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Vince McMahon has worked with hundreds of Superstars since he assumed control of WWE in 1982. While the WWE Chairman has formed close relationships with many Superstars during that time, he still has to make key decisions about their in-ring careers.
As of the time of writing, The Undertaker is preparing to make his “final farewell” at the WWE Survivor Series 2020 pay-per-view. The man behind the Undertaker character, Mark Calaway, spoke in-depth on his Last Ride docuseries about struggling to come to terms with retirement.
At the age of 55, The Undertaker has still been able to perform at a high level in recent years. He has unofficially retired on several occasions, only for Vince McMahon to ask him to return.
Needless to say, Vince McMahon does not do that with just anybody. In fact, when it is clear that a Superstar cannot compete at the same level they used to, he usually ends their career for them.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at five WWE Superstars who Vince McMahon never allowed to wrestle for his company again.
#5 Vince McMahon would not let Randy Savage wrestle for WWE again
Macho Man Randy Savage is one of the most eccentric Superstars in WWE history. He won the WWE Championship on two occasions (March 1988 and April 1992) before Vince McMahon decided to slow down his in-ring career in 1993.
When WWE RAW debuted in January 1993, Vince McMahon worked alongside Savage and Rob Bartlett as members of the commentary team. Savage, who was only 40 at the time, still wanted to perform as an in-ring competitor. He wrestled sporadically throughout 1993 before leaving for WCW in November 1994.
According to former WCW executive Eric Bischoff, Savage had been told by Vince McMahon that his in-ring days were over. Bischoff said on his 83 Weeks podcast that the WWE Chairman felt that the former WrestleMania main-eventer should embrace his new commentary role instead.
“According to Randy at the time [when he joined WCW], Vince made it clear to him that Randy’s days in the ring were over, that they wanted to go younger, they meaning Vince, and that Randy should embrace a career as a color commentator.” [H/T 411mania]
Savage won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on four occasions during his six-year association with WCW. He also competed in a match for IMPACT Wrestling in December 2004, meaning he went on to wrestle until he was 52.
#4 Vince McMahon would not let Jerry Lawler wrestle for WWE again
Although Jerry Lawler has worked as a WWE commentator for the last 28 years, he also performed as an in-ring competitor between 1992 and 2012. The WWE Hall of Famer competed in 246 matches for Vince McMahon’s company, with his final match taking place in September 2012.
That match saw Lawler join forces with Randy Orton to defeat CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler on the September 10, 2012 episode of WWE RAW. Following his match, Lawler legitimately suffered a heart attack after returning to the announce desk.
The Memphis legend made his in-ring comeback on the independent scene in May 2013. He has since competed for several promotions around the United States, with his most recent match coming in September 2020.
Despite the fact that he wrestles outside of WWE, Lawler revealed on his podcast in 2019 that he is forbidden from wrestling for Vince McMahon.
“Still, to this day, the people in WWE still feel like that’s not the case [Lawler being cleared to wrestle]. They keep me on the no-touch list and all of that kind of thing. We’ve talked about this before on the podcast. The doctors told Lauren [Lawler’s girlfriend], ‘We can’t clear him to go back in the ring because he’s a liability to the company.’”
Lawler also acknowledged that it would be a “PR disaster” for Vince McMahon if he had another heart attack on WWE television.
#3 Vince McMahon would not let Yokozuna wrestle for WWE again
Yokozuna is widely considered to be one of the greatest big men that has ever competed in WWE. Unfortunately, that turned out to be both a blessing and a curse. He once put on so much weight that Vince McMahon never allowed him to wrestle for WWE again.
Back in April 1996, Yokozuna took time away from WWE to lose weight. Although he lost over 100 lbs, the weight loss was still not enough to satisfy the New York State Athletic Commission. Vince McMahon also had concerns about Yokozuna’s weight but, according to Bruce Prichard, he had “blind faith” that his Superstar would be okay.
Prichard, who was Vince McMahon’s right-hand man around that time, discussed Yokozuna’s career on his Something to Wrestle With podcast. The WWE director said Vince McMahon decided to end Yokozuna’s in-ring WWE career after Survivor Series 1996.
“Well, it should have been the end [of Yokozuna’s career] before that. It’s just another example of in the day, Vince kind of having that blind faith and wanting to continually help. ‘By God, they’ll come around. No, they’ll do it, they’ll be all right.’” [H/T 411mania]
That event saw Yokozuna team with Flash Funk, Jimmy Snuka, and Savio Vega against Farooq, Fake Diesel, Fake Razor Ramon, and Vader. However, as Prichard recalled, the two-time WWE Champion could not perform at his previous level, prompting Vince McMahon to make a tough decision.
“And then when it’s in front of you, you’re feeling it, it just takes that last step sometimes. So you know, this was it. It was that, ‘God dammit, man. He can’t get in the ring again. Not on on our watch.’ And it should have been done before that.”
Four years later, Yokozuna died at the age of 34 in October 2000 due to a condition caused by excess fluid in the lungs.
#2 Vince McMahon would not let Ric Flair wrestle for WWE again
One of the most emotional matches in WWE history took place at WrestleMania 24 when Shawn Michaels retired Ric Flair. The Nature Boy was also inducted into the Hall of Fame that weekend, while Vince McMahon & Co. held a celebration for him on RAW.
Speaking in a WWE 24 documentary in 2020, Flair discussed the difficult decision to retire at the age of 59. He revealed that it was Vince McMahon who ultimately chose to bring an end to his legendary career.
“One phone call. ‘Ric… finito. I know you wanna do this until you’re 89, but bow out gracefully.’”
Triple H added that his close friend would have wrestled forever if Vince McMahon did not tell him to retire.
“I think Vince broached the subject with him. Vince was like, ‘Look, there’s a reason why they put a jockey on a racehorse. Someone’s gotta pull the reins or they will run until they die.’ It’s his [Vince McMahon’s] job to pull the reins.”
Despite retiring in March 2008, Flair returned to the ring in November 2009 to face Hulk Hogan in a series of matches in Australia. He also competed in 11 matches for IMPACT Wrestling between March 2010 and September 2011.
#1 Vince McMahon would not let Andre the Giant wrestle for WWE again
Like many of the Superstars in this article, Andre the Giant is among the most iconic names in WWE history. The former WWE Champion had a close relationship with Vince McMahon for many years before the two men fell out in the early 1990s.
Around that time, Vince McMahon came to the decision that Andre should stop performing as an in-ring competitor. The Frenchman struggled with various health issues and he could not compete at the same level as before.
Bruce Prichard said on his Something to Wrestle With podcast that Vince McMahon “loved” Andre and wanted to see him perform. However, it got to a point where the WWE Chairman did not want his Superstar to continue when he was clearly not at full health.
"I think it was time [for Andre to retire], and no one ever wants to admit it's time to hang them up. As bad a shape as Andre was in, there was still a part of him that wanted to perform.
"Vince, loving Andre, [and wanting] to keep the myth of Andre the Giant alive forever, didn't want to put Andre out there less than [100 percent] - we did that long enough to please Andre."
Regarding Vince McMahon’s fallout with Andre, Prichard said only those two know exactly why they stopped speaking to each other. He speculated that Andre was unhappy that Vince McMahon told him to stop performing, which is why he went on to work for the NWA.
