10 Surprising Wrestlers Retiring Sooner Than You Think

8. Randy Orton

The Young Bucks DONE
WWE

For all the talk of how certain wrestlers will end up broken by the time they retire - Darby Allin often sparks such conversations - all professional wrestling is injurious if someone, anyone, does it long enough.

It doesn't matter if you ritually dump yourself on your head or stall theatrically in slow "story" matches. Nobody escapes with a clean bump card. All styles lead to the same, grim endgame.

Hulk Hogan's back is in as rough shape as Tetsuya Naito's neck or the Great Muta's knees, and he spent more time convulsing and shaking his hair than bumping. Randy Orton put far more effort into his "workrate", but if the initials 'RKO' are synonymous with him, so too are the words "methodical", "chin" and "lock".

And yet, Orton is currently struggling with a back injury so serious that WWE fear the worst for him.

He hasn't wrestled since May 2022, two months before which, ironically, he told TMZ that he has another decade him him. Fate has a sadistic obsession with wrestling, and as Orton's hiatus dragged on, it was reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in October '22 that WWE held "a lot of concern" over the severity of the injury.

Moreover, Fightful Select in December reported that Orton has undergone surgery to fuse his back, and WWE would be "fortunate" to have him back at all.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!