diff --git a/internal/controller/worker_controller.go b/internal/controller/worker_controller.go
index a657fc36..361e95a5 100644
--- a/internal/controller/worker_controller.go
+++ b/internal/controller/worker_controller.go
@@ -534,8 +534,15 @@ func (r *WorkerDeploymentReconciler) markWRTsWDNotFound(ctx context.Context, wd
 // The cleanup sequence:
 //  1. Clear the ramping version (must happen first to avoid a split-traffic window)
 //  2. Set the current version to "unversioned" (empty BuildID) so new tasks route to unversioned workers
-//  3. Delete all registered versions (with SkipDrainage since the WD is being removed entirely)
-//  4. Delete the deployment record itself once all versions are gone
+//  3. Delete the worker Deployments so their pods stop polling. This is required
+//     before a version can be deleted: the server rejects DeleteVersion (even with
+//     SkipDrainage) while a version still has active pollers. Normally this teardown
+//     happens in executePlan, but that path never runs during deletion, so without
+//     it the pods keep polling and cleanup deadlocks. Pollers linger in the server's
+//     cache for a few minutes after the pods die, so steps 4-5 requeue until they
+//     age out.
+//  4. Delete all registered versions (with SkipDrainage since the WD is being removed entirely)
+//  5. Delete the deployment record itself once all versions are gone
 func (r *WorkerDeploymentReconciler) handleDeletion(
 	ctx context.Context,
 	l logr.Logger,
@@ -643,11 +650,38 @@ func (r *WorkerDeploymentReconciler) handleDeletion(
 		l.Info("No current version set, skipping unversioned redirect")
 	}
 
-	// Step 3: Delete versions that are eligible. Versions that are still draining
+	// Step 3: Tear down the worker Deployments backing these versions so their pods
+	// terminate and stop polling. This is required before a version can be deleted:
+	// the server rejects DeleteVersion (even with SkipDrainage=true) while a version
+	// still has active pollers. During normal reconciliation this teardown happens in
+	// executePlan, but that path is downstream of the deletion bail-out and never runs
+	// here. Without this step the pods keep polling, DeleteVersion keeps failing, and
+	// the finalizer is never removed (deadlock). Deleting them explicitly breaks it,
+	// rather than waiting for ownerRef GC, which is itself blocked on the finalizer.
+	k8sState, err := k8s.GetDeploymentState(
+		ctx,
+		r.Client,
+		workerDeploy.Namespace,
+		workerDeploy.Name,
+		workerDeploymentName)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("unable to list child deployments during cleanup: %w", err)
+	}
+	// Deletion order is irrelevant, but iterating over the DeploymentsByTime slice instead
+	// of the Deployments map gives deterministic ordering, so the log lines below stay
+	// stable across the 10s retries.
+	for _, d := range k8sState.DeploymentsByTime {
+		l.Info("Deleting worker deployment during cleanup", "deployment", d.Name)
+		if err := r.Delete(ctx, d); err != nil && !apierrors.IsNotFound(err) {
+			return fmt.Errorf("unable to delete worker deployment %s during cleanup (will retry): %w", d.Name, err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Step 4: Delete versions that are eligible. Versions that are still draining
 	// are force-deleted with SkipDrainage since the WD is being removed entirely.
-	// If any version fails to delete (e.g. active pollers), return an error so the
-	// reconciler requeues. Pollers disappear once pods terminate and the next
-	// reconciliation will succeed.
+	// If any version fails to delete (e.g. active pollers still draining after the
+	// Deployment delete above), return an error so the reconciler requeues. Pollers
+	// disappear once pods terminate and a subsequent reconciliation will succeed.
 	for _, version := range resp.Info.VersionSummaries {
 		buildID := version.Version.BuildID
 		l.Info("Deleting worker deployment version", "buildID", buildID)
@@ -660,7 +694,7 @@ func (r *WorkerDeploymentReconciler) handleDeletion(
 		}
 	}
 
-	// Step 4: Delete the deployment itself. This only succeeds if all versions are gone.
+	// Step 5: Delete the deployment itself. This only succeeds if all versions are gone.
 	l.Info("Attempting to delete worker deployment from Temporal server", "name", workerDeploymentName)
 	if _, err := temporalClient.WorkerDeploymentClient().Delete(ctx, sdkclient.WorkerDeploymentDeleteOptions{
 		Name:     workerDeploymentName,