
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