10 Worst Ever Wrestling Retirements
4. Goldberg/Brock Lesnar (WWE WrestleMania 20)
Now little more than an exorcised demon for both men, the anticlimactic Bill Goldberg/Brock Lesnar WrestleMania 20 clash was an ugly farewell to mainstream professional wrestling for both men.
Lesnar had decided mere weeks earlier that the grind of the WWE schedule was no longer for him, and was to try his hand at a career in the NFL.
Similarly frustrated, Goldberg had experienced the worst of the company's internal politics, with several programmes doing far more harm than good in maintaining the wicked star aura he had amassed during several successful years with WCW. Coming to the end of his one year contract, he was also set to depart following the battle.
Seemingly unbeknownst to the performers until they hit the ring, the Madison Square Garden crowd was tuned into both stories, and refused to give either man a shred of respect as they worked a boring resthold contest in lieu of the impactful power matches they would later produce.
It was a sad end to both tenures, but a particularly jarring way for Lesnar to exit an organisation he had absolutely ripped through with such dynamism during a minuscule two years on the main roster.