10 Times WWE Treated Home Town Talent Like Garbage
You can't go home again, they say. These WWE superstars certainly wish they hadn't.
Who doesn't love the tale of the prodigal son? The story is about a boy leaving his family and making a complete hash of his life, but still finding love and acceptance when he returns. It's a powerful idea - that no matter what a person does in their life, they will always be guaranteed a warm welcome when they come home.
Unless that person is a WWE superstar. Then things get a bit less murkier.
Over the years the WWE have presented a rather mixed take on Cody Rhodes' favourite parable. Although there have been plenty of historic moments where the local heroes enjoyed a triumphant homecoming - Trish Stratus in Montreal, CM Punk in Chicago - the WWE have also shown no hesitation in flipping the narrative.
Far from being given a hero's welcome, each entrant on this list was portrayed as an also-ran in their own backyard. Whether it was by losing matches, titles, their dignity or even all three, these are ten times the WWE treated home town talent less like the prodigal son and more like the red-headed stepchild.
10. Jinder Mahal
How quickly things can change.
In October 2017 WWE announced a super-show in New Dehli would be held the following month, and would be headlined by Jinder Mahal defending his WWE championship against Kevin Owens. Come the day of the event, Mahal found himself staring at the lights in a non-title match against Triple H.
Make no mistake - Mahal was never a great champion. He may have had the look, but his workrate fell far below modern standards and his sole promo of note was memorable for all the wrong reasons. However, the speed with which WWE piled dirt in his grave still felt harsh. Within a month of the New Dehli show being announced he was verbally torn apart by Paul Heyman on air, lost his title to AJ Styles and got jobbed out to a part-time superstar in his billed home country.
Mahal's New Dehli burial felt like WWE punishing the young superstar for failing to do justice to the belt, but the company should have been asking themselves why they gave it to him in the first place.