3. Edge
The retirement of Edge always makes me sad because I saw him wrestling pre-WWE in the indies as a skinny guy named Sexton Hardcastle. I was also at his last televised match ever at WrestleMania 27 when he defeated Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Title. A week later, he received the bad news about his neck (which was surgically repaired a decade earlier) and he there he was announcing his retirement at the age of 37. When you think back on Edge's career, ladder matches come to mind. Those TLC matches where he was falling through tables, landing hard on top of ladders and hitting that memorable Spear on Jeff Hardy from the top of the ladder are what we think about. We'll never forget those moments as those athletes put their bodies on the line to entertain us, the wrestling fans. The sad thing about it is that's why he had to retire at such a young age. He might have regret about some of it, but at the same time he wouldn't be who he was without it. That was part of his character and what made him a top guy. His list of accomplishments is deep. He won everything you could win in WWE including 11 combined WWE/World Titles. He can even say he main evented a WrestleMania with Undertaker, which few people can claim. There was nothing left for him to do when he left, so it's fair to say that his career was complete. Edge won't wrestle again. Doctors won't let him. His neck won't ever be strong enough for him to have a match again. While I'm sure that upsets some fans, it's certainly better than pushing yourself too far and getting injured despite the fact that doctors have told you to stop. The good news is he has a successful acting career as a regular on the Syfy show Haven, so he's able to keep busy and has moved on comfortably after a nearly 20 year career in wrestling. We may see Edge on WWE TV periodically because as a WWE Hall of Famer he has a lot of history with the company and we know WWE loves to bring back stars from the past once in a while.