10 Wrestlers Who Should Have Stayed Retired

by Michael Hamflett

1. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Triple H Stone Cold Steve Austin
WWE

...but only until 2022, when he absolutely nailed it.

'The Texas Rattlesnake' has always been fiercely protective over himself and his legacy; so much so that one of the few times he almost got back in the ring before a glorious WrestleMania 38 contest with Kevin Owens was binned when he smartly elected not to turn up to Taboo Tuesday 2005 and lose to Jonathan Coachman.

Oddly, the defeat wouldn't have felt anywhere near as preposterous then as it would do now. The quiet dignity around Austin's WrestleMania XIX was very him - a clued-in Jim Ross was permitted to speak in glowing terms of his run atop the industry as he departed following a loss to The Rock, but nobody else was any the wiser that this really was it for the 'Toughest S.O.B'. What followed in the months afterwards was anything but dignified.

A parody of himself as the Co-Raw GM and/or "Sheriff" of the show, Austin later said he needed to get away from wrestling for a sustained period to truly get it out of his system. There were other more fan-friendly reasons for him to step away.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.