Retirement Age: 37 Though all of the retirements on this list came at a bad time and most were abrupt, Edge's may have been the most high-profile. Just two weeks after successfully defending the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 27, "The Rated R Superstar" came out on Monday Night Raw to announce that, due to spinal stenosis, he would have to vacate the title and retire from the ring. It was a harsh reminder of the earlier days of Edge's career, when TLC matches with The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz and German suplexes from Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle forced the Canadian superstar to have spinal fusion surgery. Though Edge had toned down his in-ring style after becoming a main eventer, the effects of his wilder matches had taken their toll. Hopefully, younger wrestlers learned a lesson from Edge's troubles.
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
