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45-Year-Old Ex-WWE Star Confirms Full-Time In-Ring Retirement In 2026

By Gaurav Singh • Published Apr 25, 2026 08:34 EDT
WWE retirement
Ex-WWE name confirms retirement (Source-WWE.com)

A former WWE and AEW star confirmed that she will be retiring full-time from in-ring competition in the year 2026 after 25 years in the industry. The 45-year-old star in question is Mercedes Martinez.

Since 2001, Mercedes Martinez has been an active wrestler and has wrestled on major promotions such as WWE, TNA, and AEW, along with a number of independent wrestling promotions. She had a brief run in Stamford-based promotion NXT in 2020-2021, but didn’t do much there. Following her release, Martinez joined Tony Khan’s promotion but was taken off TV after some matches in the year 2022 and 2023.

Mercedes Martinez departed AEW earlier this year after being under contract for a few years. After a 25-year wrestling career, Martinez has officially announced that she will be retiring from full-time wrestling after some months.

Former WWE star made it clear that a full-time retirement is coming soon

While the former WWE star, Mercedes Martinez recently talked about her retirement from full-time wrestling, she cleared some misconceptions with her latest statement. Speaking on the Grue Rume Show, Martinez confirmed that 2026 will be her last year as an active full-time performer in the ring:

I look at it as like, everyone says it’s a retirement and we never really retire in this business. So I want to make the distinction and let everyone know this is my last year full-time active, which means that I’m not going to be go go go every weekend”

Martinez further explained how her body can’t take beating anymore at 45. She also admitted that she has accomplished more than she wanted to in her wrestling career and has nothing left to prove:

It means that, hey, my body can’t take this beating that we do every weekend. Sometimes two, three times in a weekend. It kills our body, and I’m 45 years old. Like, my body’s saying, ‘Hey, we’ve had enough. I’ve done what I can do. I accomplished more than I set out to do. I’ve done more than I could ever dream of and I think there’s nothing else left for me to prove.” [h/t WrestleTalk]

Meanwhile, Mercedes Martinez continues to perform inside the squared circle regularly, as she had her last match in GCW on April 18 during the WrestleMania 42 weekend in Las Vegas. She also has more upcoming matches before she retires from full-time competition at the end of this year.

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