The pivotal concern in limiting the longevity of total joints is particulate debris-induced implant loosening mainly generated by the wear of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). Radiation crosslinking shows great promise for minimizing the wear of UHMWPE, but undesirably deteriorates the mechanical properties. This study aimed at simultaneously enhancing wear resistance and mechanical performance of UHMWPE by cross-linking of the UHMPWE before melt processing followed by structural manipulation. Wear rate decreased substantially from 12.1 ± 1.1 mg/MC for compression molded UHMWPE (CM-UHMWPE) to 1.5 ± 0.7 mg/MC for melt injection molded cross-linked UHMWPE (MP-xUHMWPE). Owing to imposing a shear flow, large amounts of self-reinforced oriented lamellae were formed. Mechanical properties were thus remarkably improved, which compensated for the loss of mechanical performance caused by cross-linking. Especially, the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength increased significantly by 98.3% and 51.0%, climbing to 41.6 ± 1.4 and 62.8 ± 1.3 MPa, respectively. Interestingly, melt processing recombined the residual free radicals in MP-xUHMWPE induced by radiation cross-linking, generating a notably lower oxidation level (0.7 ± 0.1) of MP-xUHMWPE compared to xUHMWPE without any thermal treatment (4.7 ± 0.4) after accelerated aging. Our work opens a radical avenue to fabricate high-performance UHMWPE bearings, enabling its use under high stress, particularly for younger and more active patients.