Out pro wrestler O’Shay Edwards says 2026 will be his final year in the ring

Out pro wrestler O’Shay Edwards is calling it a career.

Edwards announced that 2026 will be his final year as an active pro wrestler on Sunday, saying he “had a lot of fun” over his 11-year career and is “going to make the next ten months as fun as possible.”

“In the span of 11 years, I’ve done more than I ever expected when I took my first bump,” Edwards said in a statement via X, formerly Twitter. “I’ve wrestled all over the country, got a chance to wrestle around the world. I’ve gotten the chance to be on television and PPV, sharing the ring with World champions and Hall of Famers. The people I grew up idolizing became my peers.”

The “Big Bad Kaiju” has been an independent stalwart in multiple regions of the U.S., most notably the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, holding championships in nearly 10 different promotions. He wrestled for major promotions Ring of Honor and Major League Wrestling during his career, most notably as part of the Shane Taylor Promotions and Bomaye Fight Club stables.

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For O’Shay Edwards, pro wrestling gave him the freedom to come out
The Big Bad Kaiju long struggled with his sexual identity but has found love, acceptance and liberation since unveiling his truth in and out of the ring.

Edwards shared his coming out story with Outsports in 2020. 

“It was wrestling that taught me that I could show the world who I was inside, and not only would I be accepted but I would be celebrated for it,” he wrote for Outsports. “I love telling stories and with wrestling, I could tell the best story of all, my story. Every time that I step between those ropes I can give people a small piece of myself, put myself out there on display for the world to see and to know that I could be accepted for who I am. It’s humbling.”

Edwards similarly harkened to the changed pro wrestling landscape in his retirement announcement.

“I’ve become the representation that I always wanted to see when I was a young kid watching wrestling and more importantly I’ve gotten the chance to guide the new generation of professional wrestling in their journey,” he wrote. “I hope that I’ve made professional wrestling better even if [by] the smallest of degrees.”

Edwards becomes the latest popular out LGBTQ name to make 2026 their final year in the ring. Both Sandra Moone and Papa Jace wrestled their final match last month in Las Vegas, and Mercedes Martinez, Edwards’s former rival Billy Dixon, Ashton Starr, Promise Braxton and Eddie Jade have all previously announced that their careers will wrap up in 2026.

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