{"id":146925,"date":"2025-11-26T07:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=146925"},"modified":"2025-11-25T07:20:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T12:20:50","slug":"biggest-wrestling-stars-who-won-in-their-retirement-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/11\/26\/biggest-wrestling-stars-who-won-in-their-retirement-match\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggest Wrestling Stars Who Won Their Retirement Match"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retirement matches are emotional for fans who grew up idolizing wrestlers now stepping away from in-ring competition. John Cena’s upcoming retirement shows fans how deeply wrestlers impact them when they’re gone. Usually, t<\/span>he wrestler retiring would lose their final match<\/span><\/a> as a form of giving back to the business. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes, the retiring wrestlers win in the case of certain storylines. Here are some big wrestling stars who won in their retirement match.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimate Warrior<\/b><\/h2>\n

If there is a wrestler who turned out to be one of Vince McMahon’s biggest creations during the Golden Era of wrestling, it’s the Ultimate Warrior. Warrior was one of the most decorated superstars throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. His charisma was up there at the same level as Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage. <\/span><\/p>\n

Although Warrior made his retirement from wrestling in 1998, he came back to the squared circle one final time in 2008. Warrior wrestling one final time in 2008 held significant meaning not only for fans but also for him. <\/span><\/p>\n

Things have changed for Warrior throughout his time away from wrestling. Warrior went on to become a family man, married with children. He was a different man than he once was, as he was more professional and ethical.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Warrior competed at Nu-Wrestling Evolution in Barcelona, Spain, as he wrestled against Orlando Jordan. Being a family man was important to him; he wanted his wife and daughters to see him wrestle just one time, as they didn’t get to be there when Warrior was in his prime. <\/span><\/p>\n

With Jordan knowing that Warrior wasn’t able to wrestle like he once could, Jordan carried the match, pulling audibles while easing Warrior into working with him. <\/span><\/p>\n

Warrior’s comeback showed how big a star he once was, pulling such a well-performed performance for his age and health. The match resulted in Warrior defeating Jordan to become the Nu-Wrestling Evolution World Heavyweight Champion, which he vacated shortly.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Stone Cold Steve Austin<\/b><\/h2>\n

Stone Cold Steve Austin is still viewed by wrestling fans as one of the most polarizing figures in wrestling history. He was indeed the biggest star of the Attitude Era as he built up to be the top star of WWE. Unfortunately for Austin, he retired unexpectedly in 2003 due to his nagging neck injury that halted his career. <\/span><\/p>\n

Austin’s match with The Rock at WrestleMania 19 wasn’t known to be his final match to the public. In fact, it was only Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and The Rock who knew this was Austin’s final dance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Austin lost in what was his final match in WWE, he made a miraculous wrestling comeback in 2022. Once again wrestling at a WrestleMania, he competed in an impromptu match with Kevin Owens, who, in kayfabe, was calling out Austin weeks before WrestleMania 38. <\/span><\/p>\n

Austin proved to the fans and himself that he still had plenty left in the tank while delivering a formidable performance in a No Holds Barred Match. Austin proved his credibility by taking bumps in and out of the ring at nearly 60 years old. This time, Austin picked up the victory in his official final match in his home state of Texas.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ric Flair<\/b><\/h2>\n

Ric Flair has a well-proven wrestling career that has spanned over 30 years. Originally, Flair’s first retirement match was an emotional defeat to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24. Although Ric Flair retired from wrestling in WWE, it didn’t stop him from competing outside of the promotion. <\/span><\/p>\n

For a few years, he would wrestle occasionally in TNA until retiring in 2012. Much like Austin, Flair wrestled for one final bout in 2022. Instead of a loss, he picked up the victory in a tag team match with Andrade El \u00cddolo against Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett. This match was known as Flair’s final go as the event was called “Ric Flair’s Last Match”.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sting<\/b><\/h2>\n

Fans best know Sting for his wrestling career in both WCW and TNA. It wasn’t until 2014 that he signed with WWE. After Sting lost to Seth Rollins at Night of Champions 2015, he made it known that he had retired from wrestling. With wrestling’s famous saying, “never say never”, Sting came back to in-ring competition at AEW in 2020. Sting stuck around for nearly four years with an undefeated record of 29-0. <\/span><\/p>\n

At AEW Revolution in 2024, Sting wrestled his final match, retaining the AEW World Tag Team Titles with Darby Allin against Matt and Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks. Sting winning in his retirement match is a prime example of also giving back to the business. Indeed, Sting won, but it elevated his partner, Darby Allin, to greater heights as he is now in the main event scene.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A
Photo Credit: AEW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For John Cena’s retirement, should he join the list of big wrestling stars who won or lost in their final bout? Leave your comments below.<\/span><\/p>\n

More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other news stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Netflix<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>USA Network<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>The CW<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(NXT),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Tubi<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>A&E<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments), and\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Peacock<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Main Event as well as archives and premium live event streaming). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>YouTube<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>, and catch fast-paced action on X (<\/i><\/em>WWE Speed<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>).<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retirement matches are emotional for fans who grew up idolizing wrestlers now stepping away from in-ring competition. John Cena’s upcoming retirement shows fans how deeply wrestlers impact them when they’re gone. Usually, the wrestler retiring would lose their final match as a form of giving back to the business. Sometimes, the retiring wrestlers win in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5615,"featured_media":146990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4677,6,2192,4,3],"tags":[629,469,588,2306],"class_list":["post-146925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aew","category-north-america","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-stone-cold-steve-austin","tag-ric-flair","tag-sting","tag-ultimate-warrior"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5615"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146925"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146992,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146925\/revisions\/146992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}