8 Best Second Act WWE Careers Ever

Second chances are rare in life, but rarer in professional wrestling. A wrestler can work for years to get to WWE, flirt briefly with success, then fizzle out on national television. In the harsh light of the arena, staying relevant is even harder than becoming relevant; if the crowd loses interest, or management becomes infatuated with the next flavor of the month, it’s difficult for even a talented performer to maintain momentum.

Factor in an ill-timed injury or leave of absence, and a once-august career is floundering. After all, it’s a business built on getting over at the expense of somebody else, there are few spots at the top, and no shortage of hungry competitors waiting to take advantage of a veteran who has lost a step. Because of this constant influx of talent, even former champions and main-eventers can find themselves moving inexorably down the card and eventually off of it. Many find it impossible to reverse this downward momentum, and therefore settle in for a battery of high school gymnasium shows and autograph signings, punctuated by sporadic nostalgia appearances in the big leagues.

Once in a great while, though, a truly great performer can find the will to resist retirement or stagnation. This list does not deal in lackluster rehashes or shallow nostalgia; rather, these are guys who had genuine late-career renaissances and wound up shining just as bright, or even brighter than they did in their supposed primes.

In the 1990s, Dave "Fit" Finlay appeared in WCW as the Belfast Bruiser, working an intense series with William (then Steven) Regal. However, as with most of WCW's talented undercard workers, his skills were consistently overlooked in favor of innumerable nWo rehashes. In 1999, a terrible nerve injury suffered in an ill-conceived junkyard match derailed what momentum he did have, and when the company folded, Finlay quietly retired to work as a road agent and trainer for the WWE.

As it turned out, Fit Finlay was pretty awesome at his job. His work as the mentor of the Divas division resulted in its so-called Golden Age; Victoria, Trish Stratus, Molly Holly and Gail Kim have credited much of their success to Finlay's support and guidance. This excellence engendered so much goodwill with the company that Finlay -- at 48 years old -- was allowed to return to the ring. Finlay had a vicious feud with Bobby Lashley, undoubtedly the best of the latter's career, culminating in a US championship win for the so-called "Fighting Irish Bastard."

Finlay even defeated two reigning world champions in this period -- Booker T and Rey Mysterio -- in non-title encounters. A far cry from the man whose career was supposed to have ended in a junkyard seven years prior.