8 Superstars whose last WrestleMania match was their WWE pay-per-view finale

#3 "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair

If only "the end" in WWE were

truly

"the end"

Previous Wrestlemania Resume

Wrestlemania 8 - lost to "Macho Man" Randy Savage in a WWF Championship Match

Wrestlemania X8 - lost to The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred Match

Wrestlemania 20 - with Randy Orton and Batista (as Evolution) defeated The Rock and Mick Foley (The Rock 'N Sock Connection)

Wrestlemania 22 - alongside Shelton Benjamin, Finlay, Matt Hardy, and Bobby Lashley, lost to Rob Van Dam in a Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Flair's legacy was cemented elsewhere, so, while his Wrestlemania resume might not be Hall of Fame-worthy, it represents very little of his body of work.

His Finale

In early 2008, Ric Flair was announced to be the headliner of that year's WWE Hall of Fame class. At the same time, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon expressed repeated frustration at Flair's continued vamping on WWE television, so Mr. McMahon announced that Ric Flair's next loss would he his last.

What followed was an improbable, and inspiring, win streak, which carried Flair into Wrestlemania 24, where he challenged "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels; in making the challenge, Flair noted that he'd either beat one of the best of all time, or head into retirement having lost to one of the greatest in-ring competitors any company had ever seen.

Michaels accepted, and, on March 30 in Orlando, FL, took on "The Nature Boy" in a Career Threatening Match. In a contest which saw Flair employ some of the greatest hits of his storied career (including the top-rope cross-body which won him the NWA World Championship from Harley Race, and which had almost always backfired on him since then), Flair ran out of gas toward the end and begged Michaels for the superkick to end it all. Noting, "I'm sorry. I love you," Michaels acquiesed and defeated Flair with a Sweet Chin Music.

It Was the End Because

Well, it was the end, and it wasn't the end; WWE has featured Flair on television since, and occasionally in a physical capacity, but never as a wrestler in a sanctioned match. As noted in ESPN's 30 for 30 feature on "The Nature Boy," however, Flair then left the company to tour the independent circuit and travel to TNA, where he would travel a path not unlike The Wrestler's protagonist by bleeding his way through any number of violent stories in a desperate attempt to stay relevant.

Flair has sporadically appeared in a managerial capacity in WWE since 2012, and accompanied his daughter, Charlotte, to the ring throughout much of her early main roster run. After a health scare nearly killed The Dirtiest Player in the Game, Flair made his most recent television appearance surprising Charlotte after she captured the Smackdown Women's Championship.