10 Superstars Who Burned WWE Bridges… But Still Returned
Because never say never in the wrestling business, right?
Regardless of how many times wrestling fans think that the famed 'never say never' phrase isn't applicable, that there's no way that WWE and Superstar A could ever possibly do business together, that there's too much bad blood between the two parties to ever feasibly work alongside each other, the wrestling world has a strange way of proving us all wrong.
It's no secret that Vince McMahon and his company have had some extremely public falling outs with a whole host of wrestling names over the decades. More often than not, the names in question may have done something stupid, offensive, or it could just be that some major shots were subsequently fired at WWE once that talent had left the promotion.
Still, just when you think there's no way back for a superstar, it's more often the case that bridges don't remain burned forever. After all, McMahon is business savvy and will happily eat crow if he feels that bringing a name back into the fold is best for business and best for his own personal bank balance.
Here, then, are ten superstars who spectacularly burned their bridges with WWE, yet somehow ended up returning to work for Vince McMahon's company.
10. Bret Hart
Nobody has ever had as much hatred for Vince McMahon as Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart. Following the infamous Montreal Screwjob, Hart didn’t hold back on giving his thoughts on Vince and his company.
Completely blowing the kayfabe door wide open, Bret told anyone who would listen that he was screwed over by McMahon after the finish of the Survivor Series '97 main event was changed without his knowledge.
Reiterating just how much this relationship had soured, the last interaction that Bret and Vince had during the Canadian’s legendary WWE run was Hart knocking VKM on his ass. An extremely public fallout followed, years of hatred simmered, and things were only made a thousand times worse by the tragic death of Owen Hart in 1999.
The seeds for a Bret Hart WWE return were first sowed in 2005 when Bret agreed to work with the company on a DVD release centred on The Excellence of Execution, and Hart was then by inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006. Since then, Bret has been in and out of WWE, and has actually had a handful of 'matches'.
Even now, Bret Hart can be found regularly making jibes about WWE, Vince McMahon, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels. Yet WWE still welcomes The Hitman back for special appearances from time to time.