5 WWE superstars who were forced to retire in their prime 

Sadly there are a number of WWE stars who were forced to retire in their prime. Wrestling is a career that many superstars know isn't going to be a lengthy one. There are only a handful of WWE stars who have been able to make the career last for a number of decades, which is probably because they are incredibly lucky when it comes to injuries throughout their career.

Some superstars are not as lucky and are forced to hang up their wrestling boots before they are able to achieve all of the things that they once set out to. Wrestling is a dangerous profession and it seems that a number of superstars have been forced to cut their careers short over the past few years because of injuries that has been cause by prolonged abuse on their bodies.

Here are five such superstars.

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#5 Edge

Edge was forced to retire from WWE back in 2011

Edge is a former 11-time World Champion and now a WWE Hall of Famer, but he had only defended his World Championship the week before, at WrestleMania, when he was struck down by the news that he was unable to wrestle again.

Edge had been struggling with an injury for a while and gave an emotional speech on Raw on April 11th, 2011 where he announced that after a number of basic-strength tests and an MRI, he was being forced to retire.

He stated that he had been feeling numbness in his arms for a while and the tests had revealed that he was suffering from cervical spinal stenosis, something that was preventing the WWE doctors from clearing him to compete because of the risk of neck-down paralysis or even death, should he take a hard enough fall. Edge relinquished the Championship and walked away, after more than a decade of being one of the biggest stars of the company.

#4 Corey Graves

Corey Graves retired from in-ring competition back in 2014

Corey Graves was forced to retire from his wrestling career when he was just 30-years-old, when his injuries from his Independent wrestling days finally caught up with him. Graves had already wrestled all over the world before he was integrated into the NXT roster and became a Tag Team Champion with Neville, but shortly after they dropped the Championship to The Ascension, he was put on the shelf with a concussion.

He later returned but was then put out of action a few months later with a second concussion. It was this second concussion that put him out of action indefinitely when Graves decided to follow doctors' orders. Graves then retired from action following a speech on NXT and has since made the switch over to commentary.

Over the past few years though, Graves has proved that he has untapped potential behind the commentary desk.

#3 AJ Lee

AJ Lee retired from wrestling back in 2015

AJ Lee is a former three-time Divas Champion and was once the longest reigning Champion in WWE history, but her in-ring career came to an abrupt end back in 2015 when it was announced by WWE that AJ had retired from wrestling.

AJ didn't have an emotional speech on-screen, instead taking the time to thank her fans on Twitter before she revealed in her autobiography that her career was cut short due to an injury. The former Champion stated that the discovery of permanent damage to her cervical spine was the catalyst for her retirement.

AJ Lee was just 28-years-old when she retired from the company and had only been wrestling for eight years. She has since focused on writing her memoirs which were recently reported to be in the process of being made into a TV series next year.

#2 Paige

Paige's retirement could be announced in the coming weeks

Paige is a former WWE Divas and NXT Women's Champion and has been in the wrestling business her entire life, since her mother and father are also professional wrestlers and she made her debut when she was just 13-years-old.

Paige underwent neck surgery back in December 2016 and seemed as though she was finally able to return to the company and pick up where she left off more than a year before. Sadly for Paige though, she was injured at a WWE live event a few weeks ago and could be forced to retire from wrestling at the age of 25.

Paige has already been taken out of the upcoming Royal Rumble match and could be relegated to being nothing more than a manager to Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville in the coming months, since she is no longer able to actively compete.

#1 Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan was forced to retire in February 2016

Daniel Bryan stepped into the main event place in WWE throughout 2014 and 2015 when the company were short of a top superstar. Bryan won over the WWE Universe but was definitely put through the wringer by WWE in the months that led up to his WWE Championship win at WrestleMania 30.

Bryan struggled with an injury for a while and was forced to relinquish the World Championship, before he returned the following year at WrestleMania 31 and won the Intercontinental Championship, a title that he was once again forced to relinquish due to another injury.

WWE doctors then refused to clear Bryan to return to the ring after it was revealed that Bryan had suffered ten documented concussions throughout his career and his EEG results had revealed that these had caused him a number of issues. Bryan's post-concussion seizures had originally been hidden by the star himself but it seems that these were one of the main reasons that Bryan was forced to hang up his boots.

Luckily, Bryan has since been able to return to WWE in an authority role and is still seen on-screen on a regular basis.