The end of a storied wrestling career will always create an emotional moment for both the performers and the fans watching at home. Wrestling is different from other sports as the scripted element allows them to performer at later ages if fans have interest. The Undertaker is still making part-time appearance at the age of 54 since WWE is not going to turn away his star power.
However, quite a few retirement speeches have been made over the years. Not all retirements will last since wrestlers have a history of coming in and out of retirement, but the speeches will still leave an impact. We will look back at the most emotional moments of wrestlers declaring their careers over. Find out which ones will make you tear up. These are the top ten most emotional wrestling retirement speeches of all-time.
10 Paige
The 2018 retirement of Paige officially ended her in-ring career. WWE kept Paige under contract for a run as Smackdown General Manager and now a broadcaster. Paige had a shocking retirement compared to most others since she had to hang up the boots at 25 years old.
The injury issues prevented WWE from clearing Paige. WWE gave her a segment on the Raw after WrestleMania 34 to deliver his official retirement speech. The emotional moment touched the heartstrings of all fans. Paige was revealed as the Smackdown GM one night later to add a feelgood ending to the story.
9 Tommy Dreamer
Tommy Dreamer has never officially retired from wrestling, but he was able to give his own retirement speech towards the end of his WWE run. The contract of Dreamer expired when he was part of the ECW branded show for WWE.
Dreamer was given the chance to say goodbye to the audience with an emotional speech thanking the fans and embracing his family. The passion for wrestling would see Dreamer continue wrestling and even making a few returns for WWE.
8 Shawn Michaels
The retirement of Shawn Michaels was a huge storyline for WWE in 2010. Michaels demanded a rematch against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26 one year after falling short in their classic. Undertaker required Michaels putting his career on the line against the streak.
Another outstanding match would see Michaels lose and end his career. The Raw on the following night featured an emotional retirement speech before Triple H came out to embrace his best friends. Michaels returned for a match in Saudi Arabia since then, but we all like to pretend that never happened.
7 Victoria
WWE would see a few female performers break out in the 2000s to make the women’s division credible for a few years. Victoria was a huge addition to the roster with her matches against Trish Stratus creating incredible results.
The end of Victoria’s time in WWE featured her getting the chance to cut a farewell retirement speech from the company on her final Smackdown. Victoria referenced her love for the WWE fans before embracing the commentary team and the audience on her way to go the back. She did continue wrestling in other promotions.
6 Terry Funk
The running joke about Terry Funk never retiring would see the legend claim his career was coming to an end about a dozen times. Funk would not follow through on the retirement until recent years when he was finally too old to perform.
The most memorable retirement speech came in 1997 when he had a weekend honoring his career with talents of WWE and ECW working together. Funk delivered a beautiful farewell speech thanking his family, but the retirement would end after a few months like usual.
5 Ric Flair
The retirement storyline for Ric Flair in WWE gave him arguably the best send-off ever in wrestling. Flair lost a classic match to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame during the special weekend.
Following his final loss to Michaels, Flair was honored on the Raw episode on the next night. All of Flair’s friends and family would surprise him in one of the most emotional events in WWE history. Flair cried his eyes out and thanked the wrestling community for all the love.
4 Lilian Garcia
There were a few different stints for Lilian Garcia in WWE. The ring announcer was arguably the most popular person in the role aside from Howard Finkel. Garcia decided to end her lengthy run with WWE to chase other projects.
The final night for Garcia would see WWE allow her to deliver a farewell speech announcing her retirement from the wrestling world. Lilian showed all the emotion thanking WWE for her run. The return of Garcia would come in a few years for a second stint.
3 Daniel Bryan
The ups and downs for Daniel Bryan’s health in WWE led to him retiring from the ring in 2016. Bryan was hoping to get cleared for a return until WWE revealed the testing indicated his brain was not healthy enough to continue wrestling.
The retirement speech was one of the most emotional nights in wrestling as fans and wrestlers cried their eyes out. Fans would get shocked when Bryan eventually got cleared to compete again and ended his retirement for the current stint back as a top star.
2 Arn Anderson
Arn Anderson was one of the top WCW stars thanks to his outstanding success in the Four Horsemen. Fans of Anderson would be heartbroken when it was time for him to retire. Anderson cut a passionate promo revealing that his injuries forced the end of his career.
The memorable promo would see Anderson induct Curt Hennig into the Four Horsemen giving up his spot. WCW would get criticized for ruining the beautiful retirement speech by having the nWo mock it and Hennig turn on the Horsemen to join the heels for no rational reason.
1 Edge
The retirement speech of Edge was a moment no one expected. Edge wrestled the prior night at WrestleMania 27 defeating Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Championship Fans were shocked to see Smackdown star Edge appear on Raw.
Edge revealed that his neck injury was more serious than expected and the WM match was his final one. The retirement was made with a beautiful and emotional speech thanking his peers and his mother for all his success. Edge vacated the world title and ended his career with the fan base appreciating all his contributions.