10 Oldest Wrestlers To Ever Compete At WWE SummerSlam
The Biggest Party Of The SummerSlam Doesn't Discriminate When It Comes To Age.
One of the biggest criticisms levelled at modern WWE is their reliance on older performers. The company seemingly have no interest in building younger stars, instead choosing to deploy established names to help draw numbers for big events. We've seen it at the Royal Rumble, we've seen it at WrestleMania, and we've definitely seen it at SummerSlam.
Both of SummerSlam 2021's world championship matches are featuring part-time stars in their forties and fifties. However, despite this year's SummerSlam being a particularly egregious example of WWE's reliance on older talent, it is far from a new phenomenon.
Since its inception in 1988, SummerSlam has always made use of older wrestlers. For example, SummerSlam '88 featured a match between 44-year-old Bad News Brown and 45-year-old Ken Patera. To put that into context, John Cena turned forty-four this year.
So older wrestlers at SummerSlam is nothing new, but how old are the show's oldest ever performers? The following list includes ten men who were either pushing fifty, in their fifties, or, in one example, in their sixties when they had a match at SummerSlam. Did they age like a fine summer wine? Or did they wilt like a flower left out in the sun?
10. The Iron Sheik
Whilst newer fans in 1991 might have thought Colonel Mustafa was just one of Sgt. Slaughter's Iraqi-sympathising lackeys, older fans would have recognised the distinctive bald head and curly moustache of The Iron Sheik a mile away.
Sheiky baby had returned to the WWF after a three-year break from the promotion. The Iranian legend changed his name and nationality to align himself with Slaughter, whose gimmick was playing off real life tensions from The Gulf War. As a result, he found himself in the main event of that year's SummerSlam. In his only SummerSlam appearance, The Sheik teamed up with Slaughter and another of his cronies (more on him later) to take on Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior in a three-on-two handicap match.
Sheik was just two weeks shy of his 49th birthday when this match took place - 48 years 11 months and 17 days old, to be exact - and his performance in this match was, well, that of a man nearing his 49th birthday. Still, it was nice to see Sheik get the main event spot he deserved, even if he did fail to make Hogan and Warrior humble.