WWE Hall of Famer JBL revealed on Something to Wrestle With that he has come close to stepping back in the ring several times since retiring in 2009, including a WWE storyline Vince McMahon nearly greenlit and even a scheduled TNA match this past summer.

JBL explained that he once pitched McMahon an idea to team with Heath Slater during their “JBL and Cole Show” days. “There was a time with Heath Slater, we were doing the JBL and Cole show, and he was my nephew Clem,” JBL said. “I wanted to do a spot where I came back and tag team with Heath… I talked to Vince about it. He really thought about it hard, and he almost did it. I was hoping that he would. The first thing he says is ‘interesting,’ and I could tell that he wasn’t shooting it down, but he ended up, he ended up killing it.”

More recently, JBL was set for a match in TNA but backed out over creative differences. “I had a scheduled match for TNA for this past summer,” he revealed. “The guy who was in the creative at the time, we had a disagreement about what he wanted, and I didn’t think it made sense, and so I walked.”

He also admitted he was in talks about appearing at the first All In in 2018. “There was some times where I flirted with different stuff, and during the time when that AEW All In, came in, I flirted with just some different stuff, about doing some things with, you know, some of the guys that were putting a lot of stuff together, it never worked out, because they kind of went on with Tony Khan and did some stuff and went a different direction.”

Since his official retirement after a 21-second loss to Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania 25, JBL has only made cameo appearances, including entering the 2014 Royal Rumble. Despite his flirtations, he has not had a formal match in more than 15 years.