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WWE has used kayfabe to grant an exit to wrestlers who decide to take a break or leave for good.
In the past, we have seen superstars who have put their careers on the line in a match and ended up losing the match, in turn, their jobs. Cody Rhodes and Goldust were unemployed in mid-2013 after the two individually lost to Randy Orton in singles matches.
However, both men fought back into the company, defeating The Shield at the Battleground Premium Live Event later that year.
Let's look at some other prominent names who lost their jobs in a match.
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#4. Shawn Michaels has left the building
Let's begin with The Heartbreak Kid retiring at WrestleMania 26, courtesy of The Undertaker, with whom The Showstopper has a long, storied history.
Michaels was already on borrowed time as a career-threatening injury that happened during the Casket Match between Taker and HBK at Royal Rumble 1998, keeping him on the sidelines for the next four years. Upon return in 2002, Shawn Michaels was a changed man.
Taker and Michaels competed in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match at Bad Blood 1997, had a remarkable showdown ten years later in the Royal Rumble match, and stole the show at WrestleMania 25 in a bout that is remembered till today as one of, if not the best, matches in WrestleMania history.
Despite being credited for match of the year, Shawn felt he still had something to prove, challenging The Deadman to a rematch. When Taker declined, Shawn set his sights on a Royal Rumble win in 2010, hoping to challenge Taker for his World Heavyweight Championship. In the final moments of the match, he was eliminated. This led to HBK costing Taker the title inside the Elimination Chamber.
With Taker's streak and Shawn's career on the line, the two would put on a banger at WrestleMania 26. After a decisive Tombstone Piledriver, Taker ended Shawn's career. The 24-minute classic was awarded Match of the Year for the second straight year.
#3. Michelle McCool loses to Layla in a Loser Leaves WWE Match
Until the mid-2010s, WWE was not known to produce great women's matches regularly. Here's an exception.
Michelle McCool was forced to leave WWE after losing to her partner Layla. Together, they were Co-Women's and Divas Champions. Lay-Cool had a remarkable run before McCool's departure. She eventually made one-off appearances, but this match signaled the end of her career as a full-time wrestler.
She would later reveal why she ended her career at the young age of 31 in 2011 on an episode of Lilian Garcia's Chasing Glory podcast.
"It was tough just leaving in itself was tough because it got to a point where I was dealing with so much again mostly being Undertaker’s girlfriend and why I was on TV and even having a writer throw the papers up one day and say ‘Why don’t we just call it the Michelle McCool and Undertaker show?!" said the former Divas Champion.
McCool continued:
"It was nonstop and I went to Vince on numerous occasions and bless his heart he was wonderful, but I just said Vince, I don’t wanna hate something that I grew up loving so much and the longer I stay the more I’m like like getting a sour taste in my mouth. So making that decision to leave was as hard as it is, but more than wanting to be in WWE or be a champion I’ve always wanted to be a mom."
Michelle has been married to The Undertaker, real name Mark Callaway, since 2010. Their daughter Kaia was born in August 2012 and they adopted a younger son Kolt.
#2. Chris Jericho... You're Fired!
Chris Jericho's departure from the company was predominantly due to his interest and pursuit in other ventures, most notably to tour with his band Fozzy. His frustrations with the company were another reason.
In 2005, he was burnt out after a long career without a significant break, so he left when his contract expired. This was explained on the August 22 episode of Raw, in a "You're Fired" match against then-champion John Cena, with whom Jericho had an ongoing feud. The two fought each other in a WWE Championship match at Summerslam that year. Y2J eventually lost the match and took a break from WWE
Jericho would return on the November 19, 2007, episode of WWE RAW and would go on to have a remarkable run for the next two and a half years, during which he had a feud of the decade candidate against Shawn Michaels. He then again left the company in 2010.
Fast forward to January 2012, he returned again and began a feud with CM Punk. However, this run only lasted till the summer. On August 20, 2012, episode of RAW, Jericho lost a Contract vs. Contract match to Dolph Ziggler, with the former and latter's WWE contract and Money in the Bank contract on the line, respectively.
This led to his third departure from the company, only to return at the Royal Rumble in 2013. His on-again-off-again relationship with the company went on until 2018, when he competed in the Greatest Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia, which is, to this day, his last televised match for the company.
#1. CM Punk sends Jeff Hardy packing
Those who grew up watching wrestling in the late 2000s will remember how devastating it was to see Jeff Hardy defeated by CM Punk to cap off what was a very personal and heated rivalry.
The Charismatic Enigma was in the prime of his career, but he was dealing with multiple injuries. On an August 28, 2009, episode of SmackDown, CM Punk and Jeff Hardy competed in a Steel Cage match with an added stipulation Hardy would have to leave WWE if he lost the bout. He lost the match and was forced to leave.
Unlike normal scenarios, where the wrestler leaves the brand and goes to the other, Hardy actually left the company and would not return until 2017 at WrestleMania 33 along with his brother Matt Hardy, where the duo were added in the last minute to a scheduled triple threat tag team ladder match, making it a fatal four-way and would go on to win the RAW Tag Team Championship.
However, WWE released Jeff Hardy in December 2021 after an incident at a live show led to The Charismatic Enigma being sent home. He reunited with brother Matt Hardy on the March 9 episode of AEW Dynamite.
Do you have more names that you can recall? Let us know in the comments section below.
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