Wrestlers who got better as they got older

[Snitsky's back acne]

Some wrestlers fall to bits or take some time off, come back and are never quite the same.

As good as Flair could be in his early 40's he became not even a shadow of himself soon after and then almost a parody of himself as he hurtled towards 60.

 

However, there are those who just get better and better with age.

Jericho is currently as good if not better than he has ever been character wise. Bret Hart was killing it with the anti-American stuff as he hit 40 and Finlay defied age and a lay off by having some great matches in WWE during the mid 00's.

 

So, this thread's dedicated to those wrestlers, be it male or female, who, like a fine wine, just get/have got better with age.

[WyattSheepMask]

Flair's a bit of a harsh example, as he should have packed it in well before he actually did. And the industry was completly different when he came through it. He could still do a job for WCW in the late 90s, but he shouldn't have been full time on the road past Wrestlemania 18 when he fought Undertaker. That should have been his swan song. Saying he became a "parody of himself as he hurtled towards 60", well yeah he was nearly 60 and still trying to be the Nature Boy. It was just flat out embarrassing.

 

I do agree with Jericho as an example though, he does enough to change up his act to keep it feeling fresh enough. It's hard to believe that he is the same guy who would list 'right handed punch' is his list of moves

[MVP RULZ]

The Undertaker is one that springs to Mind actually

 

In his 1st decade in the company you can probably count on one hand the number of classic matches he had, his whole selling point was his character rather then the actual In ring stuff, since the early 00's his quality of matches rose significantly and peaked every year with a Brilliant WrestleMania showing for a 6-7 year span

 

His one match a year schedule helped him heal his body but even last year with a slightly more active schedule he was having good matches.  

[Jazzy G]

Another obvious choice surely has to be Shawn Michaels? I know he had some great matches before his injury in '98, but once he came back and had cleaned up his act he managed to surpass what was probably already a hall of fame career.

[Sergio Mendacious]

Yeah, was about to say Michaels — he was very good during the first act of his career, but when he came back he'd improved basically every part of his game.

 

I don't think Flair should have carried on (if he'd had a choice) after he stopped being able to do the Nature Boy hair. He looked like an old cat in the end, all threadbare and knackered.

[Brock Goldberg]

You could argue AJ Styles deserves a mention.

 

Approaching 40 and he still seems to be improving and having stand out matches whoever he's in the ring with.

 

His character and promo work is light years ahead of what he produced in his younger days also.

[Lorne Malvo]

First one that came to mind because he was mentioned in another thread a few days back - Jeff Jarrett's best work was from 2008 until he finished with TNA. Great runs as a face against Angle and later the Double J Double M-A gimmick which pissed all over his previous WCW and WWE tenures.

 

I imagine most will disagree with this but I think Triple H's matches the last few years are a ton better than 10 years ago, plus his promos are just as good as they've ever been. Loved his matches with Bryan and The Shield a few years back, and he had two crackers with Ambrose and Ziggler of all people earlier this year.

 

Christian constantly got better as he got older, culminating in that great series of matches with Orton in 2012. Always preferred him to Edge so was nice to see him get a main event run, even if it was only Smackdown.

[Guest]

Christian's main event run was really good but my fav period of his is definitely 2005, post-Tomko, pre-TNA, Captain Charisma, the sparkly hoodie, the new theme, properly matured as a seriously entertaining heel. Travesty he wasn't put to better use back then

[Rosler28]

Id say Goldust

[Guest]

Mae Young.

 

Seriously. What did she ever do in her younger career that earned half the reaction of her later work? She peaked in her seventies.

 

You probably couldn't say the same for Moolah, but for Mae? Absolutely.

[ColinBollocks]

Sting's best years, performance-wise, was during his TNA run. For a time you could have easily argued he was the best promo in all of wrestling, which was miles away from the Sting everybody knows from WCW. Certainly, no one was better at taking average scripted lines and turning them into excellent promos that didn't come across as a guy trying to remember his lines and cover up his tits.

 

Jeff Jarrett is another one that had some of his best showings in TNA. Particularly the feud with Kurt Angle.

 

Of course, Mark Henry managed to go from over payed joke to probably the best worker in WWE, before his injuries stopped his push. Smackdown Henry doing the Hall of Pain managed to become a legit draw too.

[I Bent My Wookie]

Regal for me, he's always been fantastic, but that final run where he was scheduled to possibly win the title as GM and then the matches with Cesaro and co were fantastic. Matured brilliantly. 

[Lenin]

Eddie Guerrero. Always found his early stuff a bit hard going to watch in that it seemed over exaggerated. Might have been a bit harsh in hindsight but his character development in later years was quite something and he very rarely had a bad match.

[Jon-Carr_92]

Michaels has to be the winner here. He was really consistent in terms of MOTY candidates. Jericho, Triple H, Cena, Angle, Undertaker to name a few.

[PowerButchi]

Id say Goldust

 

I'd disagree. He was great as early as late '91. Work wise his Natural stuff was better than his stuff as Goldust, as great as the past 5-6 years of it has been,