12 WWE Stars Who Left And Returned More Bad Ass
Attitude Era Big Boss Man was definitely more menacing than before...
Recently inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame, Ray 'Big Boss Man' Traylor was one performer who played a variety of characters throughout his lengthy pro wrestling career. Gimmick names such as the Guardian Angel, Big Bubba Rogers and The Boss were used, but his most famous incarnation was when performing as The Big Boss Man.
Even though it was the same character, the version of Boss Man WWE fans witnessed from 1998 onwards was vastly different to the guy people had become accustomed to during his first stint with the company from the late-1980's into the early-90's.
Harder-edged, the character had a much more menacing tone.
Traylor isn't alone in that respect, there have been numerous examples of wrestlers leaving WWE and then returning later with a renewed emphasis on being more bad !*$%.
Some of these performers simply had cartoon-like gimmicks the first time around, only to make a comeback and appear more serious. Others just came across as more threatening, leading to a more fruitful portion of their career overall.
Here are 12 of the most notable examples of performers who returned to WWE (months or even years) after their first runs to become somewhat cooler...
12. Justin Credible
It wasn't really difficult for Peter Polaco to look cooler upon rejoining the then-WWF in 2001.
During his first stint with the company in the early-to-mid-1990's, the guy had largely been used as enhancement talent. Originally known as P.J Walker, it was his follow-up gimmick that became infamous.
Dubbed the 'Portuguese Man O' War', the wrestler was handed the name Aldo Montoya. Wearing a mask which appeared more like he had donned a jock strap, Montoya was not a raging success.
In fact, the character was borderline laughable, and nobody could treat Aldo with credibility wearing that colourful outfit. It'd take his release in 1997 and a jump to ECW for Polaco to find his feet.
Transforming into the more foreboding Justin Credible, he used that name upon rejoining the WWF years later following ECW's collapse. Forming a faction alongside X-Pac and Albert called 'X-Factor', Credible was finally taken a little more seriously, even if their Uncle Kracker entrance music was a bit regressive...