10 Wrestlers Who Should Have Stayed Retired

7. The Undertaker

Ric Flair
WWE

No matter how successful he gets at pulling YouTube faces for his podcast, The Undertaker’s career will always be synonymous with decades of destruction and dominance in WWE, particularly at WrestleMania, where he built a 21-0 winning streak that surel won't ever be touched. 

His streak-breaking match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX could have been the perfect moment to hang up the boots, and per his Network docu-series, it was that fairytale ending he'd always been looking for. However, The Undertaker continued to wrestle, with mostly stinkers to his post-2014 name. 

While there were still flashes of brilliance (The Graveyard Dogs was inspired in concept and execution), there were far more lows. The infamous match against Goldberg at Super ShowDown 2019 was a catastrophe, with both men struggling to perform basic moves, culminating in a match that had fans wincing in discomfort. Another problem - it wasn't the only one from around that time and as an act that was saved almost exclusively for big stages, his shockers were being viewed by the biggest possible audiences.

His final match against AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36 was a fitting end to his run proper, but the years of diminishing performances before it left something of a bittersweet taste.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but 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 in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. 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 sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett