10 Wrestling Careers We Wish Had Lasted Longer

Being a professional wrestler these days certainly pays (at the top end, anyway) but it's still something of a charmed life.

With so much to learn before taking to the ring, most are only deemed TV-ready (read: WWE-ready) in their mid to late-20s, giving them a measly ten or fifteen years of peak physical condition before all the punishment they've absorbed in the meantime begins to take its toll.

It's never easy for fans to watch the heroes they grew up with go from performing week-in, week-out to the odd sporadic appearance, especially when it's an abrupt injury, or even the gradual accumulation of nasty bumps, that has precipitated their sudden change of schedule.

And unfortunately, it always seems to be the very best performers - or, even more tragically, the ones who had so much ahead of them - who are forced to call a premature end to (or, in some cases, pulled away from by the promise of greener pastures) their time in the squared circle.

Edge smashed through WWE's glass ceiling after cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on John Cena in 2006, marking the beginning of perhaps the most prolific five-year main event run in the history of the company. In fact, the Rated-R Superstar had held the world title on some 11 occasions by the time he called it a day in 2011 - that's more than two a year.

And yet, having retired at the age of just 37 - the result of a persistent neck injury - it felt like he had some unfinished business. Edge had at last become a face after returning from a lengthy lay-off a year earlier, opening up a fresh batch of opponents and character openings for him to explore (and somewhere down the road, perhaps, the possibility of a full time reunion with Christian).

But health considerations rightly took precedence, and he went out at the top, his farewell match a successful WrestleMania title defence against Alberto del Rio.