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Is it time for your favorite Superstar to hang up the boots for the last time?
That's a question that wrestling fans are forced to wrestle with as their favorite Superstars grow older, become less mobile in the ring, or lose their spot to younger talent year after year. Unfortunately for fans of these five Superstars, it might be time for them to finally hang up their boots for good.
With that being said and another calendar year upon us, here are five Superstars that must retire from WWE in 2018. Some of the reasons on this list might not make sense to some, especially those that have a bias towards one of the wrestlers on this list.
#5 John Cena
You're probably either shocked or outraged by the fact that John Cena is on this list, but keep in mind that this selection isn't without merit and will make much more sense when you look at what he has accomplished throughout his career.
Cena has accomplished pretty much everything the WWE has to offer, including main eventing several WrestleMania's, winning almost every championship on the main roster and equalling Ric Flair's record for most runs with the WWE Championship belt, and there is absolutely no reason for him to be there anymore.
Sure, he could continue to risk his health year after year and continue to come back for the massive paychecks that await him when he gets there, but wouldn't it be smarter for him to just hang up his boots and give the talent of tomorrow a chance to shine without a WWE veteran standing in the way of that?
In the end, there's only so many gatekeeper angles that WWE can do with John Cena moving forward and Cena and WWE both need to understand the gravity of that. Hopefully, WWE and John Cena do, but if they don't, it's only going to taint Cena's legacy moving forward and make the WWE look ridiculous for holding on to the talents of yesterday.
#4 Kane
Like two other entries on this list, Kane is one of those superstars that have been with the company for a long time and while it's sometimes fun to see the veteran mix it up in the ring, opportunities for The Big Red Monster are becoming few and far between.
In fact, he even admitted during an interview with The New York Times, that this might be his last match. “I have to take advantage of everyone that comes along. This might be the last one," Kane said in regards to his championship match with Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar.
"I don’t know. I certainly think the match at Royal Rumble is going to be special for me. I’ve been in WWE for 22 years and that’s a long time and I still think I perform at a high level."
While that isn't an outright admission that 2018 will be the year that he retires from WWE, it is at least nice to see that he knows his days are more numbered then ever. With that in mind and Kane's list of accolades in the company during his tenure there, what really is there left for him to accomplish?
#3 Dolph Ziggler
He came to the WWE to show the world what he could do! Unfortunately for Ziggler, who's held the World Heavyweight championship, the tag team title, the Intercontinental title, and the United States Championship, that still wasn't enough for WWE to build him into a top-tier star and he continues to float around the mid-card to this day.
Of course, the reason for this isn't exactly known, although it's been speculated by many that it has to do with his abilities to enhance other talents and make almost any match must-see television, but it really doesn't matter at this point anymore. What does matter though, is if Ziggler is finally taking the plunge and bringing his time with the WWE to an end.
He has accomplished almost everything possible in the WWE, and while he hasn't main evented a WrestleMania or held the WWE title before it became the WWE World Heavyweight title, he has accomplished almost everything else the business has to offer.
With that in mind, Ziggler would be much better off to retire from the WWE and give fans something else to remember other than him just being the gatekeeper when John Cena is away filming movies.
#2 The Big Show
If Big Show's list of injuries and limited mobility in the ring isn't enough to finally convince fans that he needs to be done, maybe his constant heel and face turns will. Of course, the WWE Universe has been begging The Big Show to retire for years, but what are the chances that 2018 will be the year he finally does?
In an interview with Wrestlezone.com, Big Show spoke about his future, "I wouldn’t say I’ve had my last match. I get asked all the time is there another title run, another tag team title run or championship title run. You never say never in this business because anything is possible and anything can happen on Monday Night Raw or SmackDown Live."
Unfortunately for the WWE Universe, it looks like Big Show is still open to staying with the company as long as they have use for him. Furthermore, it looks like Big Show also wouldn't say no to another title run if WWE put the right incentive behind it.
He had a great cage match with Braun Strowman this year on Raw and he even told reporters that it was a torch-passing moment, but there really isn't much more use for a guy that has done literally almost everything inside a WWE ring. In fact, this isn't even the first time WWE has used Big Show for a torch-passing moment.
WWE tried to do the same thing with Ryback, Daniel Bryan and even John Cena back in WrestleMania 20. In the end, Show has been in this situation before and hopefully this time he's smart enough to know its time to step away.
#1 Brock Lesnar
There is only one reason why Brock Lesnar is on this list. That reason, no matter how much Brock Lesnar fans find it ridiculous, is that he has been a part-time champion on and off for two years now and while things could always change, it doesn't seem like WWE really wants that to happen. In fact, the company has seemingly been in no rush to change that and bring him back to television.
Of course he has made some appearances throughout 2017, which is more than he has in awhile, that still hasn't stopped WWE from keeping him off television for extended periods of time. Even worse, the Universal title would stay off television with him, which kind of took away from the lure of the new belt.
With that being said, and Brock Lesnar's monumental accomplishments over the course of his WWE career, he really needs to retire from professional wrestling and finally allow them to prepare for the future. WWE might not want to give up on one of their biggest draws, but it's only going to help them in the long run if they do and focus on younger talent.
In the end, Lesnar has had his time in the company and would be better off just retiring when his contract is finally up. Not only does that give him a chance to finally get off the road, but also allows popular stars like Finn Balor, Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, and countless others to take a bigger role in the company.
