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Yes, Professional Wrestling is predetermined. There is no denying that, but it comes with quite a few advantages. For example, pretty long careers. (In some cases.) The planned structure of matches allows wrestlers to still keep going in their 40s, 50s or even longer,note  making wrestlers living Long-Runners. Overlong careers are mostly a result of wrestling being the only income for most wrestlers, either because they don't have anything waiting for them after wrestling or for other reasons, such as the love they have for the profession. Advancements in medical technology are also allowing many wrestlers to continue performing even after acquiring injuries that would have been deemed career-ending just a decade ago. Another reason wrestlers tend to wrestle well beyond their 30s is that many peak in their 30s, sometimes even early 40s, because Wrestling Psychology is at least as important as the physical aspect of wrestling, and it takes many wrestlers years to fully grasp the psychology of the business. Competitive athletes, by contrast, often peak in their 20s because that's when they reach the peak of their physical fitness while also acquiring the mental aspect of their respective sports.

Fans are fighting over this theme constantly. Some people think that the old guard only take up space and TV time that could be used for younger wrestlers, while other fans enjoy the nostalgia and think that the oldies still have their place on the show and are not really to blame for younger wrestlers not being used (of course both of those things can be true at once.) Fan reactions will also depend on how much talent and effort the wrestler will still put in the ring (i.e. Ric Flair still pulled a lot of respect for his ring-work late into his career while others are often lambasted for still maintaining main event space despite a now deeply limited ring effort, such as Batista during his 2014 return.) Older wrestlers who go out of their way to make the young talent look good and help them get ahead in the business also tend to be better-regarded by fans than those who use their established fame to insist on being booked to beat the new talent.

In order for a wrestler to qualify as a Ring Oldie, they must have been an active competitor until they were at least 45 years old.


Known Ring oldies (listed alphabetically, don't have the patience to keep up with retirements):

  • Abdullah the Butcher (73 years old, retired.)
  • Abyss (45 years old)
  • Ole Anderson (47 years old when he retired in 1990.)
  • Kurt Angle (50 at the time of his retirement match at WrestleMania 35) note 
  • Las Monjas Asesinas: Lola González and Vicky Carranza, acting as a pareja on the Mexican independent circuit at 55 apiece. González kept it up till 59.
  • Atlantis, wrestling in CMLL's main event at 53, in response to fan request.
  • "Bullet" Bob Armstrong (79 years old during his final match).
  • The Barbarian is 61 and still competes.
  • Baron Von Raschke (55 years old, retired after a 30-year career in 1996.)
  • Batista was 45 during his 2014 run and 50 for his 2019 retirement match with Triple H.
  • The Big Show (50 years old)
  • Nick Bockwinkel (58 years old during his final match in 1993, retired from full-time wrestling in 1987.)
  • The Boogeyman started training to wrestle at age forty and is still working occasional indy dates into his fifties.
  • Booker T and brother Stevie Ray wrestled one last match as Harlem Heat in Booker's Reality of Wrestling promotion in February 2015. Both men were 49 and 56 respectively. Booker still breaks out the Spinaroonie occasionally, last wrestling at 57 in the 2023 Royal Rumble.
  • El Canek, IWL Independent Heavyweight Champion at 62.
  • Dos Caras still wrestles at 67.
  • Christian initially retired in 2014 at 41 due to concussion-related issues. He would return to the ring in 2021 at 47.
  • The Crusher (retired in 1989, age 63)
  • Christopher Daniels (53 years old) and is still doing THE BEST MOONSAULT EVER
  • Disco Inferno (51 years old, semi-retired)
  • Tommy Dreamer (48 years old and still hardcore)
  • "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan (65 years old; semi-retired)
  • Bill Dundee debuted in 1962 and still occasionally wrestles in 2019 at 75.
  • Bobby Eaton last wrestled in 2015 at age 57, passing away in 2021.
  • Edge was forced to retire at 37 due to a serious neck injury, but he returned at 46 in the 2020 Royal Rumble match, and won the 2021 Royal Rumble match before going to AEW at the age of 50.
  • El Dinámico, wrestling in the main event of Italian Wrestling Superstar at 50.
  • El Santo (was 64 at his last match (47-year run), dying 2 years later)
  • Sid Eudy: Wrestled his final match in 2017, at age 58.
  • Finlay (56 years old. Seems to have retired for good as of 2018.)
  • Ric Flair (was 59 at his last match in WWE, though he had a short run in TNA and various indie leagues until the age of 63). Officially announced his retirement in December 2012, citing Jerry Lawler (who's the same age as him) having heart attack a few months earlier as a galvanizing event driving home the dangers of even a physically fit man wrestling at his age. However, he came out of retirement after a decade to wrestle a promoted “final” match at 73 in 2022.
  • Mick Foley made his final in-ring appearance in the 2012 Royal Rumble at 46 years old. He quietly retired soon after when his doctors informed him that he can never wrestle again.
  • Yoshiaki Fujiwara is 66 and still wrestles.
  • Jim Fullington (58 years old, still caning people on the indy circuit)
  • Dory Funk Jr. (79 years old)
  • Terry Funk (73 years old) Funk's tendency to briefly retire became something of a Running Gag among wrestling fans. Father Time finally caught up with the Funker; he passed away in 2023 at 79, nearly 6 years after his final match.
  • Verne Gagne (officially retired at 58, but worked special matches until he was 62)
  • Ron Garvin (70 years old as of his last match in 2014, wrestled part-time from 1993 on.)
  • Giant Haystacks last wrestled at 49 before dying a little over two years later of cancer.
  • Glacier 55 years old, still works indy shows.
  • Goldberg was thought to have wrestled his final match in 2004 at the age of 37, but announced in 2016 that he'd be coming out of retirement to have a final run that extended beyond his 50th birthday. He's since been brought back several times to wrestle for big events.
  • Goldust (51 years old) is still going strong, wrestling his younger brother Cody at AEW's Double or Nothing pay-per-view in 2020.
  • Mike Graham (60 years old at the time of his final match in 2012, wrestled sparingly after the early 90s.)
  • The Great Khali (45 years old)
  • Chavo Guerrero Sr. (67 years old at the time of his last match; he died a few months later at 68.)
  • Chavo Guerrero Jr. (50 years old)
  • Billy Gunn is still working the occasional match at 60, and claimed the AEW trios title alongside The Acclaimed barely two months before reaching that age. His longtime tag partner, Road Dogg, barely qualifies at 47.
  • Scott Hall: Retired in 2010 at the age of 51.
  • Although Bret Hart retired in 2000, he made a brief return to the ring ten years later after reconciling with WWE, wrestling his final match at 53 years old (though the term "wrestling" is used loosely. Because of lingering issues with repeated concussions and a stroke suffered after his retirement, the most he could do was throw punches and swing folding chairs without being able to take bumps).
  • Gran Hamada, wrestling alongside his students at age 67.
  • Matt and Jeff Hardy are still active competitors at the ages of 49 and 46, respectively, having started wrestling since they were teenagers.
  • Mark Henry (45 years old during his final match, officially retired the following year)
  • Hulk Hogan (58 years old during his final match in TNA. Still attempting to come back for one final match as late as 2020.)
  • Honky Tonk Man: (66 years old, still wrestles occasionally)
  • Malia Hosaka (believed to be semi-retired in 2012, the Cauliflower Alley Club mistakenly announced her as a recipient for an award reserved for retired wrestlers, but she could be found coming up with evermore acrobatic(and illegal) jack knife pins as late as 2019 (at age 49).
  • Ivory (Retired at 45, returned at 56 to compete at WWE's first Evolution PPV; she would return four years later to compete in the 2022 Royal Rumble match.)
  • The Iron Sheik (68 at the time of his final match in 2010)
  • Chigusa Nagayo became Pro Wrestling ZERO1's first Blast Queen champion at age 53. Proved her mettle inside and outside the ring when she received a letter of appreciation from the Sapporo police after standing up to a man attacking his wife on a parking deck at age 54.
  • New Jack ("retired" at 50, but worked a few special matches until shortly before his death at 58 in 2021)
  • Jacqueline (53 years old; semi-retired)
  • Marty Jannetty was 58 as of his last match in 2018.
  • Jeff Jarrett (56 years old and still smashing guitars over people's heads; also took the pinfall in Ric Flair's "Last Match" shortly after turning 55)
  • Chris Jericho (turned 53 in November 2023, and the inaugural AEW world champion)
  • Gypsy Joe took part in the World Legend Revival series of SMASH at 76.
  • Jushin Thunder Liger (born in November 1964) had his retirement match on the second night of NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 14 in January 2020 at 55.
  • Leilani Kai, challenging for title belts in Florida at 57.
  • Kamala (60 years old as of his final match in 2010; he was forced to retire due to health problems)
  • Kane (56 years old, semi-retired. He's probably working a very limited schedule from here on, as he was elected mayor of Knox County, Tennesseenote  in 2018, and was reelected in 2022.)
  • Ron Killings (52 years old)
  • Aja Kong (51 years old)
  • La Parka (turned 58 in November 2023 and still very much active in AAA and the American indy circuit. The other man who used the La Parka gimmick last wrestled at 53.)
  • Jerry "The King" Lawler (72 years old at his most recent match against Scott Steiner in March 2022). Was thought to have wrestled his final match in September 2012, after which he suffered a near-fatal heart attack at the announcer table and spent over two months in recovery... but was later medically cleared to return to wrestling, and still worked occasional indy shows even after a mild stroke in 2018. He had a second and more severe stroke in February 2023. Before the second stroke, Lawler had worked at least once every calendar year since his debut, meaning his career spans an impressive 53 years.
  • Lita came out of retirement in 2022, a few months before turning 47.
  • Steve Lombardi (58. Although he officially retired from full-time competition in 1998, he still does matches on the indy circuit several times a year.)
  • Lex Luger (48 at the time of his last match in 2006; forced to retire due to severe health problems)
  • Dr. Luther (55 years old, still wrestling in All Elite Wrestling, though in 2024 he's now mainly serving as "valet" to "Timeless" Toni Storm)
  • Jerry Lynn (49 years old, retired in 2013.)
  • Sherri Martel wrestled her final match in 2005 at the age of 46.
  • Mil Máscaras wrestled his final match in February 2019 at age 76.
  • Dump Matsumoto, making rounds on the Japanese independent circuit at 57.
  • Chief Wahoo McDaniel had his first matches in 1961 and his last in 1996 at 57.
  • Shane McMahon is still wrestling part-time at age 53.
  • His father Vince McMahon also wrestled on occasion, last doing so at WrestleMania 38 in 2022 at the age of 76. It should be noted that Vince started his in-ring career as a ring oldie, having wrestled his first match against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at 52.
  • Shawn Michaels mostly avoided this. He retired in 2010 just before his 45th birthday, but he did returned in 2018 for an one-off at the age 53 in WWE's Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia. He has not stepped into the ring again since, preferring to stay retired and helping to build new talent in WWE NXT as its head of creative instead.
  • The Fabulous Moolah had her last match in WWE at 81. Her last singles match was at 80.
  • The Great Muta worked his retirement match at age 60 in February 2023.
  • Rey Mysterio Jr. (49 years old, career spans over thirty years.)
  • Kevin Nash (59 during his last match in 2018. He retired in 2020 per a post on Twitter.)
  • Negro Navarro, defending the trios titles of IWRG alongside his sons at 58.
  • Jim Neidhart: Semi-retired in 1999 at age 44, though he continued to make occasional appearances, wrestling his final match in 2016 at age 61.
  • Atsushi Onita ended his career in a barbed wire board tornado street fight bunkhouse brawl at age 60 after the barbed wire baseball bat exploding knee pad lumber jack match two days beforehand failed to finish him off.
  • Paul Orndorff retired from full-time wrestling at 46 in 1995 due to injuries. He had a couple of matches after his official retirement, including a notable tag match at Fall Brawl 2000 at the age of 50.
  • "Cowboy" Bob Orton (54 years old when he teamed with his son Randy. He also occasionally wrestles, mainly at legends shows, at the age of 70.)
  • Diamond Dallas Page started wrestlingnote  at 35, so he was pretty old when he started. Page retired from full-time wrestling in 2006 at 50, but has come out of retirement a few times, most notably in the 2015 Royal Rumble match at 58 years old, the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32, two days before his 60th birthday, and for All Elite Wrestling at 63, which he has claimed was the final match he'll ever do.
  • Roddy Piper (was 57 during his last match, dying 4 years later)
  • Montel Vontavious Porter (46 years old, initially announced he has wrestled his final WWE match and intends to retire completely very soon. He would still continue wrestling a couple of years later.)
  • Psicosis (48 years old and still wrestling)
  • Psicosis II is 52 and still wrestles.
  • Harley Race (47 years old when he retired in 1990.)
  • Raven (58 years old, semi-retired.)
  • Butch Reed (57 years old, last wrestled in 2011.)
  • Dusty Rhodes wrestled his last match in 2010 at the age of 64. It was a six-man tag with his sons.
  • Rikishi (56 years old, semi-retired, though he makes occasional appearances)
  • The Rock 'n' Roll Express are still wrestling and training at 61 and 63 respectively.
  • Sabu announced his retirement in November 2021, about a month shy of his 57th birthday.
  • Johnny Saint (only semi-retired as of 2011, aged 70), in CHIKARA managed multiple 'this is awesome' and 'we love wrestling' chants. Fellow Brit Johnny Kidd was only 55 in the same weekend. Saint finally retired for good as an in-ring performer in 2015 at age 74, but even after that was a trainer, and at age 81 was an authority figure for NXT UK before it went on hiatus in September 2022.
  • Mike Rotunda: (45-46 years old when he retired in 2004, wrestled one last time at RAW's 15th anniversary in 2007 at age 49)
  • Bruno Sammartino: (52 years old upon his last match in 1987).
  • Tito Santana: Born in 1953; last worked a full-time schedule at age 43, but continues to work occasional shows, both in the indies and AAA, as of this writing (February 2024).
  • Randy Savage wrestled his final match in TNA at the age of 52. His brother Lanny Poffo still occasionally wrestled into his sixties. Their father, Angelo, wrestled his final match at 59.
  • Dan Severn retired from MMA at the age of 54 but still competes in pro wrestling despite saying once that pro wrestling has given him more injuries that MMA.
  • The Bushwhackers. Born in 1944, Butch retired in 2001 following a neck injury. He came out of retirement in 2018 at the age of 73 for one last tour with Luke, and passed away in 2023. Luke, born in 1947, continues to appear in the occasional indie match even to this day, giving him an incredible seven decade career as an active wrestler.
  • El Sicodélico doing tercias matches at 71.
  • Sgt. Slaughter (65 years old, seems to have retired for good in 2014)
  • Gene Snitsky (48, announced his impending retirement in 2018)
  • Al Snow (60 years old) works matches in TNA now and then and in the indies, though he abused steroids heavily in 2014 and thus physically doesn't look his age anymore. Also runs a wrestling school.
  • Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka (wrestled his last match at 72 years old)
  • George South (57 years old)
  • Ricky Steamboat looked like he was going to miss out, first retiring in 1994 at the age of 41, but he made an impressive return run in WWE 15 years later in 2009, feuding with Chris Jericho. He would return to the ring one more time 13 years later in 2022 at the age of 69, teaming up with [[FTR} to face Jay Lethal, Nick Aldis and Brock Anderson.
  • George "The Animal" Steele was 61 when he had his last match in WWE in 1999. He had his final match in 2000 at 63.
  • Scott Steiner (61 and still wrestling at indy shows. His brother Rick is mostly retired but still works occasional legends and indy matches at 62.)
  • Sting was thought to have wrestled his last match in September of 2015 at 56 years old, officially retiring in April of the following year due to cervical spinal stenosis. However, he made his shocking debut for All Elite Wrestling in December of 2020 at the age of 61, returning to the ring three months later after turning 62. He wrestled his final match at AEW Revolution 2024, a few weeks before his 65th birthday.
  • Trish Stratus retired from full-time wrestling in 2006 at the age of 30, but has been semi-active since, most recently teaming up with Becky Lynch and former rival Lita to face Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky) at WrestleMania 39. 2023 at age 47, a run that eventually expanded into the summer with a feud with Becky.
  • Kevin Sullivan (69 years old, career began in 1970 and was still occasionally working matches in 2019.)
  • Super Delfin, touring through Asia at 50.
  • Pantera Sureña seemed to have wound down her career as a luchadora at 52.
  • Minoru Suzuki, affectionately nicknamed "Murder Grandpa", is still a menace in the ring at 55 (as of 2023).
  • Genichiro Tenryu, at 65 lost his retirement match to then-28-year-old Kazuchika Okada.
  • Lou Thesz (officially retired at 63, worked occasional special events until age 74, when he had a retirement match against student Masahiro Chono. Chono himself retired in 2023 at age 59, with his last match coming against Keiji Mutoh, aka The Great Muta, who was 60 and also retired after the match.)
  • Fray Tormenta (66 when he wrestled his last match, but had been semi-retired since 56. Still serves as a Roman Catholic priest.)
  • Triple H: Worked what proved to be his last match in January 2021 at the age of 51. He announced his in-ring retirement in March 2022, having had a defibrillator implanted in his chest several months earlier after a bout with viral pneumonia led to near-fatal heart damage. Even before his final match, he had been semi-retired since 2010 due to his duties as head of Talent Relations and eventual successor to the WWE empire.
  • Brodus Clay/Tyrus wrestled his last match at age 50 in 2023, losing the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship to EC3 with a retirement stipulation. While wrestling retirements tend not to stick, Tyrus strongly implied in more than one later interview that his was most likely real.
  • Ultimate Warrior (49 years old as of his last match, with independent federation Nu-Wrestling Evolution (NWE))
  • Último Dragón, teaming with El Dinámico, among others also at 51.
  • The Undertaker (55 years old, retired in 2020.)
  • "Butcher" Vachon (77 years old)
  • Jimmy Valiant (77 years old)
  • Johnny Valiant (59 years old during his final match, wrestled infrequently after his forties.)
  • Big Van Vader wrestled occasional matches until he was 61, dying two years later.
  • Greg Valentine (66 years old; semi-retired)
  • Victoria/Tara (retired from full-time wrestling in 2019 at 48 years old. She returned for the 2021 Women's Royal Rumble a few months shy of her fiftieth birthday). She would make another return a couple years later on Impact as Gisele Shaw's mystery partner.
  • Fritz Von Erich worked his final match in 1986 at age 57. He would sadly outlive five of his six sons; the one survivor, Kevin, would work his final match, a tag team alongside his sons Ross and Marshall, in 2017 at age 60.
  • Sean Waltman initially retired at age 47 in 2019; he would then come back three years later to wrestle a couple of matches in 2022.
  • Jaguar Yokota, touring as a singles wrestler and one half of Diana's tag team champions at 54.
  • "Exotic" Adrian Street retired at age 69 not long after NWA Wrestle Birmingham, where he was Heavyweight Champion of Alabama, shutdown.
  • Mae Young (claimed to have wrestled across nine decades, although this is dubious — evidence suggests she first wrestled pro in 1941, not 1939 as she claimed, and as we'll see below, it's also doubtful whether her sole match in the 2010s counts. She said she wanted to wrestle against Stephanie McMahon on her 100th birthday — unfortunately, she died in January 2014 at 90.)
    • Her last "match" deserves a disclaimer. It took place during the old school retro edition of Raw and was a falls count anywhere, no-DQ match against LayCool. She was flanked by a pair of other divas who helped her walk up and down the aisle, she never had to climb the stairs to get to the ring (thus, "falls count anywhere"), and all the quote-unquote ring work was done by pretty much the entire women's roster on her behalf. And at the end, she count not even get to her knees to make the pin, instead making the pin while standing with a foot on her opponent's chest. Still, give credit where credit is due.
    • It should also be noted that she was still taking bumps and being put through tables well into her 70s.
  • Lord Zoltan (59 years old) is in semi-retirement, but still wrestles on approximately a monthly basis with the Keystone State Wrestling Alliance, including the annual DeafFest match that he originated.
  • Larry Zbyszko wrestled his final match in 2015 at the age of 63.
  • Scotty 2 Hotty would wrestle a match in 2022 at the age of 48.
  • Arn Anderson despite retiring at 43 in 2000 would sporadically bust out his signature spinebuster every now and then.
  • Bobby Fish (48 years old in 2023)
  • Bobby Roode (48 years old in 2023, semi-retired)
  • Bobby Lashley (48 years old in 2023)
  • "Stone Cold" Steve Austin would come out of a 19-year retirement at age 57 to face Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38.
  • AJ Styles (turned 47 in 2023)
  • 2 Cold Scorpio is still wrestling at 56
  • Brock Lesnar (46 as of 2023, has yet to slow down in the ring probably due to his limited schedule).
  • Jamie Noble barely made it at 45, coming out of retirement to wrestle one more match teaming up with Braun Strowman, Butch and Ridge Holland to defeat the Bloodline (Jimmy, Jey, Solo and Sami).
  • Emi Sakura (46 as of 2022)
  • John Cena turned 46 in 2023, he would team up with Kevin Owens to defeat Sami and Roman on the last Smackdown of 2022 and had a small run in 2023.
  • Mike Jackson who is still wrestling at 73.
  • Lance Archer is an active competitor at 46.
  • Tamina (turned 46 in 2023)
  • Sheamus (turned 45 in 2023)
  • CM Punk (turned 45 in 2023)

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