With ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair’s decision to take part in his final match at the age of 73, we look at the wrestlers who were the oldest to ever compete in the ring.
On May 16th, 2022, Ric Flair announced that he planned to wrestle one final time to bring his legendary career to a close with the bout scheduled at Starrcast on July 31st.
At the event Flair (carrying an injury going into the match) struggled through the bout, but made it through largely unscathed. He performed as many of his signature spots as possible, while he naturally bladed one more time.
However, The Nature Boy is a young buck compared to the wrestling stars we will look at in this list. These are the five oldest wrestlers to ever compete in the ring.
5. Tinieblas – 80 years and 71 days
Manuel Leal, better known as Tinieblas (Spanish for “Darkness”), began his career as a luchador in 1971 at the age of relatively old age of 32. Based in Mexico, he was scouted by Dark Shadow, a former foe of the legendary El Santo.
The Tinieblas character was created several years before Leal came on the scene and was originally envisioned to be a foil for Mil Mascaras, however, by the time Leal donned the faceless mask, that plan had been scrapped and he spent most of his career as a heroic babyface.
While Tinieblas didn’t become a star on the level of El Santo, he was still regarded as a big draw in Mexico. He became an ambassador for the Lucha style, touring the likes of Panama and Guatemala, and was one of the first luchadores to tour Japan when he travelled there in 1974.
Tinieblas spent much of his time in the ring working for EMLL before moving to AAA in 1992. He remained there until 1997 before leaving and becoming a freelancer.
He appealed to younger wrestling fans through various comic series based on his character. The first ran from 1976 to 1979 and was relaunched briefly in the 1990s and then again in 2000.
The last time the luchador stepped in the ring was in 2019 at the age of 80. Tinieblas appeared at Expo Lucha’s Legends Of Lucha Libre where he teamed with Dr Wagner Jr. and Octagon to defeat Fuerzo Guerrera Misterioso Jr. and Pirata Morgan.
4. Dominic DeNucci – 80 years and 82 days
Perhaps best known to wrestling fans in the modern era as the man who trained Mick Foley and Shane Douglas, Dominic DeNucci was also an active wrestler for over 50 years.
Starting out in Montreal in 1958, DeNucci spent several years tagging with Dino Bravo as his storyline brother, Dominic Bravo. During this time, the duo made appearances all around Canada including in Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling.
In 1964, he headed to Australia, where he wrestled for the original World Championship Wrestling. During his time there, he had a notable feud with another man on this list, Killer Kowalski, before joining his rival to do battle with the Japanese duo of Professor Toru Tanaka and Mitsu Arakawa.
After leaving Australia in 1966, DeNucci competed across North America for promotions such as the AWA, Championship Wrestling From Florida, and Maple Leaf Wrestling in Toronto.
In the 1970s, Dominic DeNucci spent some time in Japan working in the JWA and then the recently formed AJPW where he feuded with The Destroyer for some time.
During the same decade, he also became a regular in the WWWF which later became the WWF and then WWE. While there, he won the WWWF Tag Team Championship twice, first with Victor Rivera and then Dino Bravo. He also had a rivalry with Pat Patterson over the Intercontinental Championship but was never able to win the gold.
Following his departure from the WWF in 1982, DeNucci wound down his career and only wrestled five times during the 1990s.
In the mid-2000s, DeNucci came out of retirement to work a few more matches before having his final bout in 2012 at the age of 80. For that match, he teamed up with Shane Douglas to defeat Lord Zoltan and Shawn Blanchard at a Pro wrestling Superstars event in Toronto, Canada.
3. The Fabulous Moolah – 81 years and 61 days
Mary Lillian Ellison, better known as The Fabulous Moolah, is widely known for her antics with Mae Young during WWE’s Attitude Era. However, the star was also a pioneer of women’s wrestling and appeared in the ring for over five decades.
Moolah started wrestling in 1949 and competed in NWA promotions in the American South as well as acting as ‘Nature Boy’ Boy Rogers’ valet for several years. She won the Women’s World Championship by outlasting thirteen other women in a Battle Royal and went on to hold the title for ten years before losing it in 1966 to Bette Boucher. She recaptured the gold after only a matter of weeks.
Apart from a couple more short-term losses during a tour of Japan, Moolah held onto the belt for another decade. During this time, she became the first woman to be allowed to wrestle in New York’s famed Madison Square Garden, defeating Vicki Williams in July, 1972.
In 1983, The Fabulous Moolah sold the rights to her Women’s World Championship to Vince McMahon, and it was renamed the WWF Women’s Championship. She became a part of the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Connection era, engaging in a feud with Cyndi Lauper and Wendi Richter which resulted in her losing the title to Richter at The Brawl To End It All in July 1984.
She won the title back in one of the more infamous moments in WWF history when she challenged Richter under a hood as ‘The Spider Lady’ and won via a fast count from the referee. Richter didn’t know the loss was coming and quit the company soon after.
Moolah left the WWF soon after leading her team to victory at the inaugural Survivor Series in 1987 and the following year retired from wrestling and began her own promotion, Ladies International Wrestling Association in Las Vegas. During her time at the helm, the former champion began wrestling again and teamed with Mae Young on several occasions.
In 1999, at the age of 76, Moolah returned to the WWF alongside Young and the two were featured in comedy skits as well as being involved in matches. At that year’s No Mercy pay-per-view Moolah captured her last title when she defeated Ivory for the WWF Women’s Championship. Her reign was short-lived, however, as she lost it back to the much younger star on the following week’s Raw.
At the age of 81, The Fabulous Moolah competed in her last match on the September 23rd, 2004 edition of the now-WWE SmackDown, teaming with Mae Young to defeat Torrie and Dawn Marie in a ‘School Girl’ Tag Team Match.
Moolah made her final appearance in WWE at SummerSlam 2007 where she appeared in a backstage segment with Vince McMahon and William Regal. She passed away only months later in November that year.
2. Killer Kowalski – 81 years and 153 days
Edward Spulnik made his wrestling debut in 1947 in St. Louis, Missouri as Tarzan Kowalski, one of many names he would take on before settling on ‘Killer’ Kowalski. During his early years, Kowalski competed in numerous promotions in the US and Canada including various NWA territories as well as the AWA.
Kowalksi solidified his status as a vicious heel in October 1952 when he tore the ear off Yukon Eric with a Knee Drop during a match in Montreal. The injury was an accident, but the pair used it to spark a feud that drew crowds around the US and lasted for several years.
In the 1960s, Kowalski engaged in a legendary feud with Bruno Sammartino over the then-WWWF World Heavyweight Championship. The pair fought on and off for over a decade and had some memorably brutal bouts including a match in 1974 which ended in a brawl that had to be broken up.
While Kowalski was never able to capture the top WWWF title, he did find tag team success, first capturing the promotion’s US Tag Team Title alongside Gorilla Monsoon and later, after the promotion had become the WWF, the World Tag Team Championship with Big John Studd – although the pair were under masks as The Executioners.
The legend wound down his career after leaving the WWF in the late 1970s and started the wrestling school which produced the likes of Triple H, Chyna, and Tommaso Ciampa. In 1996, he was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame.
However, he continued to have occasional matches, all the way up until his final bout in 2008 when, at the age of 81, he defeated Gorgeous Gino Giovanni using the Iron Claw one last time at a Top rope Promotions event in Fall River, Massachusetts.
1. Mae Young – 87 years and 248 days
As mentioned above, Mae Young is best known for her later career in WWE where she teamed up with The Fabulous Moolah for comedy segments.
The exact year of Mae Young’s debut is disputed, with Young claiming it took place in 1939 while wrestling historians believe 1941 is more likely. Regardless, she began her career around a decade earlier than Moolah.
Another pioneer of women’s wrestling, Young, alongside Mildred Burke opened the path for female stars in Canada with the two being the first women to wrestle for Stu Hart in the country.
She and Burke were also the first women to tour in Japan following World War 2 when the two went across in 1954.
During the 1950s and 1960s Mae Young wrestled around the US, including a stint in Vince McMahon Sr.’s Capitol Wrestling Corporation where she was again one of the first women in a promotion.
By the time she retired in 1969, Young held the NWA Florida Women’s Championship, California State Women’s Championship, and NWA World Women’s Tag Team Championship alongside Ella Waldeck.
Young came out of retirement in 1996 to team with her friend The Fabulous Moolah at an LIWA event. The pair then joined the WWF in 1999.
As well as the regular comedy skits she took part in alongside Moolah, this time in Young’s career is well-remembered for her relationship with Mark Henry, which infamously resulted in her inexplicably giving birth to a hand.
Not one to shy away from physicality, even in her late 70s, another infamous moment came when Bubba Ray Dudley powerbombed her through a table.
Bubba Ray later recalled that Mae Young not only took the move, but berated him for not slamming her “like one of the boys”. Something he duly did when hitting another powerbomb, this time off the Raw stage and once again through a table.
"Hey hotshot…if you're gonna slam me…slam me like one of the boys"
Yes ma'am
Love ya Mae 👍😀 pic.twitter.com/yiSDqDZDjz
— Bully Ray (@bullyray5150) March 21, 2017
May Young’s last match took place on the November 15th, 2010 edition of WWE Raw at an age that blows Ric Flair’s out of the water. Young defeated Layla and Michelle McCool at the grand old age of 87.
The star once said she would continue to wrestle until she was 100, and if not for her unfortunate passing in 2014, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would dispute her claim.