Retirement Age: 35 Rick Rude is often cited simultaneously as one of the best wrestlers to never win a true world title and one of the best heels of all time - it's even more impressive that he was able to carve such a reputation in a relatively short career. Rude had successful stints in both WWE and WCW, but his in-ring career came to an abrupt end in 1994. While in Japan to compete for the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship, Rude took a suicide dive from opponent Sting, sending him back-first into a raised platform around the ring. Rude won the match and the title, but his back was injured so badly that he was forced to retire. Rude stayed out of the ring throughout the late 90s (like many wrestlers, he had a high-paying insurance contract with Lloyd's of London that covered his injury and provided incentive not to try and make a comeback), but he was a fixture on Raw and Nitro - or in one infamous case, both in the same night. Despite the insurance contract, Rude was reportedly training for a comeback (and a program with WWE Champion Steve Austin) when he died of heart failure in 1999.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
