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Writer: Nikunj Walia
Every Superstar in the wrestling business rises to their peak and there comes a time when his or her career runs its course with many of them getting the perfect ending like Ric Flair and Steve Austin to name a few. There have been instances where even after the grand send off, Superstars have returned time and time again only to ruin the lasting image of their illustrious careers only because they wanted as Christian Cage would put it correctly ‘ONE MORE MATCH’ on multiple occasions.
Here are our Top 5 picks for Legends of the wrestling world who shouldn’t have competed after certain matches only in the desire to have one last dance time and time again in the squared circle:
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It was indeed a shocker when The Stinger, considered as one of the greatest legend of wrestling to have never stepped foot inside a WWE arena finally making his debut in WWE after wrestling for every major promotion, back at Survivor Series 2014 attacking Triple H and his authority.
While it seemed at that moment that Sting was destined to have a great run in the company including the long-awaited and much-anticipated showdown with The Undertaker, he had a highly disappointing tenure not to mention his supposedly last match with Seth Rollins at Night of Champions where he was legitimately injured and was diagnosed with spinal stenosis thereafter.
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With The Franchise unable to compete any longer, WWE decided to give him the perfect ending by announcing Sting as the very first inductee of the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2016 co-incidentally take placing in New Orleans that year where he had started his career.
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Despite announcing his retirement at the Hall of Fame ceremony which seemed as the final conclusion of his illustrious career, Sting decided to make come back to wrestling four years later with the emergence of AEW on TNT, the same network where The Icon was made serving as the manager of Darby Allin and wrestling few times looking nowhere to be physically equipped to compete inside the ring, but managed to use his legacy to get One More Match on a number of occasions while assisting Allin to grow in his career.
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The Hitman was known to be one of the greatest technical wrestlers to step in the ring back in the 1990s, but an unfortunate injury in 2000 in a match against Goldberg was the exclamation point on his wrestling career.
Bret Hart was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006 which looked like the end he was looking for as interpreted by wrestling fans, but the Excellence of Execution had other plans in mind.
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During an episode of Confession Of The Hitman, Hart mentioned that he felt confident that he could return to the ring after watching Vince McMahon get physical with Donald Trump at WrestleMania 23:
“It’s kind of funny because I watched Vince wrestle Donald Trump – I’m pretty sure it was Vince – and I remember going, ‘s**t, I could do that! I could wrestle Vince. I could do something, at least as much as Trump’s pulling off here.’ I remember, I thought about it, and I had my knee replaced, and I remember running up the stairs in the house in Hawaii, and the phone was ringing, and I remember when I ran up the stairs, I thought, ‘I just ran up the stairs!’ Like, that’s amazing. That’s a miracle all by itself.”
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Despite his physical limitations, Hart put up a match as good as he could, defeating McMahon which could have been his big send off from the squared circle on the Grandest stage of them all.
People could have remembered that sight as Bret’s final time in the ring.
However, Hart’s desire to One More match again and again including a one-week short and insensible run as the WWE United States Champion or competing once again as part of Team Cena at Summerslam 2010 displaying signs of aging and physical limitations.
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Bret Hart’s highly accomplished career would never have the perfect ending in the history books and we can blame that on his desire to compete numerous times since Wrestlemania 26.
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The WCW Legend who made an abrupt exit from the WWE in 2004 decided to come back after twelve years to perform one last time for his son and wife who had never seen him compete in the ring against the very same person he faced competed in his last match at Wrestlemania XX, Brock Lesnar.
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On an episode of Monday Night RAW in 2016, Goldberg made his first-ever televised appearance on WWE programming challenging the Beast to a rematch with an intention to make the Alpha Male of all species his last victim:
"Brock Lesnar not only does that mean that You're Next.......Brock Lesnar, it means YOU'RE LAST." - Goldberg
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The spear-smashing Superstar delivered on his word dispatching the Beast Incarnate in 1:26 seconds in the main event of Survivor Series 2016 which seemed like the iconic lasting image of one of the most dominant superstars in the history of the business.
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However Goldberg’s willingness to deliver more Spears and Jackhammers led to multiple showdowns earning him the nicknames ‘Botchberg’ and ‘Oldberg’ due to his disappointing performance in high profile matches, one being his famous encounter with The Undertaker at Crown Jewel 2019 which failed to live up to its hype and would always be remembered as a disastrous match instead of an instant classic.
This match should’ve never happened in 2019 #smh2019 #WWESSD pic.twitter.com/iuB1zy6jSH
— Fredbeats.Com (@Fredbeats7) June 7, 2019
Had Goldberg decided to hang up his boots after Survivor Series and not requested for One More Match after that, fans would have remembered the Legend in high regard and not as a bi-product of botch and aging every time he appeared on WWE since then.
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The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels was the prime example of the perfect storybook ending to one of the most illustrious careers in the history of the WWE. In 2010 following a loss to The Undertaker at previous year’s Wrestlemania, Michaels agreed to put his career on the line for another showdown with The Deadman at Wrestlemania 26 in hopes of ending his undefeated streak being 17-0 at the time.
.@ShawnMichaels puts his career on the line for a chance to end The @undertaker's Streak in a CLASSIC at #WrestleMania XXVI: Courtesy of @WWENetwork.
— WWE (@WWE) March 11, 2021
FULL MATCH ▶️ https://t.co/gJ0zBr1zS1 pic.twitter.com/KeBWiv3xX4
Michaels had requested for this booking for his retirement match in order to spend time with his family after wrestling for nearly two decades so WWE decided to go forward with the plan in order to give the Showstopper his desired end
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He stayed away from the squared circle for good eight years in retirement mentioning multiple times of having no desire to get back in the ring. However, all that changed when Shawn decided to come back for one more match teaming with his best friend Triple H in a mega match against The Undertaker and Kane, collectively known as The Brothers of Destruction.
SO MUCH HISTORY in one ring...#DX @TripleH & @ShawnMichaels battle The #BrothersOfDestruction @KaneWWE & The #Undertaker at #WWECrownJewel! pic.twitter.com/fv3tby1qRj
— WWE (@WWE) November 2, 2018
Although the Headliner’s first performance after a long time was praised, the entire match was heavily panned by the critics and after hearing that The Undertaker wanted this match to be his last one, Shawn had a change of perspective and admitted to regretting coming out of retirement:
I had no idea that from Mark’s standpoint he was looking at it as that might be one he could walk away on” Shawn Michaels told New York Post. “That’s something that I think to myself now, ‘oh my goodness I wish that I’d have known that. For me it was [fun],” he continued. “It was just a chance to be with my buddies.“All I can do is apologize to the guys.”
Michaels himself commented on his comeback in an interview with Gary Cassidy:
“Even that second one, it felt like its own entity unto itself. It had nothing to do with, really, to me, “one more match.” It was about going out there and having an experience with my guys.
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Shawn Michaels had one of the most celebrated exits in the company but in the end, people would always remember his last match to be an overly hyped disappointing affair in the squared circle due to his desire of having one more experience with his guys in the ring.
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The Legend of The Undertaker will always be etched in the history books as one of the most prominent figures in wrestling with a career spanning over thirty years. The Deadman has been a part of some of the greatest matches in WWE, but the course of time and multiple injuries sustained over the years took its toll on The Phenom who seemingly wasn’t able to perform at the level he set for himself sometime after Wrestlemania 29.
He kept coming back for more and more or in other words ‘ One More Match’ again and again to find the most suitable ending for his long tenure in the WWE. Many fans even believed that it was the end for Taker when his Wrestlemania streak was famously ended in shocking fashion by Brock Lesnar.
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But we saw him return on multiple occasions after The Streak came to its demise and many started to think that he had a couple of years still left in him.
However, in 2017, The Undertaker came back around the time of the Royal Rumble to compete in the Over the Top Rope challenge after ten years since his last appearance in the match. At the time he was battling a major hip injury and looked visibly out of shape.
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He went on to face Roman Reigns in the main event of Wrestlemania 33 losing to him in a dominant fashion which seemed the perfect passing of the torch moment for Reigns while Taker seemingly acknowledged the end of his career leaving his hat, trench coat and gloves in the middle of the ring and exited the stadium while WWE universe shed tears seeing the end of one of the greatest career’s in the WWE, hinting at a possible retirement.
But The Undertaker decide not to let that moment become his final ride into the sunset after revealing in his documentary ‘The Last Ride’ that he was highly disappointed with his performance and spoke with Reigns about the match during Wrestlemania 34 weekend:
Roman Reigns: "You look great man!"
Undertaker: "I felt so bad about last year. I just want you to know, that bothers me."
Roman Reigns: No, no…
Undertaker:" I didn’t have it, you know that."
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The Man from the Dark Side kept coming back for more and more delivering some less than favorable matches, including two highly criticized matches against Goldberg and D-X in Saudi Arabia further tarnishing his legacy, although redeeming those disappointing encounters with some excellent matches like teaming up with Roman Reigns against Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre at Extreme Rules 2019 and the cinematic Boneyard match against AJ Styles which ultimately became his final match.
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The Undertaker could have had one of the greatest farewell memories in the WWE had he chosen to step away from wrestling after Wrestlemania 33, but his fate was sealed not having that moment as his last ride and added some of the most heavily panned matches in his resume all because he wanted to get back in the ring one more time on multiple occasions to find the perfect ending that was fulfilling to him.
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