10 Awesome WWE Stars Who Returned Even Better Than Before

Chris Jericho’s first stint with the WWE was anything but a failure. After debuting in August of 1999, he became a Grand Slam Champion within just over two years, with his most notable achievement coming at Vengeance 2001 when he beat both The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in a single night to become the inaugural Undisputed Champion.

Now, his second run with the company may not have produced that kind of defining moment, but it did provide us with arguably the very best work of his entire career. And with that now lasting 26 years and counting, that’s no small feat.

The reason behind Jericho’s time off was entirely self-imposed; he was "disenchanted" with wrestling and "wasn't interested in being there", which is perhaps understandable when you’ve got a rock band on the side to keep you occupied in the meantime.

Still, Y2J would eventually come back in late 2007, and soon after he began developing his character like never before. The transformation saw him strip away the popular facets of the Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla gimmick, and he instead started donning suits, using intentionally pretentious words and coming across as “very calm, cool and collected, and a complete psycho as well”.

Artistically, this was Chris Jericho at the very top of his game, and the resultant feud against Shawn Michaels ranks as the best work of his career, or anybody else’s for that matter.