6 Ups And Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Dec 29)

2. Retired Wrestlers Apparently Are Wimps

What is the deal that once a wrestler retires, he can no longer defend himself and becomes as helpless in the ring as a newborn kitten? This seems to happen more often than not €“ a retired WWE wrestler makes his way to the ring and a heel threatens him, and the retired star either backs down, needs saving or gets beat up. Granted, a 65-year-old Ric Flair or 60-year-old Roddy Piper probably could use some help. But Edge and Christian are both 41 years old, in good shape and probably still could be competing today if not for injuries. But Monday night, both multi-time world champs were taken down by Seth Rollins and Big Show pretty handily. Christian in particular sold a single briefcase shot to the gut for nearly 10 minutes, rolling to the floor and never being seen again. Sure, those real-life injuries are a major reason why neither could respond €“ both in storyline and real life €“ but if you were being threatened, wouldn€™t you at least put up a little bit of a fight? Edge was outnumbered four-to-one, but couldn€™t they have had the Hall of Famer slug Knoble and Mercury before being subdued? Ask yourself if Hulk Hogan would ever allow himself to be manhandled like this, or if in another decade Triple H will be as defenseless as Edge was. It€™s doubtful that they would want their legacy to be tarnished by being seen as helpless in the ring. But Christian, who pinned Sheamus just 10 months ago, is knocked out for 10 minutes from one briefcase shot.