Daniel Bryan and 9 Wrestlers Whose Career Ended Too Soon

PARSIPPANY, NJ – OCTOBER 24: Ricky Steamboat attends day 2 of Chiller Theatre Expo on October 24, 2015 in Parsippany NJ, United States. (Photo by Bobby Bank/Getty Images)

Ricky Steamboat

Ricky Steamboat is one of the more interesting personalities within the world of professional wrestling. He was a very technical wrestler that could put on great matches with anyone. Yet, it’s his series of matches with Ric Flair that stand among some of the best in the history of the sport. His match against Randy Savage at WrestleMania in 1987 deserves to be on the Match of the Year shortlist.

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Steamboat was forced to retire for the final time 1994 due to a serious back injury. He would return shortly for a program with Chris Jericho in 2009 that showed he had the ability to still perform at a high level. He is now officially retired, but many of his best years were taken from him due to injury. In a sad twist of fate his son, Richard, was a promising member of the NXT roster before a back injury and surgery in 2012 ended his career before the age of 30.