10 Wrestlers Who Retired Too Young-10

There comes a time in every wrestler’s career when they simply can’t perform as well as they’d like to. Maybe they struggle to stay up-to-date in the ever-changing world of professional wrestling, or maybe they simply get too old. Either way, when the time comes for this wrestler, they usually wind themselves down, wrestle a few more matches, then bow out gracefully. Or, they wind themselves down, wrestle a few more matches, bow out gracefully, come back for a few more matches, wrestle continuously for years and years, wind themselves down, wrestle some more, wind themselves down again, have a tearful and magnificently booked retirement match, go to TNA, wrestle much much more, sort of just stop, wrestle again, then actually sort of stop. But that last one’s just Ric Flair.

The perfect, textbook example of a retirement done well is Shawn Michaels. He felt he had done it all, had achieved all of his goals. He saw the next generation of up-and-comers and thought they were better than he was. He had his retirement match when he was still good enough in the ring to make it amazing, and he went out on a high; with fans and peers alike praising his career.

Sometimes though, a wrestler is forced to retire before they’re quite ready. Sometimes it’s politics, or a sudden injury, or maybe they just lose their love of the game. When this happens we, the wrestling-loving audience, get robbed of some great matches, great promos, or even just a chance to say goodbye.

Here are 10 wrestlers whose career ended too early…

10. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Stone Cold Steve Austin. Arguably wrestling’s biggest ever star. Wrestling made the transition from cartoon-like entertainment aimed towards children in the 1980s and early 90s, to adult-themed, culture shock television in the late 90s and early 2000s, and the catalyst to this was Stone Cold. The beer-swilling, middle-finger brandishing everyman, except he wasn’t an everyman because he actually kicked people asses. Stone Cold was wrestling’s Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm: he did and said the things we all wished we could do and say. Except, unlike Larry, Stone Cold not only got away with it, but it won him world championships.

Austin left the WWE in June 2002 after no-showing a Raw episode, claiming differences in opinion about his character. He returned in time for one more match with The Rock at Wrestlemania 19, which turned out to be his final match. The neck injuries that had plagued Austin’s career had become too much. Austin though, having only recently made amends with Vince McMahon and the WWE, was clearly not ready to give up the wrestling business altogether. He hung around in various on-screen “backstage” roles, like the Co-General Manager of Raw and the “Sheriff of Raw”, which basically allowed him to storm out to the ring with his theme music playing, hit the Stone Cold Stunner on people, drink a few beers and storm off.

It was certainly fun to watch, and it certainly looked like Austin was having fun doing it, but it was hard to shake the feeling of what might have been. The space he left in the main event was filled by deserving wrestlers. John Cena, Edge, Brock Lesnar (briefly) and the emergence of the Evolution stable all rose to prominence after Stone Cold had laced up his boots for the last time. It’s hard, though, to not wish for proper feuds with Stone Cold vs each of these. John Cena for one, would definitely have benefitted from a torch-passing match with Stone Cold. As would the audience.