"Don’t retire bro," "You doing ok?" - Fans left worried after 16-time WWE champion teases retirement

Fans were left worried after a 16-time WWE Champion teased retirement. The star has been with WWE for nearly a decade but recently raised doubts over his future.

Taking to X/Twitter, former Cruiserweight Champion and Alpha Academy member Akira Tozawa questioned how much more his body can handle in the ring.

"I wonder how many more matches my body can handle," he wrote.

The 40-year-old star has more than a few bumps since joining WWE in 2016. Before that, he wrestled for Dragon Gate for a number of years. Overall, he has competed in over 2000 matches during his career, according to Cagematch.

Apart from being a one-time Cruiserweight Champion, Tozawa has also won the WWE 24/7 Championship 15 times. However, his recent post questioning his WWE future has raised concern among fans.

Replying to Tozawa's post, many fans urged the longtime star to not consider retirement.

"Don’t retire bro please I’ll make a call for ic title push," a fan wrote.

Many other fans shared the same sentiment, urging Tozawa to carry on and checking in on him. You can check the reactions below:

In the comment section, a few fans also called on WWE to give him a title run.

Akira Tozawa's last WWE match

As part of Alpha Academy, Tozawa has teamed up with Otis and Maxxine Dupri. The group have feuded with different wrestlers recently.

In May, after Tozawa tried to help Otis during an attack by Rusev on RAW, he was slammed by the Bulgarian Brute.

This led to a match between the two on RAW, which Rusev won. That contest on May 26 remains Tozawa's last WWE match to date. He has mainly wrestled on Main Event for WWE, and it remains to be seen if his latest post leads to a storyline in the coming weeks.

About the author

Sherjeel Malik is a writer at Sportskeeda and covers pro wrestling. He was hooked on the product from the moment he saw The Hardy Boyz jumping off ladders during the Attitude Era. While he comes from an engineering background, Sherjeel’s love for pro wrestling and content writing led him to pursue a career in sports journalism. Before assuming his current role at Sportskeeda, Sherjeel worked at other reputable organizations for five years.

While writing articles, he ensures that he only relies on credible sources for information and covers relevant subjects that do not project an agenda against a particular person or association. WWE legend Paul Heyman once shared Sherjeel’s work on his social media handle.

Sherjeel’s earliest memory of pro wrestling is watching Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker square off for the WWE Title in the main event of a pay-per-view in 1998. His favorite wrestlers are Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy. While he admires Orton for his character work as a heel, he looks up to Jeff because of his unique wrestling style and risk-taking ability.

If he could go back to the Attitude Era, Sherjeel would like to manage Ken Shamrock and be his mouthpiece. He feels Shamrock’s promo skills prevented him from becoming a main event-level act in WWE. Hence, he would like to help the UFC Hall of Famer get over with fans.

When not writing about pro wrestling, he likes to read classics and fiction books.

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Edited by Sherjeel Malik