10: Big E

It’s been two-years since Big E suffered a broken neck on SmackDown, and the more time that passes, the less likely it is that Big E competes in WWE again.

The neck injury took place on the March 11, 2022, edition of SmackDown, New Day faced off against the duo of Sheamus and Ridge Holland, and during the match Big E would be hit with an overhead suplex on the outside of the ring. This resulted in Big E landing on his neck and fracturing his C1 and C6 vertebrae.

Over the past year, Big E has transitioned into a pre-show panellist for WWE, which may be a sign that Big E has called it a day on his in-ring ventures.

9: Corey Graves

When it was revealed in 2014 that Corey Graves had retired, fans were stunned. Nobody even knew that Graves was injured, and it later surfaced that Graves suffered a serious concussion that left him no choice but to call it a day.

It’s believed that the dastardly concussion was suffered in an NXT TV match against Sami Zayn. In the match in question, Graves took a crossbody, yet he landed incredibly awkwardly, and it looked like he failed to tuck his chin.

Graves would soon find himself in the role of a commentator, and this has been a role in which he’s truly shined in.

It was also revealed in 2022 that Graves has been medically cleared, yet he has yet to make his dramatic return to the squared circle.

8: Diamond Dallas Page

It’s well documented that Diamond Dallas Page’s WWE stint between 2001-2002 wasn’t exactly great, yet it ended in the worst way imaginable, as DDP was forced to retire.

The injury took place in 2002, when DDP was facing Hardcore Holly in a match on SmackDown. During the bout, there was a high-impact superlex which was supposed to take place; however, the landing of the suplex was off, and this heavily impacted DDP’s neck. In addressing this match on HANNIBAL TV, DDP said, “I felt like I was paralyzed for an instant.”

This would be DDP’s final ever match as a full-time wrestler, and although he would make numerous appearances in TNA and WWE years later, DDP could never commit to another full-time run due to his neck issues.

7: Stone Cold Steve Austin

Unlike most names on this list, despite suffering a career-ending injury, Stone Cold Steve Austin continued to wrestle. The injury in question took place at the 1997 SummerSlam PPV.

One of the top matches on the card was Owen Hart taking on Stone Cold Steve Austin for the Intercontinental Title. Backstage before the match, Owen wanted to use a sit-out piledriver move on Austin; however, Austin insisted that Hart used the traditional piledriver which involves the wrestler going to their knees.

Hart proceeded to hit Austin with the sit-out version of the move, and this shattered Austin’s neck.

Instead of taking an extended leave of absence to heal, Austin put off neck surgery until 1999, and he would then be forced to call it a day in 2003.

The Texas Rattlesnake would eventually return to the ring in 2022 for one final match with Kevin Owens, yet due to his neck, it’s incredibly unlikely that another featured run from one of WWE’s greatest names ever comes to fruition. 

6: Paige

Before Paige AKA Saraya went on to be medically cleared in AEW, she suffered a career ending injury in 2017. During a six-woman tag match at a live event, Paige would be hit with a kick to the back from Sasha Banks, and Paige suffered an immediate injury, falling to the ground and grabbing her neck in the process. The match would be stopped, and unfortunately, Paige would never wrestle in WWE again.

Paige would reveal in a 2018 interview with Give Me Sport, that she has no bad feelings towards Banks:

“Nothing was ever Sasha’s fault. She got so much backlash and even in the ring, when we were in there, people are chanting ‘Sasha sucks’ and it really upset me to hear that because it wasn’t her fault. The thing is with me, right, that move where she kicks me in the back, I had taken that so many times previously that I was so stubborn and I thought ‘I can still do these kind of things’ and I thought my neck was just as strong as it was before, but, unfortunately, it’s not. So I called this move and I told her to do it and so she did it, and unfortunately, my neck wasn’t strong enough and it snapped all the way back…”

5: Tyson Kidd

Injuries can happen at any time in pro wrestling, and when Tyson Kidd and Samoa Joe competed in a dark match in 2015, it unfortunately, ended up being Kidd’s final ever WWE matchup.

Kidd would hurt his neck following a Muscle Buster, and the injury was so severe that Kidd could have legitimately died.

Kidd was very much in the prime of his career, and the news hit everyone hard, especially the locker room, as Kidd was beloved backstage.

Whilst it was incredibly upsetting that Kidd wasn’t allowed to wrestle again, WWE did offer him a job as a producer, and this has been a role in which Kidd has excelled in for almost a decade.

4: Rick Rude

When Rick Rude pinned Sting on May 1 1994 to win the WCW International World Title, nobody could have known that this would be Rude’s second to last match.  

During the match, Rude hurt his back. The back injury occurred when he received a suicide dive at ringside, and he landed awkwardly on the corner of a raised platform. The injury caused such a problem for Rude, that he had no choice to retire, which was a huge blow for the wrestling industry as Rude was just 35-years-old, and had years left before he called it a day in the ring.

3: Droz

1999 saw Droz compete in his final ever wrestling match. During a match against D-Lo Brown, Droz injured his neck after a botched powerbomb, and the damage was so substantial that it caused him to become a quadriplegic.

Naturally, his in-ring career ended immediately, and this was one of the darkest days in WWE history, as Droz still had so much to offer the wrestling world.

In relation to D-Lo, he kept a friendship with Droz, and this is what D-Lo had to say about the dreaded incident back in a shoot interview in 2014:

“…Probably the worst day of my life. Talking in terms of wrestling and real life. Um just, uh, that’s an instant downer for me.. He and I were never close before the accident and, um, I don’t know how an accident can draw two people closer. And then, there’s heat with his wife and me for some reason; I don’t know. You know, she puts a lot of blame on things. Droz and I have talked about it on several occasions. We don’t know what went wrong.Out of respect, we don’t watch the tape. I can clear up a few [misconceptions]. It wasn’t a fan throwing ice in the ring, throwing garbage in the ring, and I didn’t slip.”

2: Sting

The Icon Sting finally arriving in WWE was an exciting time, and at the Night of Champions event in 2015, Sting collided with Seth Rollins in a match for the WWE World Title.

Sting’s performance in the match was tremendous, that was until he was hit by a buckle bomb from Rollins, and everything fell apart. Sting suffered a devastating neck injury, and the injury resulted in Sting’s WWE in-ring career coming to an end.

It was ultimately a freak accident, and Sting placed no blame whatsoever on Rollins.

The WWE Hall of Famer would reflect on the injury during an interview with Bill Apter, and this is what he had to say:

"He did nothing. I mean, yeah, period, just end of the story, and then what do I have to say about Seth? He dressed up like me for Halloween. I’m flattered, I have bragging rights. This was my last match against one of the greatest really. He’s gonna go down as one of the greatest wrestlers. He is extremely talented in the ring and very easy. He’s just a pleasure to work with in every way and so accommodating, so respectful. I mean he just wanted to make it right and so did I, and to say that I had my last match with WWE for the World Title against Seth Rollins, I’m bragging, this is good, and I’m glad that I can say I went out like that.”

Luckily for fans of The Stinger, a number of years after his initial WWE retirement, he would be able to have several featured matches in AEW, and he was allowed to retire on his own terms.

1: Bret Hart

By the time WCW were about to enter the new millennium, Bret Hart was still firing on all cylinders. Yes, the WCW booking was atrocious, and yes, it was evident that the end was approaching for WCW, yet Hart was showing the world virtually every week that he was one of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of boots.

The 1999 Starrcade event was headlined by Hart defending his World Title against Goldberg, and this match is infamous as it saw Goldberg deliver a stiff mule kick to Hart’s head, and this kick would ultimately end Hart’s iconic career.

In his autobiography, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, Hart discussed the incident in the matchup:

“I fired [Goldberg] into the ropes, and as he reversed me, I heard him call, ‘Watch the kick!’ “I had no idea what kind of a kick he meant, and there wasn’t much room coming off the ropes. Goldberg’s right foot flew just under my right hand, WHAAAAM!”.

“It felt like someone chopped me with a hockey stick. It was an agonising blow that sent me crashing to the mat where I lay holding my neck just behind my right ear at the base of my skull.”

The botched mule kick gave Hart a severe concussion. Unaware of the severity of the concussion, Hart continued to compete in matches following the Starrcade PPV, which of course, made things worse. Hart would later be diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, and he eventually was forced to retire from wrestling.

Hart continues to hold a ton of resentment towards Goldberg, and it’s easy to see why, as Hart’s career was cut short due to utter incompetence.