10 Times Wrestling Legends Returned (And NOBODY Cared)
The Great Khali at least got a reaction. Brian Christopher, on the other hand...
The shock return is often deemed one of pro wrestling's most worshipped facets.
There's a certain level of indulgence that stems from it. The immense satisfaction from the first beat of that fabled entrance track followed by the jubilant visual of seeing a wounded grappler or a legend from yesteryear reemerging in front of a typically boisterous audience is a feeling like no other in pro wrestling or indeed any art-form. Your writer, an otherwise inattentive MCU viewer, felt the same joy during Spider-Man: No Way Home's Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire's fervent appearances that was felt by a diehard viewer three cinema rows ahead; surround yourself with the right crowd and anything can have a delectable aura attached to it.
In pro wrestling, the shock return can, quite easily, go appallingly wrong.
Paul 'Triple H' Levesque's myriad of 2022 re-signings for WWE was archetypal of how the comeback of a once-idolised grappler can go so erroneously astray. The Good Brothers were scarcely on television until only recently. Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae are no longer the cherished NXT power couple they were just two years ago. Eric Young may as well have not answered Papa H's texts.
When you're a legend, however, the response is usually more welcoming and cordial. Usually...
10. D'Lo Brown (2008)
D'Lo Brown was silver amongst a treasure trove of prototypically golden Attitude Era grapplers, peaking in an era when The Rock, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Triple H, and a horde of other auspicious performers did so, too. He was inherently born into the wrong era and although D'Lo stood out from his fellow career mid-carders, he does not stand out as an Attitude Era great.
Perhaps, then, this is why his 2008 comeback played out in front of a joyless audience.
Competing in a throng of untelevised bouts preceded D'Lo Brown's initially-thrilling re-signing with WWE, his televised return coming on the 21 July 2008 broadcast of Monday Night Raw. Battering Santino Marella, he showed flickers of optimism, utilising a harsh repertoire heavily influenced by his time spent in Japan. His seated Lariat was executed with the sort of violence and velocity you'd typically associate with Tomohiro Ishii. It was sickeningly sumptuous.
If you ask the Uncasville, Connecticut audience though, it may as well have been Rodney Mack who'd resurfaced. They weren't fazed by D'Lo's return, nor did they have any reason to be. WWE themselves marred the comeback by relegating Brown to goober status within weeks of his comeback before cutting him altogether the following January, citing "budget issues".
It's funny how things change over the years.