10 WWE Wrestlers Who Retired In Their Prime

1. AJ Lee

AJ Lee Kaitlyn
WWE.com

Former longest-reigning WWE Divas Champion (the award was taken from her for reasons that are about to become clear) AJ Lee was a more crucial component in driving forward the Women's Revolution than the company will ever give her credit for, not only because of her on-camera incinerations of the sh*t state of the league at the time but also the brave manner in which she tried to smash payscales and archaic structures by herself.

Challenging the patriarchy backstage and Stephanie McMahon on Twitter, Lee went for everybody she could reach, whilst working beyond rock bottom expectations whenever the company gave her matches time.

The definition of this list's title more than just about anybody else in it, Lee had her prime years remaining to perfect one of her passions, but instead decided to walk away in 2015 just after her 28th birthday. Settling into life as an author and mental health advocate thanks to the rich response to her exhaustive and open-door autobiography, AJ has remained almost entirely absent from the wrestling industry, despite relentless rumour-mongering that she will one day return, possibly in line with husband CM Punk's own improbable comeback.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 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. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, 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