As a follow on from my criticism of TNA’s use of aging ECW alumni Raven and Shane Douglas, I would like to make an apology.

While I criticised Raven for having been out of shape during his previous TNA run, I can see that it clearly was due to a purely medical condition, and that he does seem to have got back into tremendous shape for someone of his age. This, combined with news that TNA appears to be purely using them as a short term nostalgia act in order to promote their next PPV, casts a fresh light on what initially seemed to be a poor business move.

With that being said, I’ve put together a list of 10 wrestlers who were (and in some cases still are) able to continue wrestling on in memorable careers past the age of 40, still contributing with memorable matches and more than justifying their position on the card…

Ric Flair
Flair contested the first of his memorable 1989 series with Ricky Steamboat on February 20th of that year, 5 days before his 40th Birthday. Some of Flair’s most memorable matches occurred while he was 40, including the remainder of the Steamboat series, and the epic double shot against Terry Funk. Considered by some to be on the verge of being spent in the wrestling business by the late 1980s, Flair would go on to prove them all wrong and remain a powerful main event performer and consistent ratings draw for the whole of the 1990s and on into the 2000s.

Flair actually enjoyed a World Title reign every year bar two (1997-98) during the period 1989-2000, and was still contesting good to great matches right up until his retirement last year. Even with a possible comeback looming, I wouldn’t bet against the Nature Boy having one last run and being able to pull it off at 60, after all Classy Freddie Blassie had his most profitable and notorious run against John Tolos at the same age…

Randy Savage
While Savage did degenerate into a bit of a joke in the last couple of years of his full time career, he was still able to go through a great revitalisation of his character and attract a whole new generation of fans who hadn’t witnessed his 1980s heyday. Turning 40 in November 1993, Savage was by this point semi retired and working as a commentator in the WWF. He was still able to produce the goods in a big match, as his memorable mash with Crush of all people showed at Wrestlemania X, but competing on a part time schedule wasn’t enough for Savage.

Jumping to WCW in the latter part of 1994, Savage was immediately put in a main event position and treated with the respect someone of his legendary status deserved. Savage was able to reform his team with Hulk Hogan, and also have a great and often overlooked series with Flair through 1995-1996. He then joined the N W O and totally charged his character up as a heel in an electrifying series of matches with Diamond Dallas Page. Savage was forced onto the shelf for almost a year, after hurting his knee and further aggravating it by continuing to wrestle hurt; he was never the same and the quality of his wrestling dropped dramatically following his 1999 comeback. Still Savage, was another guy who managed to win World Titles in his 40s, in 1995, 96, 98 and 99.

Diamond Dallas Page
DDP was already nearing 40 before he received his real first big break in wrestling. A late starter by industry standards, Page was regarded as a joke by many during his prime years due to the fact that he liked to extensively lay his matches out beforehand. Apart from the fact that this meant Page rarely had a bad match, it has also pretty much become the standard method to which WWE works today, and thus it can actually be said that DDP was ahead of his time.

Initially a heel at the beginning of his 40th year (1996), Page became incredibly over by being one of the first WCW wrestler to successfully stand up to the N W O. Competing as an everyman type of character, DDP was able to go on to have a great series with Randy Savage that really put him on the map as main eventer, and then went on to consolidate his credibility by having a great series with Raven and Chris Benoit in 1998, and then having Goldberg’s best ever match at Fall Brawl of the same year.

Page would go on to compete in and around WCW’s main event scene for the remainder of that company’s life, before being misused by WWE in one of the great mistakes of the Invasion angle in 2001, and retiring shortly after. A comeback in TNA in 2004 was fun while it lasted and DDP has since gone on to be a motivational speaker and yoga practitioner. He captured the WCW World Title twice, both in 1999 at the age of 43.

Raven
Raven turned 40 in September 2004. At this point he was a regular in the upper midcard of TNA and one of the hottest commodities on the independent scene. The former Johnny Polo had already been written off as a spent force by WWWE, who unceremoniously fired him in January 2003, but Raven proved them wrong by reinventing himself once not in their employment. By 2004 Raven had already memorably feuded with Jeff Jarrett over the NWA Title and put CM Punk over in his first major ROH storyline.

In 2005 Raven finally achieved his ‘destiny’ in that he won the NWA Title in a King of the Mountain match at Slammiversarary, and then went on to defend it successfully in gripping brawls against Abyss and Rhino at later PPVs. Although Raven never achieved these heights in TNA again, he was still able to command a good price on the independent scene, and also produced a gripping series of business revealing interviews with ROH.

Terry Funk
‘Terrible’ Terry Funk was born in 1944 – that made him 40 in 1984, the same year I was born! From then onwards Funk has main evented in every promotion going, feuding with everyone from Hulk Hogan to Tommy Dreamer, via Ric Flair, winning the ECW Title and numerous secondary national belts along the way.. Wrestling in a pair of match of the year candidates against the Nature Boy in 1989, Funk then left the NWA and eventually went on make ECW’s reputation, playing the part of gutsy veteran who is after that one last run with belt to perfection. Funk also feuded with his understudy Mick Foley throughout the 1990s and was able to reinvent himself as a ‘middle aged and crazy’ hardcore icon through both his work in ECW and the hardcore scene in Japan.

Bagging further runs in WWF and WCW in the late 1990s, Funk was still able to make a significant contribution, and last appeared on the national scene in the suitably dramatic hardcore bloodfest at WWE’s second ECW One Night Stand in 2006. While barely mobile, Funk was still able to play his role and has since been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Hulk Hogan
Turning 40 in 1993, Hulk Hogan was already arguably the most popular and recognisable wrestler of all time. Indeed by ‘93, many people could convincingly argue that there wasn’t much left for Hogan to accomplish in wrestling. Hogan himself backed these claims up by leaving long time home WWF and looking to branch out into acting as a full time career. However by 1994, Hogan had signed up with WCW and was once again being pushed as the centrepiece of a major US organisation.

While the Hulkster has never been a great technical wrestler, he was always able to perform at a respectable level in big match environments, and also crucially make money and put bums in seats. Hogan is another wrestler who was able to reinvent himself as a heel (in 1996 as part of the N W O, and he was also able to pick up 6 WCW Titles and a bonus WWE run in the period 1994-2002, while having good matches with opponents as diverse as Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels (both while in his 50s).

The Undertaker
Undertaker turned 40 in March 2002, while right in the middle of his Biker gimmick. Two months later he was WWE Champion for the fourth time (actually Undisputed). Undertaker is one of those rare wrestlers who actually seem to get better and better as the end of their career inevitably approaches. Mark Calloway was really able to gain credit as a great worker following his return to the classic Undertaker character at Wrestlemania XX in 2004.

Following an initial shaky start over the summer months, he went on to have a powerful series with Randy Orton in 2005, and has been on fire (albeit on a part time basis) ever since. Undertaker has won three World Titles in his 40s, and will probably win a few more before things are said and done. He has also competed in the best match at Wrestlemania for the last three years (against Batista, Edge and Shawn Michaels, and has also competed in compelling lengthy feuds spanning multiple great matches against the first two of these opponents.

Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels actually slipped into retirement in 1998, following a nasty back injury, and over the next few years most assumed that this state of affairs would be permanent. Of course, they were wrong, and Shawn Michaels returned to action in 2002. Turning 40 in July 2005, Michaels celebrated the occasion by temporarily turning heel and carrying Hulk Hogan to his best match in ages at Summerslam of that year. Since then HBK has not actually won a World Title while in his 40s but is universally acknowledged as WWE’s premier worker and he has had career matches with pretty much every one of his opponents in the last few years, again competing in a wide variety of matches against a number of different sorts of workers.

Fit Finlay
Finlay turned 40 in October 1998. One year later he suffered a pretty horrific injury in a hardcore match in WCW which effectively forced him into retirement post 2000. Working as a road agent in WWE, Finlay was responsible for the dramatic upsurge in quality in the Diva Division in the early 2000s, and by the time 2006 came around it was surprisingly announced that Finlay was making his comeback on the Smackdown roster. Those who were worried about what might happen needn’t have been. Finlay brutalised Matt Hardy on his return match, and has since consistently performed with the vigour of a man twenty years his junior. While never a true top liner, he has always been the go-to guy when it comes to making green workers (see Lashley, Bobby) look good and is currently the veteran face of the ECW brand.

Johnny Saint
Saint may not have the quantity of matches that the other on this list have had while in their 40s, but I feel his recent contributions warrant his inclusion here. The first ‘Man of a Thousand Holds’ was born in June 1942 and competed in Britain throughout the World of Sport era. Following the loss of British wrestling’s TV slot, Saint continued to compete well into his 40s on the local circuit.

His actual ‘retirement’ match occurred in Michinoku Pro in 1996. However, Saint has since made a very well received comeback for LDN in 2007, at 65, and has since debuted in America for Ckikara Pro this year, while also competing in a tidy pair of technical masterpieces against an awestruck Mike Quackenbush in Germany last year. Wrestling with a silk-smooth style, Saint certainly does not move like a man of his age (the same could not be said of Terry Funk towards the end of his career), and should thus be applauded for continuing to set the bar as to what a wrestler of his age can achieve.

James Mustoe
james@ifight365.com