Spike Dudley, real name Matt Hyson, effectively retired from the ring in 2010, having had memorable runs in ECW and WWE. And now the 55-year-old, who rarely gives interviews, has sat down with Chris Van Vliet to explain that he decided to step away from the ring after a nasty cut suffered during a match with Sabu opened his eyes to the fact that, as a soon-to-be father, “I can’t be doing this crazy stuff anymore.”
I fell asleep, and I woke up at like nine the next morning, and I start to peel the tape off, and blood just starts gushing. I was like, ‘Honey, I think we got to go to the emergency room.’ But then that was the moment where I realized, okay, I’m going to be a father. I can’t be doing this crazy stuff anymore… With a kid coming, I was like, I can’t do this forever. There’s a shelf life for everything. I’m not Hulk Hogan, I’m not The Rock, I’m not John Cena.”Spike Dudley
Due to his small size, Hyson initially trained to be a referee and manager but soon decided to pursue his dream of being a pro wrestler. Then, after three years on the indies, he would be noticed by ECW, who brought him in to be part of the Dudley family. This association would see him follow his kayfabe brothers D-Von and Bubba Ray to both WWE and TNA, where he was always a popular underdog. And while he could almost certainly still pick up plenty of bookings on the indies, he has successfully proven there can be life after wrestling, as he now works for a financial investment company.
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