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This sport is a dangerous one, as we've seen many wrestlers retire early due to unfortunate injuries. Wrestling may be a scripted sport, but the athleticism, coordination, precision, and cooperation needed to make sure that wrestlers don't injure each other is very much a real talent that should be admired.
But even then, with everyone doing everything right, accidents can still happen and wrestlers can still pick up injuries in the ring. Most wrestlers are able to recover from these freak accidents with time off or surgery if they're lucky. But the unlucky ones may see their careers cut prematurely short.
A number of wrestlers have been permanently sidelined due to injuries that they've picked up, either because they can physically no longer wrestle, or because doing so would potentially cause further damage, or even risk their lives.
But there are also a few miracle stories where a wrestler has managed to overcome what should've been, and often was at the time, a career-ending injury to return.
We'll be taking a look at both wrestlers who have been forced into retirement through injury and wrestlers who have defied all odds to return.
#7 Retired: Lio Rush prematurely retires after only just appearing for AEW
Lio Rush is a professional wrestler who just oozes potential so it's no wonder he was snapped up by WWE. Rush would win a WWE United Kingdom Championship Invitational and the Cruiserweight Title during his time with WWE, but would eventually get released from the company.
Rush would go on to make appearances for several wrestling promotions on the independent circuit as well as some of the other big non-WWE companies like Major League Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling and most recently, All Elite Wrestling.
However, shortly after his AEW debut as part of the Casino Battle Royal match, Rush announced that he had picked up an injury during that match and had consequently decided to retire.
Read Also: What is an AC joint separation (injury that forced Lio Rush to retire)
Rush had previously signed a contract with NJPW and has said that once he's healed he'll fulfill his obligations with them before hanging up his boots for good and focussing on his family.
#6 Returned: Daniel Bryan performed a miracle by returning to WWE after having to retire in 2016
Wrestling fans around the world felt their hearts shatter when Daniel Bryan retired back in 2016. Unfortunately, a couple of major injuries forced his hand.
Daniel Bryan was at the height of his popularity following the Yes! Movement when his run at the top was cut short by an injury that caused him to lose all of the strength in his right arm and needed neck surgery. However, the arm didn't recover and he was stripped of his world title. He'd be gone for several months.
Bryan was able to return from this arm issue, despite some doctors telling him he wouldn't be able to wrestle again, but WWE's booking prevented him from getting back near the main event.
Still, Bryan would win the Intercontinental Title before another injury, this time a concussion and then a discovered lesion on his brain, would cause him to relinquish that title belt and retire for good in February 2016.
Bryan then spent several years onscreen as a commentator and SmackDown General Manager, whilst offscreen he worked hard to get in shape and get cleared to compete again. The hard work paid off as Bryan was eventually cleared by three separate neurologists and concussion experts, as well as WWE's doctor to compete again in March 2018.
Bryan has been an active wrestler for WWE ever since, although there are now signs that he is starting to wind down his in-ring activities. If he's looking to retire within the next few years, it's good to know that he got to reach the top of the mountain one last time.
#5 Retired: WWE Superstar Paige returns from injury only to have to retire shortly afterward
Paige's retirement was a heartbreaking affair as the popular British wrestling starlet had only just managed to overcome one potentially career-threatening injury by returning to WWE as the leader of new faction Absolution when she suffered another one.
Read Also: What happened to Paige's spine
Paige looked to be heading back to the top of the WWE Women's division alongside Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville when she suffered an injury at a WWE house show that caused her to lose the ability to stand up.
Shortly afterwards Paige, like Daniel Bryan and Edge, stood in the middle of a WWE ring with a microphone and announced that she would be retiring from active competition due to injuries to her neck.
Paige took on an onscreen role, becoming SmackDown Live General Manager, but most recently she's found herself without much to do in WWE, and outside of WWE she's been banned from Twitch.
Paige recently celebrated seven years in WWE in April. It remains to be seen if her injuries do keep her out of the ring for good, as Paige has expressed that seeing the likes of Daniel Bryan and our next entry on the list returning has given her hope that she might also be able to do so one day.
#4 Returned: After a shocking retirement in 2011, Edge made his triumphant return at the Royal Rumble in 2020
Edge was the first high profile name that I remember having to retire prematurely because of injury. I'll always remember the day he announced that he wouldn't be able to carry on wrestling because it might kill him.
I couldn't believe that the Rated-R Superstar would ever set foot in a WWE ring again in anger. But during the Royal Rumble in 2020 Edge's music hit and the former world champion made a dramatic ring-return.
It wasn't just that though, it's that he returned looking that good and hitting people with that many spears like he hadn't missed a day of wrestling, when in fact he'd been out of action for nine years.
Edge would go on to win the Royal Rumble match in 2021 and would main event night two of WrestleMania in a triple-threat match for the WWE Universal Title against Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan.
The match in itself was somewhat of a miracle, with Bryan and Edge both overcoming premature retirements and Roman Reigns beating cancer so they could all be there for that moment.
#3 Retired: Current WWE Producer Tyson Kidd
Tyson Kidd (TJ Wilson) has been with WWE since 2006 but only actively wrestled for the company until 2017 when a spinal cord injury forced the extremely talented Superstar to retire.
Prior to his retirement from the ring, Kidd had quite a successful career in WWE. Kidd won the Unified Tag-Team Titles in April 2010 with Davey Boy Smith, and in late 2014 Kidd started teaming up with Cesaro and the pair won the WWE Tag-Team Titles in February 2015.
Kidd and Cesaro were starting to establish themselves as one of WWE's top tag-teams when Kidd took a Muscle Buster from Samoa Joe during a dark match on RAW, which is how he picked up the spinal injury.
Kidd was initially announced by WWE as being out of action for over a year. However, the superstar would later clarify that the injury he suffered was so severe that usually only 5% of people survive it, and would ultimately retire from in-ring competition. He added that he needed to have sixteen stables, four screws and a rod inserted into his neck.
Kidd was hired as a producer for WWE two years later in 2017 and has been a backstage influence on WWE programming ever since. Kidd still maintains a link to the ring, though, as he often helps other superstars train and his wife Natalya has even recently said "never say never," when it comes to a potential return.
#2 Returned: Sting retires from wrestling in WWE but then steps back in the ring for AEW
Sting's retirement in WWE came after an incredibly disappointing run with the company. The Icon coming to WWE was hyped up as a major deal and rightly so, after weeks of speculation that it would be happening, he appeared at Survivor Series 2014 attacking Triple H and hitting him with a Scorpion Death Drop. It was the first time he had ever set foot inside a WWE ring and it was something fans had wanted for years and years.
However, Sting's WWE run was tragically cut short as his feud with the Authority saw him come to blows with Seth Rollins. During a subsequent match against Rollins, Sting found himself on the receiving end of a Buckle Bomb which unfortunately injured the legendary wrestler.
Sting was due to undergo surgery to recover from cervical spinal stenosis but because he felt no ill-effects he decided not to, and after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016, announced his retirement from wrestling.
However, in 2020 Sting would shock everyone once again by showing up in AEW and then he'd shock people even more by setting foot inside a ring again, competing in a Street Fight with Darby Allin against Team Taz. He'd then wrestle again in a straight tag-team match, again with Allin, against Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page at Double Or Nothing in May 2021. Sting coming out of retirement has been a welcome surprise for fans, and we hope to see the legend in the ring for more years to come.
#1 Retired: Jason Jordan transitions to backstage WWE role after injury struggles
When it comes to wrestlers who had to retire young due to injury, it's hard not to bring up Jason Jordan. He rose to prominence in WWE during his time in NXT where he, alongside Chad Gable, became popular with their tag-team, American Alpha. In fact it looked like big things were on the cards for Jordan as he was beginning to have a promising main event run until injury ended it all.
Jordan was revealed as Kurt Angle's illigtimate son, partnered up with Seth Rollins and was even a two-time WWE Tag-Team Title winner until he suffered a neck injury which required surgery.
Whilst Jordan was only supposed to be out of action for a year, it seems he had further complications with his injury, particularly with a loss of feeling in his arm and never ended up returning to the ring, transitioning to a backstage producer role in WWE instead.
Jordan was expected to go on to face his 'father' Kurt Angle at WrestleMania in the culmination of the storyline between the two, but Jordan's injury led to Baron Corbin being the one to 'retire' Kurt Angle. It would've been a great angle but alas, it wasn't to be!
