10 Times You Thought Wrestlers Were Finished (& Were DEAD WRONG!)
Thought these famous WWE careers were over? Think again. The best was yet to come!
There's nothing like a serotonin boost of 'that wrestler proved me wrong' energy!
There are few things more enjoyable as a wrestling fan than someone defying the odds to buck expectations and return from a potentially-career ending injury. The same goes for when workers manage to thumb their noses at age or roar back after a particularly depressing series of slow death-style matches.
Quick note on the latter: Fans might grumble via social media, and everyone's capable of being a huge critic, but most would agree that it's heartwarming to see in-ring favourites doing well nearer the end of their careers. You're allowed to shake heads at the worst of it, but can also dry your eyes after weeping tears of joy when they get things back on track.
It's even better when nobody sees it coming/when people have made peace with the end.
Both WWE and AEW are included here. There's even some crossover between both companies. Just when you thought somebody was finished in the former, off they went to the latter and experienced wrasslin' revitalisation. That works both ways...
10. Ricky Steamboat
Pre-2009, you'd have had to go all the way back to WCW in 1994 to find a Ricky Steamboat match. Literally. The 'Dragon' didn't work a lick after that, and his only cameos came via TNA and ROH. Nobody was predicting a sensational return to form for one of the greatest in-ring babyfaces of his generation.
Steamboat was the sole highlight amongst fellow legends during a fairly dire three-on-one vs. Chris Jericho at WrestleMania XXV. Both Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka looked like they had trouble walking, never mind taking bumps, but Ricky was different - he worked some shockingly slick exchanges with 'Y2J' that had fans on their feet.
The people craved more, and they'd get it.
Ricky returned to work Jericho in a singles at Backlash later the same month. Then, the former NWA fave went on a riotous house show tour and had his fill of big pops before stepping back into the shadows. It was over as quickly as it had started, but Steamboat's reprisal had shown anyone filing him under '100% retired' was dead wrong.