10 Awesome Wrestlers Who Quit Before They Were 40
7. Jimmy Yang
Jimmy Yang was one of the youngest wrestlers to ever appear on a national stage - when he debuted for WCW as Yun-Yang in 1999, he was only 18 years old. While Yang clearly lacked experience, he had a high-flying talent that would take him far.
Yang's contract was purchased by WWE in 2001, but he was released without ever competing on WWE TV. In 2003, the company gave him another shot - he was given the name "Akio" and, along with Ryan Sakoda, became an enforcer for Tajiri.
The team didn't last long, relegating Akio primarily to Velocity, where he had a little-seen but highly-praised series of matches with Paul London. In 2005, the company cut him again.
Yang worked for Ring of Honor after leaving WWE and, sure enough, the company came calling once more. In 2006, he was brought back as Jimmy Wang Yang, a proud redneck.
He was unable to win the Cruiserweight Championship, though, and a later partnership with Shannon Moore did not produce tag team gold. Yang languished on Superstars for a couple of years, then was released a third and final time.
Yang competed in Japan after leaving WWE, then worked indies for a couple of years, but the then-32-year-old wrestled his last match in 2013. He now runs a party bus rental company in Ohio.