Longest active/oldest active wrestlers

John Smith · 05-28-2009, 02:42 PM

There was Abdullah The Butcher, until last year, he was around 70, he wrestled/brawled for half a century.

Over here in the UK, we have an semi active wrestler called Brian "Goldbelt" Maxine, who's been wrestling since the 60s and is now 73!

If you thought that was amazing, there's Gypsy Joe, who still wrestles at 75, and he started in the 50s!

I believe The Fabulous Moolah wrestled when she was 80.

They must be incredibly fit (perhaps Abby is the exception) to be able work into their 70s, never mind working in this business! But fair play to them, better then sitting around feeling sorry for yourself isn't it.

Honourable mentions must go to Bob Armstrong (69, 1962) Johnny Saint (66, 1958)

Do you know anyone else out there on the indies who wrestled or is wrestling that old, when most people would be enjoying a quiet retirement?

What do you think about it, at that age they aren't the most mobile of wrestling folk but hey, when in Rome and all, you know, why not?

It's a worked sport so if promoters still book them why shouldn't they be doing what they love.

King Steventon · 05-28-2009, 02:46 PM

I'm pretty sure Gypsy Joe still wrestles part time and he's in his late 80's-early 90's. I know he has the record for oldest active wrestler currently.

horrorfan_1986 · 05-28-2009, 02:51 PM

An honorable mention also goes out to Vince McMahon who is going to be 64 this year.

I really don't mind if someone keeps going in their old age as long as they can still go. Someone like Bruno Sammartino was retired for several years only to come back and show a lot of guys that he could still go in 1986. However, most of the ones who keep wrestling are just terrible, Moolah or Mae Young for example.

However, you are right about this being a worked sport so if you can work around it, you can go for decades. Abby is a great example of that. The guy literally didn't bump for the last decade of his career.

Internet God · 05-28-2009, 07:44 PM

Another honorable mention would be Genichiro Tenryu. I believe he's either 59 or 60. Sure, not as old as the others mentioned in this thread but he's still active and he's one of the older ones that I can think of. He still wrestles a few times a year. I believe his last match was back in February of this year.

King Steventon · 05-28-2009, 08:09 PM

Tenryu still wrestles, though he got into wrestling pretty late, I think he was in his late 20's when he made his pro debut.

Internet God · 05-28-2009, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Steventon
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Tenryu still wrestles, though he got into wrestling pretty late, I think he was in his late 20's when he made his pro debut.

Yeah he didn't even debut until like 1976; when he was already 26 years old.

Silver Saviour · 05-29-2009, 02:32 AM

There comes a point though where someone looks so old it makes you cringe. Vinve Mcmahon has aged very well, but Ric Flair, just the sight of him in a ring on Raw makes me uneasy now, let alone if he decides to come back and wrestle. I think its more comendable for guys like Shawn Michels who isnt really old, but is old and puts on amazing matches. Thats more impressive to me than some 80 year old doing nothing, or getting ovations because he can take a weak chest chop at his age.

John Smith · 05-29-2009, 11:34 AM

Flair was a fairly late started aswell, like Luke Skywalker ("He is too old...too old to begin the training"-Yoda) maybe some feel the need to over compensate, or maybe the later you start, the older you go.

To emphasise "Bullet" Bob more, when he was in TNA, 66 at the time, many TNA fans regarded him to be the highlight of the show for a while.

I wonder if Bruno still has a good match left in him, he's very fit for his age despite having retired some time ago, "ONE MORE MATCH, ONE MORE MATCH"...he'd never do it. Not for all the money in the world knowing him, lol.

King Steventon · 05-29-2009, 12:23 PM

No one considered Bob to be anything more than awful when he was in TNA.

horrorfan_1986 · 05-29-2009, 01:07 PM

For a guy in his seventies, Bruno is in ridiculously good shape. Bruno is just one of those guys who didn't realize he shouldn't be in better shape than a lot of men twenty years younger than him. However, he's better off not coming back. He already had one last run back in 1986/1987 and he proved that he could still steal the show.

Longest active/oldest active wrestlers

This is a discussion on Longest active/oldest active wrestlers within the General Pro Wrestling : Classic & General forums, part of the Wrestling Forums category; There was Abdullah The Butcher, until last year, he was around 70, he wrestled/brawled for half a century. Over here ...