Final Matches

[wordsfromlee]

I'm surprised Randy Savage never wrestled another match in the seven years between his last match and his death. He quit TNA a couple of days after what would be his final match due to his booking, then just quietly packed it all in. Unless theres more too it - I wan't really following wrestling at the time.

[FLips]

Really hammers home just how lucky we were as fans and how lucky Sting was that he got a beautiful send off and a great match to go with it. Looking at that list there, most of them are awful last matches. Inconsequential with no fanfare, taking place at county fairs or as a throwaway body in a rumble.
It's no surprise wrestlers don't often stay retired because if my last match was against IAmTHEPROVIDER I'd be back between those ropes ASAP.

[2Xtreme_lives]

13 minutes ago, FLips said:

Really hammers home just how lucky we were as fans and how lucky Sting was that he got a beautiful send off and a great match to go with it. Looking at that list there, most of them are awful last matches. Inconsequential with no fanfare, taking place at county fairs or as a throwaway body in a rumble.
It's no surprise wrestlers don't often stay retired because if my last match was against IAmTHEPROVIDER I'd be back between those ropes ASAP.

Hammers home too that we haven't got many people left the calibre of sting that will get this same treatment especially those who's 'prime'was in the late 90s too

 

 

[air_raid]

7 hours ago, wordsfromlee said:

I'm surprised Randy Savage never wrestled another match in the seven years between his last match and his death. He quit TNA a couple of days after what would be his final match due to his booking, then just quietly packed it all in. Unless theres more too it - I wan't really following wrestling at the time.

Savage was basically finished before TNA knocked on his door.  After the Rodman fiasco at Road Wild 99 he only wrestled three more matches in WCW (or indeed anywhere) for the next five years - losing to Rick Steiner on 4/1/2000 at the Tokyo Dome, to Sid on a house show a few days later, and in that battle royal in May which was his last televised appearance for them.

He didn’t have any need or interest for wrestling anywhere small time until the Jarretts offered to put him back on PPV. Double J dropping the pin to Macho Man (which looked awful, by the way) was supposed to lead to an NWA title match at Final Resolution. It all went south when Savage crossed paths with Hogan backstage - though not signed, The Hulkster was being courted by TNA as he spent much of 2003-2005 stringing them along. Savage quit because (a) he couldn’t guarantee not running into Terry again, which made him feel unsafe, and (b) he’d learned that in fact, he wouldn’t be beating  Jarrett for the title, as he’d assumed would be the case.

So yeah. Randy valued himself so highly he was not prepared to wrestle any match for any company where he wouldn’t be presented as a major star, from the moment he went to the WWF until the day he died. Unless you count wrestling Spider-Man.

[BomberPat]

I think closer to the end he was happily just breaking away from wrestling entirely - he was starting to get some feelers out about working with WWE on action figures and video games, but everything I remember hearing about him at the time was that he'd happily stopped dying his hair and beard and let himself go grey almost as a conscious break from having to be "on" all the time, and had become a very private person. He married his old childhood sweetheart, and after Brian Adams - who had been his bodyguard - died, didn't seem to have any contact with anyone in wrestling any more.

[Mr Kennedy]

Hulk Hogan’s last match being on a house show in Manchester is just wild. At least the DX/BOD shitshow was televised.

[air_raid]

5 minutes ago, Mr Kennedy said:

Hulk Hogan’s last match being on a house show in Manchester is just wild. At least the DX/BOD shitshow was televised.

Yeah but if it had been on TV, he wouldn't have been able to come out to Eye Of The Tiger.

So, swings and roundabouts.

[SaitoRyo]

6 hours ago, air_raid said:

Savage was basically finished before TNA knocked on his door.  After the Rodman fiasco at Road Wild 99 he only wrestled three more matches in WCW (or indeed anywhere) for the next five years - losing to Rick Steiner on 4/1/2000 at the Tokyo Dome, to Sid on a house show a few days later, and in that battle royal in May which was his last televised appearance for them.

He didn’t have any need or interest for wrestling anywhere small time until the Jarretts offered to put him back on PPV. Double J dropping the pin to Macho Man (which looked awful, by the way) was supposed to lead to an NWA title match at Final Resolution. It all went south when Savage crossed paths with Hogan backstage - though not signed, The Hulkster was being courted by TNA as he spent much of 2003-2005 stringing them along. Savage quit because (a) he couldn’t guarantee not running into Terry again, which made him feel unsafe, and (b) he’d learned that in fact, he wouldn’t be beating  Jarrett for the title, as he’d assumed would be the case.

So yeah. Randy valued himself so highly he was not prepared to wrestle any match for any company where he wouldn’t be presented as a major star, from the moment he went to the WWF until the day he died. Unless you count wrestling Spider-Man.

Here's a good video on the before, during and after of Savage's TNA 'run'.