5 WWE legends who had their last ever match in TNA

It seems fitting, doesn't it? An all-time great to have had some of the best and most memorable moments in the history of the WWE, ends their in-ring career working for Vince McMahon.

Only Sportskeeda gives you the latest Wrestling News, rumors and updates.

Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Edge, these and more are among the greatest of all time, and each had a fitting end to their career, having one last great match at WrestleMania, before calling it a career. They all went on their own terms and had a great ending in the eyes of their fans.

It's not like this for all the greats though. Sometimes their careers can end unexpectedly, or while not on the best of terms with WWE, and thus end up having their final match elsewhere, despite having been such an important piece of the WWE puzzle.

TNA Impact Wrestling has been a surprising haven for picking up these pieces as several of the all-time greats, who have not only wrestled for Impact Wrestling, but it is where they have stepped inside the ring for their last ever match.

Here are 5 of the all-time great WWE legends to have wrestled for the last time in TNA Impact Wrestling.

---

#5 Lex Luger

The Total Nonstop Action Package

Despite his incredible physic, look, and talent, somehow Lex Luger was never a WWE Champion.

He was a top star for the majority of his run with WWE and even won, or co-won, the 1994 Royal Rumble with Bret Hart, and challenged for the WWE Championship on some major pay-per-views such as SummerSlam 1994 and WrestleMania X.

Lex slowly went down the ladder and eventually left WWE, before his memorable return to WCW at the beginning of the Monday Night War in 1995.

Upon returning to WCW, Lex was a major player, winning his second WCW World Championship, as well as Tag Team and U.S Championships, and always a prominent position.

After the closure of WCW in 2001, Lex became semi-retired. He returned to the ring for a tour with World Wrestling All-Stars in 2002, before agreeing to wrestle a few matches for TNA in 2003, in hopes of also leading a future deal. Lex would wrestle his one and only match for TNA, which would also be his last ever wrestling match, on the November 12 NWA: TNA weekly pay-per-view. He teamed up with Jeff Jarrett in a tag team match against AJ Styles and Sting.

He and Jarrett lost when Lex was pinned by AJ. Lex looked terrible and gave an abysmal performance. It was so bad that TNA canceled his future unconfirmed planned matches. He returned in February 2004, attacking AJ Styles and putting him through a table, with plans for a match between the two. However, it never happened and Lex never wrestled again.

#4 Chyna

Double J was a fitting last opponent, of sorts

Chyna was one of the all-time greatest superstars in the history of WWE. Entering WWE as a bodyguard for Triple H and Shawn Michaels, she eventually set out on her own, but not facing other women.

Chyna faced men in matches and was frequently on the winning side. She famously became the first ever woman to enter a Royal Rumble match, where she was the 30th entrant in 1999, and would also be the only woman to ever enter the King of The Ring tournament, also in 1999. Later that year she would feud with fellow DX members, and then face and defeat Jeff Jarrett for the WWE Intercontinental Championship in his last WWE match, before feuding with Chris Jericho over the title. She then entered the Royal Rumble, for a second time, in 2000.

After a memorable partnership with Eddie Guerrero and winning the Intercontinental Championship for the third time in 2000, Chyna finally feuded with and defeated Ivory for the WWE Women's Championship in 2001, before leaving WWE.

After wrestling a few matches for New Japan in 2002, Chyna seemingly retired. In what seemed like pretty much out of the blue, Chyna made her TNA debut during the May 12 edition of Impact Wrestling. Chyna was introduced by Mick Foley as Kurt Angle's tag team partner for a match with Jeff and Karen Jarrett at TNA Sacrifice in 2011. At Sacrifice on May 15, Karen tapped out to Chyna for the win in the mixed tag team match but left TNA just after.

This would be her final wrestling match, and sadly, Chyna passed away on April 20, 2016, from an overdose of alcohol, combined with the anxiety drugs diazepam and nordazepam, painkillers oxycodone and oxymorphone, and sleeping aid temazepam.

#3 Randy Savage

Was almost joined by a belt

The 'Macho Man' Randy Savage doesn't need much of an introduction. This multi-time WWE Champion and WCW Champion is one of the greatest performers in the history of the industry.

Randy left WWE in 1994 for a prominent position with WCW. To this day he remains one of the very few huge superstars to have had a major falling out with Vince McMahon and to never make any kind of return to WWE.

Randy left WCW in 2000 and took a break from wrestling. His return was announced for the World Wrestling All-Stars promotion in 2002 but later canceled it. Randy would make his official return to wrestling at the end of the very first 3-hour pay-per-view in TNA history, Victory Road 2004. Randy aided AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy as they were being beaten by Jeff Jarrett, Scott Hall and the also debuting Kevin Nash.

Randy briefly left TNA after his debut. Earlier that night he got into an altercation with real-life friend/enemy Hulk Hogan, whom he was unaware would also be backstage. Reports said that Hogan attempted to make peace but Savage challenged him to a fight and then called TNA an unsafe working environment. TNA and Hogan ended their negotiations just days after and the Jarrett's persuaded Randy to return.

He returned on the go-home edition of Impact before their next PPV, Turning Point, where Randy would team with AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy against Jarrett, Hall, and Nash. The match was poorly received, and due to some health concerns, Randy only participated for a few minutes. He left TNA just after. It was said that Savage left due to those same health concerns. Randy also suggested to Jarrett that the former should defeat the latter for the NWA title that night, which Jeff rejected, and Randy wasn't pleased.

This would be the final match of the iconic Macho Man's career.

#2 Ric Flair

Didn't get the kind of sendoff he did from WWE

A 16 time World Champion, although at least 25 by his own count, Ric Flair is arguably the greatest performer in the history of the industry.

Following the closure of WCW in 2001, Ric would return to WWE at the end of the year, as an on-screen authority figure, manager, and part-time wrestler. The run would last for over 6 years before he retired in 2008, having his last WWE match with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV, and a memorable retirement send-off on RAW the following night.

Ric came out of retirement in late 2009, where he had four matches with Hulk Hogan during a tour of Australia with Hogan's short-lived independent promotion, HULKAMANIA. Flair would then sign with TNA Wrestling and debuted on the company's first Impact show of 2010.

Ric would work for TNA for just over 2 years, where he would wrestle 11 more matches. Ric's final match occurred on the September 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, with a very fitting final opponent, Sting. During the match, Flair tore his left triceps on a superplex spot, sidelining him indefinitely from in-ring action.

Flair announced he has officially retired again in late 2012. He cited Jerry Lawler's real-life heart attack on RAW as the reason why.

#1 Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan in TNA

Hulk Hogan is one of the most, if not the most controversial figure in wrestling today. Despite this, we all still would not be watch WWE today if it wasn't for Hogan's popularity bringing WWE to heights that had never been seen before.

When Hogan returned to WWE in 2002 and again in 2005, it seemed highly likely that he was sticking around for good both times, and that we would see his final match to happen in WWE at some point, but it never did. After Hogan wrestled Randy Orton at SummerSlam 2006, he would only make sporadic appearances for WWE over the next year, before falling out of favor with Vince McMahon once again, and not being invited back after the 15 Anniversary special of RAW in 2007, until March 2014.

Tired of waiting for WWE, Hogan signed with TNA Impact Wrestling in late 2009 and debuted on the company's first Impact show of 2010. Over his 3 years with Impact Wrestling, Hogan would wrestle 4 times. Hulk Hogan's last televised match happened in 2011, at Impact Wrestling's Bound For Glory event, with Sting. As Hogan had injuries to his knees and back at the time, the match became more of an angle, and didn't involve Hogan getting very physical until towards the end.

Hulk Hogan's last actual match occurred during the 'TNA Maximum Impact Tour' back in 2012. Although initially un-televised, the match, a 6 man tag pitting Hogan, Sting and James Storm vs. Bobby Roode, Bully Ray and Kurt Angle, can be found on the Impact Wrestling Hulk Hogan DVD extras.

Although it is interesting to note that earlier this month, radio host Howard Eskin revealed that a deal between Hulk Hogan and WWE is almost done, and even more incredibly, Hogan may wrestle one more match for WWE.