10 Best Retirement Matches In WWE History
8. Edge Vs. Alberto Del Rio (WrestleMania XXVII)
Edge's WWE retirement came out of nowhere.
On April 11th, 2011, the Rated-R Superstar hit Monday Night Raw and dropped a bomb that nobody saw coming. After 19 years in the business, the popular Canadian had been forced into retirement. The spinal fusion surgery he'd had earlier in his career had finally caught up with him, and in one of the most impassioned promos of his career, Edge revealed that if he continued wrestling, he'd likely end up in a wheelchair.
It was a perfect retirement promo, made all the more shocking by what had happened eight nights prior. Edge was in the midst of a four-mouth run as World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania XXVII, and Alberto Del Rio had emerged as his challenger after winning the Royal Rumble. The duo opened the biggest show of the year with a solid back and forth affair that got the crowd fired-up for the rest of the show, but nobody knew it'd be the last time Edge competed inside a WWE run.
Edge vs. Del Rio was a retirement match that nobody knew was a retirement match. The match didn't steal the show, and it's borderline offensive that they were allowed less time than the Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole abomination later in the night, but the outcome let Edge do the unthinkable: retire as a World champion.