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Being a professional wrestler is not an easy job. These risk-takers put their bodies on the line for the fans’ entertainment. They open themselves up to a lot of injuries. This, coupled with the fact that these men and women are constantly on the road and away from their friends and family, can take its toll on them.
Not all careers were meant to last forever and there will come a point in every wrestler's career they will have to take a good long look in the mirror and make the toughest decision of their life - to retire.
Most wrestlers are forced into early retirement due to injuries sustained throughout their careers which put them on borrowed time. Today, let’s take a look at 5 WWE superstars who retired way too soon.
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5. Trish Stratus
Trish Stratus is probably one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time. Looking back at her career, it is quite easy to see the the 7-time Women’s Champion was way ahead of her time. She always stood a class apart from her contemporaries.
In fact, the only other women’s wrestler who could match her level was Lita, and the duo made for a very intriguing rivalry. One can even assume that Trish Stratus was the one who was in many ways responsible for the Women’s Revolution.
Trish had one of the most memorable careers in the history of the WWE. She was fearless and took on all comers. Sadly, all good things must come to an as this was the case for the Canadian born wrestler who retired at the young age of 30. However, she went out in style with her hands raised high when she defeated her longtime rival Lita for the WWE Women’s Championship.
She definitely had a lot more to offer as an in-ring competitor and she could have contributed a lot more today considering the depth of talent in the current women’s division.
4. Edge
Edge started his WWE career as a successful tag team wrestler, winning the tag team titles on multiple occasions with Christian. When he finally broke out as a singles wrestlers, he gained quite a bit of success in the mid card. He won the WWE Intercontinental Championship 5 times.
However, it wasn’t until 2006 when Edge’s was career catapulted into super stardom. ‘The Rated-R Superstar’ successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated John Cena to win his first WWE Championship. Thus, Edge the main event superstar was born.
Edge performed quite well in the main event scene and would have notable feuds with John Cena, Undertaker, and Triple H. Edge would go on to win the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Champions a combined 11 times.
Edge’s career was soaring high when it suddenly came to a screeching halt. On April 11th 2011, after successfully defending his World Championship at WrestleMania, Edge announced that he was diagnosed cervical spinal stenosis which meant, he could be paralyzed from the neck-down or even die should he take another bump. Hence, Edge decided to hang up his boots. He retired as the World Champion and gave an emotional retirement speech.
Clearly, Edge had a lot more to offer the company but was unfortunately forced to retire too soon.
f3. Paige
Paige’s short WWE career was nothing short of historic. She was the inaugural NXT Women’s Champion and she won the WWE Divas Championship on her first night on RAW, making her the first woman to hold both the NXT Women’s Championship and the Divas Championship simultaneously.
She was also the youngest Divas Champion at just 21 years of age. Paige had been wrestling since the age of 13 and was hence prone to a lot of injuries. Her WWE career was marked with a lot of injuries that prevented her from wrestling at her full potential.
Things were getting better for her with her recent return to the WWE. But it was short lived as she sustained a serious neck injury after being kicked in the back by Sasha Banks, leaving her unable to stand.
Not only did the injury come right before the Women’s Royal Rumble match, but it also forced Paige into an early retirement at just 25 years of age.
2. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
When you compile a list of greatest WWE superstars of all-time, ”Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s name will be right at the top. Steve Austin was one of the poster boys for the Attitude Era. He was the company’s biggest stars and was one of the biggest reasons why WWE finally overtook WCW in the ratings.
He represented what almost every employee wanted to do, and that was to stick it to their boss. His work with Vince McMahon led to some of the finest and funniest segments in WWE history. However, Austin’s career was plagued by multiple injuries and ‘The Texas Rattlesnake’ was wrestling on borrowed time ever since he suffered a serious injury at the hands of Owen Hart in 1997.
His injuries finally caught up with him and he was forced into early retirement. Since his retirement, he has made many guest appearances at important WWE PPVS and events and also has his own podcast on the WWE Network.
1. CM Punk
It’s almost sad to see CM Punk on this list. Punk had always been touted as the future of the company right from his early days in ECW. Punk knew how to work the crowd and he was good at it.
His career breakthrough came when he delivered his ‘Pipe Bomb’ segment, which is still talked about to this day. This saw him earn a quick promotion from the mid card to the main event scene. He portrayed this controversial character that was almost similar to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
He would go on to be the company’s flag bearer as he held the WWE Championship for 434 days, which was at one point the longest title reign of the modern era. However, he was not pleased with how the company was treating him (he claimed his staph infection was mistreated).
After the losing the WWE Championship to The Rock at the Royal Rumble and after being eliminated from the Royal Rumble match the following year, Punk decided he had enough and stopped showing up to WWE events.
Punk would then go on to give multiple shoot interviews in which he criticized WWE for their lack of proper talent management. He soon announced that he would never wrestle again and instead went on to have a lackluster career in MMA.
This marked the end of a wonderful career plagued with controversy.
