Ring Oldies

Yes, wrestling is fake. There is no denying that, but it comes with quite a few advantages. For example, pretty long careers. The scripted matches allows wrestlers to still keep going in their 50s or even longer, making wrestlers living Long Runners. Overlong careers are mostly a result of wrestling being the only income for most wrestlers, either because they don't have anything waiting for them after wrestling or for other reasons.

Fans are fighting over this theme constantly. Some people think that the old guard only take up space and TV time that could be used for younger wrestlers, while other fans enjoy the nostalgia and think that the oldies still have their place on the show and are not really to blame for younger wrestlers not being used. Fan reactions will also depend on how much talent and effort said wrestler will still put in the ring (i.e. Ric Flair still pulls a lot of respect for his ring-work while others are often lambasted for still maintaining main event space despite a now deeply limited ring effort.)

Notable Ring oldies:

 * "Bullet" Bob Armstrong (70 years old)
 * Abdullah the Butcher (67 years old)
 * Dory Funk Jr. (67 years old)
 * Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka (65 years old)
 * Terry Funk (64 years old)
 * El Santo (was 64 at his last match (47 year run), dying 2 years later)
 * "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan (54 years old)
 * Finlay (50 years old)
 * Ric Flair (was 59 at his last match although he will soon return to action at age 60)
 * Hulk Hogan (57 years old at his last match at TNA)
 * Kevin Nash (50 years old)
 * Sting (50 years old)
 * Lou Thesz (officially retired at 63, worked occasional special events until age 74, when he had a retirement match against student Masahiro Chono)
 * Ultimate Warrior (50 years old as of his last match, with independent federation Nu-Wrestling Evolution)
 * The Undertaker (46 years old, since 1991 in the WWE)
 * "Butcher" Vachon (70 years old, wrestling as recently as March 28th '09, at a rink 3 blocks from this troper's house)
 * Chavo Guerrero, Sr. (55 years old)
 * "Cowboy" Bob Orton (54 years old when he teamed with his son Randy)
 * The Crusher (retired in 1989, age 63)
 * Verne Gagne (officially retired at 58, but worked special matches until he was 62)
 * Mae Young (age 87; started wrestling in the 1930s, and as of WWE Raw on 11/15/10, officially wrestled across nine decades)
 * Her last "match" deserves a disclaimer. It took place during the old school retro edition of Raw and was a falls count anywhere, no-DQ match against Lay Cool. She was flanked by a pair of other divas who helped her walk up and down the aisle, she never had to climb the stairs to get to the ring (thus, "falls count anywhere"), and all the quote-unquote ring work was done by pretty much the entire women's roster on her behalf. And at the end, she count not even get to her knees to make the pin, instead making the pin while standing with a foot on her opponent's chest. Still, give credit where credit is due.
 * Jerry "The King" Lawler (62 years old as of 2011)