The Oldest Wrestlers Still In The Ring Today

Often, pro wrestling has been seen as a young man's, or woman's, game. Is that true? Not entirely; wrestling legends such as Nick Bockwinkel, Terry Funk, Lou Thesz, and others remained either great wrestlers or at least good wrestlers well into the 50s, while lucha libre icon El Santo wrestled all the way into his 60s. An argument would be made, however, that historically, those wrestlers were the exceptions, not the rule. And it is true; by and large, youth is an important part of pro wrestling, with most of its top stars being somewhere between the 25 to 40 age bracket. Sometimes they're a little younger, sometimes they're a little older, but that is generally the age most believe to be when wrestlers will hit their peak.

But like many things in the modern pro wrestling landscape, things have begun to change. These days, more pro wrestlers than ever before have not just continued to wrestle into their late 40s and 50s, but have continued to do so at a high level, like Frankie Kazarian, Christian Cage, Adam Copeland, Minoru Suzuki, Tomohiro Ishii, and Yuji Nagata. Then there was Sting, who debuted in AEW at 61 years old with most believing he couldn't wrestle again due to spinal stenosis. Not only did Sting wrestle again, but he did so for three years, in a run that many felt contained some of his best matches and was among the highlights of his Hall of Fame career. So yes; wrestlers are staying in the game now longer than ever. And some are staying in even longer than any could imagine. Here are three examples.

Earlier this year, "Busted Open Radio's" Tommy Dreamer caught everyone's attention when he posted a photograph on Instagram of him standing next to a white haired, jacked gentleman by the name of Chic Donovan. The post got even more attention when Dreamer revealed that Donovan was not only 79 years old, but that the photo had been taken on the same night Dreamer watched Donovan wrestle a match. That couldn't possibly be the case, could it? If not even Mil Mascaras, the lucha libre Hall of Famer who wrestled well into his 70s, could stay in the ring till nearly 80 years old, how could anyone else do it? And yet, Chic Donovan has done exactly that, wrestling two matches this year, one in June and just two months ago in August.

The amazing thing is wrestling so late into his life may very well be the highlight of Donovan's career. Nicknamed "The Golden Boy," Donovan was something of a late bloomer, debuting in 1977 when he was 30 years old. While he would go on to win a few championships, he largely has spent his career as a journeyman, wrestling for promotion such as WWE, AWA, All Japan, several NWA territories, and even WCW in the 1990s without ever receiving a sustained push. He also appears to have taken numerous breaks from wrestling, going on a nine year hiatus from 1996 to 2005, though he has spent the bulk of the last 20 years wrestling at least one match per year. He even managed to make his way onto a TNA dark match in 2022, wrestling Johnny Swinger. Though it's not entirely clear, there's a good chance Donovan is the oldest active wrestler today.

Whereas Donovan may be a name that has fallen through the cracks of wrestling history "Action" Mike Jackson is a name plenty of wrestling fans will know. Debuting in 1972 at the age of 23, Jackson has pretty much only failed to do two things over the past 53 years; he's hardly won any championships, and wrestle extensively for WWE. While Jackson did work one match for the promotion in 1992, losing a dark match to Papa Shango, his career largely took place outside the walls of Vince McMahon, making him one of the few notable wrestlers in history to make any sort of name without the WWE machine behind him. Of course, given that Jackson is still going at the age of 75, perhaps there is still time for him to rectify that.

Even if he doesn't though, Jackson has had a whale of a career. Like Donovan, Jackson was an NWA territory wrestler, first gaining exposure working for Georgia Championship Wrestling in the early 80s before moving on to Mid-South Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions in the mid-80s. When JCP eventually morphed into WCW, Jackson stayed on initially, but by 1989 was hardly working matches, and after the aforementioned WWE match was largely out of the ring for the rest of the 90s. It was only in 2004 that Jackson would return to the ring, and instead of lessening his schedule as the years went on, he has upped it, wrestling 19 to 32 matches since 2021. Along the way, he has gained notoriety for a similar reason Sting did during his AEW run, by doing high flying moves that most people wouldn't expect a man in his 60s or 70s to do. As a result, he's gotten opportunities in notable promotions, including TNA, NWA, and GCW.

The luchador Blue Panther may be a weird name to associate alongside Donovan and Jackson. Not only is he a decade or so younger than both of them at 65 years old, but he's also the more famous, thanks to his association with the legendary AAA PPV When Worlds Collide in 1994, his appearance on Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor PPV earlier this year, and his friendship with superfan and wrestling icon, Bryan Danielson. It's also a bit odd because, where Jackson and Donovan were mostly lower card guys, Blue Panther is considered among the greatest, most successful luchadors of his generation. It's almost unfair to name him with the other two given all those factors.

The fact is, however, that Panther is still wrestling into his mid-60s, and is not only doing so but is doing so while still working a full-time schedule. Save for 2020, where most of the year was wiped out due to COVID-19, Panther has continued to wrestle regularly; in 2025 alone, he has already wrestled 80 times, three more matches than he wrestled in 2024, with two months still remaining. Perhaps most remarkably though, Panther has continued to wrestle at a high level. In 2025 alone, he has had matches with Hechicero, Ultimo Guerrero, and Lee Moriarty that received strong reviews, with Panther not showing off his tremendous mat work, but also some high flying moves as well. His 2024 singles match with Danielson, a dream match for both, also received acclaim. Throw in that Panther remains among CMLL's most popular luchadors, and a strong argument can be made that Panther isn't just surviving, but having the most success in his career at 65.