9. Dean Malenko
The Man of a 1,000 holds, Dean Malenko has been retired for well over a decade. He quietly retired in the WWF in 2001, and now works for WWE as a road agent who helps the talent plan matches. Malenko deserves to be considered one of the best retired wrestlers, he really was an epic talent, a superb technical wrestler who could have an exciting fast paced match with anyone. Trademarks of Malenko included his stamina and pace in mat grappling, and of course his submission moves. He was close friends and travelled with Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, which tells you all you need to know about the quality of wrestling he worked in. Malenko also retired too soon. He was only 41, and by a wrestling standard that is young. He kind of got lost in the shuffle amongst the huge personalities of the attitude era, but his accomplishments speak for themselves. Pro Wrestling Illustrated Magazine named Malenko the Number 1 Wrestler in the world in 1997, he was an ECW TV Champion, a WCW United States Champion and also a respected wrestler in WWF and Japan. Malenko's match with Eddie Guerrero in ECW on August 26th 1995 is one of the greatest pro wrestling bouts I have ever seen, probably in my top ten all time great matches.