10 Worst Ever Wrestling Retirements
9. Mick Foley (WWE No Way Out 2000)
It would be sacrilegious to criticise the incredible Hell in a Cell match between Triple H and Cactus Jack, but the failure to honour a heavy consequence was almost as offensive.
Taking place at February 2000's No Way Out, the match was delicately placed before that year's WrestleMania following a gruelling street fight won by 'The Game' at January's Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
Foley promised to retire if he couldn't win the WWE Title, with the match sold on his one final reach for the fabled WrestleMania main event.
With the two brawling atop the cage with a flaming barbed wire 2x4, the finish eventually came when Foley plunged through the cage roof into the ring, crumpling in a heap in a collapsed portion of the ring.
Bidding emotional farewell to the crowd following his defeat, Foley shot the audience one last look before disappearing through the curtain dreams in tatters as the show went off the air.
Just weeks later, he strolled back through the same curtain and into the main event of WrestleMania after all, joining forces with Linda McMahon as part of the 'McMahon in every corner' main event. The evocative No Way Out conclusion had been for nought.