4 wrestlers who had to retire prematurely due to injury and 3 who came back

#1 Retired: Jason Jordan transitions to backstage WWE role after injury struggles

Jason Jordan

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.

.@WWERollins and @JasonJordanJJ took home tag team GOLD on this day in 2017! 😮 #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/8FE6vhDMzg

— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) December 24, 2020

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.

American Alpha: 2016 pic.twitter.com/ObGH2lUZO7

— Chad Gable (@WWEGable) December 31, 2016

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!