5 WWE legends who were unhappy with their retirement match

In WWE and wrestling, retirement is a big deal. When you're a legend of the business and have put in over a decade or two (or more, in some cases) into entertaining fans, there's a certain pride about it.

Not only do WWE legends reach the highest status of popularity among fans, they also establish a legacy that they can proudly look back on. With that being said, retirement matches can always be tricky.

You have cases like Ric Flair - having a fairytale retirement match and then proceeding to hamper it with a run in TNA (albeit, it was with WWE's blessings). You have cases like Kurt Angle where even he felt his retirement match should have been against a different opponent or even with a different result - but he understood that it was in the interest of the future of WWE.

Then you have cases where retirement matches and angles can be so bad that even the WWE legends want to right their wrongs. While they haven't always been able to do so, most of them on this list have. Let's start with a WWE legend having to forcibly retire in WCW:

#5. Bret Hart - The WWE legend's career ends with a fatal kick

It was December 19th, 1999 at Starrcade. Bret Hart and Goldberg were two former Tag Team Champions and they were given the spotlight in a major main event match-up.

The two future WWE Hall of Famers would go at it and one fatal botched kick from Goldberg resulted in a concussion for Bret Hart and an abrupt end to his legendary career. Goldberg called it the biggest mistake he made in his entire life in an interview with The LAW

That will forever go down in history as the biggest mistake that I have ever made in my entire life. For those who haven’t heard me say it, I apologize profusely because God knows I put Bret Hart up on a pedastool where very few sit. The last thing that I ever wished upon him was harm, especially by my own hand.”

While Goldberg and Bret Hart remained friends, there seems to be no doubt that there's still a lot of tension over what happened. Bret Hart was extremely harsh about it when speaking to 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin on The Broken Skull Sessions, telling him:

He was one of the most unprofessional wrestlers to ever work in the business. For Bill Goldberg to be in the Hall of Fame… he hurt everybody that he worked with.

Bret Hart said that Goldberg might as well wrestle a real gorilla. Given the way the WWE legend's career ended, we don't blame him for being unhappy with his retirement match.

#4. Goldberg - The WWE dream match that stunk up MSG

It took the two 13 years to right their wrong

It's easy to forget that Goldberg's first WWE stint lasted just a year - from 2003 to 2004. During that period, he was one of the most impactful stars on the roster and had a brief run with the World Heavyweight Championship.

He decided not to renew his WWE contract after his 1-year deal was up and right around the same time, Brock Lesnar decided to leave WWE for an attempt at NFL and due to the fact that he was worn out after 2 hectic years in the WWE.

It was a tricky situation for Vince McMahon when he put the two behemoths up against each other in their final WWE match at the time. Goldberg revealed that Vince McMahon wanted to "kill them" both but chose him to beat Lesnar because he was more frustrated with The Beast Incarnate.

Ultimately, the match at WrestleMania 20 stunk up Madison Square Garden and was the worst way to go out for both of them, as they had to swim in the entire arena booing them both. Goldberg admitted that it hurt him when speaking to Inside The Ropes:

It was tough, though. It was tough. It hurt my heart, you know? I mean we went out there…I completely understand, but you know, you don’t feel appreciated when you’re in the ring and people are booing you and you’re trying to give it your best.

You know the worst part about it was, right in the beginning, when I first got in the ring, I looked at Brock and I swear he wanted to kill me. I mean he had the worst look on his face. And I was like, ‘Oh God, what’s going on here? Why is this the way that it is?’ And then we powered through it, we drudged through it and you know, we went our separate ways, man. There was nothing we could do about it. We just had to go out and try to do our job and it was quite a difficult evening.”

Given how he returned in 2016 for an incredible re-run of his feud against Brock Lesnar, it's safe to assume that they finally righted their wrong from 2004 at WrestleMania 33. He's returned for multiple matches since then, some of which have been disastrous, while the others have been decent.

#3. Lita - The multi-time WWE Women's Champion goes out with humiliation

When you're a loyal employee of the WWE who helped build the Women's division for years, is it right to retire by being completely humiliated?

In 2006 at Unforgiven, Trish Stratus bid farewell to the WWE Universe - beating her biggest rival Lita to win her final Women's Championship and end her career in Canada in the best way possible. When Lita announced that she was retiring, WWE didn't take it too well.

She lost to Mickie James in her retirement match at Survivor Series 2006 - which itself was fine since Mickie James was the up-and-comer. However, it was the post-match angle that left a bitter taste in Lita's mouth.

Cryme Tyme came out to auction Lita's property in what they called a "ho sale". Did Lita deserve to get humiliated on her way out? She made her feelings known. Speaking to Ring The Belle, the WWE Hall of Famer expressed her unhappiness with the retirement angle:

"I've never been quiet about it. I was super uncool with it. I went up the chain. I went to the producers, I went to the writers, I went to Vince, I went back to the producers, back to the writers, back to Vince. It was a hard, 'no'."

Lita would have a match at Evolution 2018 and while it wasn't a classic, it was a far more respectful way to sign off.

#2. The Undertaker - WWE's Phenom and the late retirement

The Undertaker faced Roman Reigns at WWE WrestleMania 33. When it was bumped up to the main event and had WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross return to do commentary, the writing on the wall seemed clear. There was no other reason to put The Undertaker in the main event if it wasn't his intended retirement.

And it's safe to say, the match didn't play out as anyone would have hoped - from The Undertaker to WWE themselves. However, it was clear that it was time for The Undertaker to call it quits and WWE felt that he should do his duty and put over the golden boy of the company - Roman Reigns.

It was a disaster of a match and The Undertaker looked like a shadow of his former self. While it was his originally intended retirement, he would come back a year later for a squash match against John Cena at WrestleMania 34.

In the mini-documentary series The Last Ride, the longest-tenured WWE legend admitted that he shouldn't have been in the ring at WrestleMania 33, even saying that he felt bad for Roman Reigns.

His last match was the epic cinematic bout - the 'Boneyard' match at WrestleMania 36 - which main evented night one. It was the most highly-acclaimed match of the entire two-day PPV and after that, The Undertaker ended The Last Ride documentary by proclaiming that he has no desire to get back in the ring anymore. With a great match to seemingly end his career, we can't blame him for wanting to end his WWE career on a high.

#1. Edge - WWE's Rated-R Superstar with a tragic end to his career

Before 2020, the history books would show that Edge's final WWE match was against Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania 27. Edge walked in and out of WrestleMania 27 as the World Heavyweight Champion, but in late April, he made the shocking and tragic announcement that his WWE career was over.

Edge knew that he was wrestling on borrowed time, but he revealed that the plan was for him to carry on for one more year and then face (and lose to) his best friend Christian at WrestleMania 28 in a retirement match.

It didn't play out as he expected. While his match against Alberto Del Rio was a fun opener in an otherwise underwhelming WrestleMania card, the WWE legend didn't hide his disappointment in not ending his career on his terms.

Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Edge revealed how he wanted his WWE career to end:

"I thought he would retire me at WrestleMania That’s how I wanted to go out. I wanted to do the favor, drop the title, and then have Christian be the cause – then spend the final few months of my career wrestling my lifelong best friend, and really have him go off in a great heel direction once I retired "

Edge would make a shocking return to the ring 9 years later at the Royal Rumble 2020 and go on to face Randy Orton in a couple of incredible matches at WrestleMania 36 and Backlash. He's officially back from retirement as of writing this article.