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Healthcare and technology have advanced greatly in the past few years. Due to this, we now see WWE Superstars wrestling at ages that were seen as old or had wrestlers from previous generations retire or wrestle sporadically. A good example would be Goldberg's match at Elimination Chamber 2022.
This is not just true in WWE terms, but in other sports as well. LeBron is 37 and so is Cristiano Ronaldo. Tom Brady won the Superbowl at 41.
Some professional wrestlers have defied even this, going on to wrestle matches in their sixties, seventies, and eighties, albeit not on a full-time basis.
Here's a list that looks at the five oldest superstars to wrestle in WWE. The aforementioned matches may have been a one-off appearance or the said superstar’s first match in many years.
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#5. Sgt. Slaughter wrestled at 64
The master of the Cobra Clutch wrestled sporadically from 1998 onwards, mainly appearing at house shows and dark matches to put younger talent over. He was pinned by a young Randy Orton on the November 24, 2003 episode of RAW. This went on to further establish Orton as the Legend Killer.
He also appeared alongside Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, and Ron Simmons at Survivor Series 2006. The four legends teamed up to take on the Spirit Squad in a match under Survivor Series rules.
He and Orton faced each other again on the July 30, 2007 episode of RAW, where Sgt. Slaughter was pinned once again.
His last WWE match to date took place on the December 29, 2012 episode of RAW, where he faced the United States Champion Cesaro in a losing effort.
Slaughter went on to wrestle in three more matches on the independent circuit, the last of which occurred on March 29, 2014.
#4. Jimmy Snuka wrestled at 65
Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka wrestled in his last WWE match at WrestleMania 25. The match was a legends of WrestleMania handicap match where he teamed up with fellow legends Roddy Piper and Ricky Steamboat to challenge Chris Jericho.
Their feud with Jericho began after Y2J began disrespecting legendary wrestlers, calling them selfish for continuing to steal the spotlight from the younger talent. He criticized Piper, Flair and Snuka particularly for being shadows of themselves by continuing to wrestle when they should have retired.
He was 65 that night, however, like Sgt. Slaughter, Snuka went on to wrestle on the independent circuit long after his time in WWE. He wrestled his final match three days before his 72nd birthday, teaming up with Frankie Flow in a tag team match where they faced Andrew Anderson and Jason Knight at ECPW.
#3. Vince McMahon wrestled at 66
Vince McMahon’s last WWE match to date was against none other than CM Punk. The WWE Chairman went toe-to-toe with The Best in the World on the October 8, 2012 episode of RAW.
Punk was a heel at the time and disrespected McMahon at various times during the match. At one point, he grabbed Michael Cole’s commentary headset and yelled “What a maneuver!” as he beat down his boss. This was a phrase McMahon was famous for saying during his time as a commentator.
With Kendo sticks in hand, the two hit each other until Punk begged for mercy. This turned out to be a ruse as he hit McMahon with a low blow after.
Punk then lifted McMahon with the intention of hitting the GTS.
McMahon’s previous match before this was at WrestleMania 26, in a no-holds barred match against Bret Hart.
#2. The Fabulous Moolah (81 years old)
The Fabulous Moolah teamed up with Mae Young to take on Dawn Marie and Torrie Wilson on the September 21, 2004 episode of SmackDown. She was 81 years and 61 days old at the time.
The match lasted three minutes and 39 seconds and saw Moolah and Mae Young victorious.
Moolah faced Women’s Champion Ivory in a title match at No Mercy 1999. She defeated Ivory and in turn, became, at age 76, the second oldest champion in the history of professional wrestling.
She was the oldest at the time, but her record has since been broken by Pat Patterson, who won the 24/7 Championship at age 78.
#1. Mae Young wrestled at 87 years old
Taking first place on this list is none other than the incredible Mae Young.
She is currently the oldest person not just to wrestle in WWE, but the oldest person to ever wrestle a match in the history of professional wrestling.
She made her debut sometime between 1939 and 1941. This is difficult to verify due to conflicting statements and a lack of evidence of a Mae Young match taking place before 1941. Mae herself stated that she wrestled her first match on August 20, 1939.
On November 15, 2010, Young took part in a Falls Count Anywhere 2-on-1 handicap match against LayCool aged 87 years and 248 days. Considering WWE’s record of her debut, she has competed in nine different decades and is currently the only professional wrestler to do so.
What do you think of this list? Do you think Mae Young's record will ever be broken? Let us know in the comments section below.
