10 Wrestlers Who Came Crawling Back To WWE

7. Hulk Hogan (Again)

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wwe

And again and again.

This was the story of Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon once the genuine (and box office) magic of his 2002 return had well and truly worn off.

Back when discerning booking choices still had to be made based on things like buy rates and gate receipts in WWE, Hogan's value was fairly easy to gauge. His WrestleMania X8 return was an undeniable show-stealer, and his Championship victory the following month felt like the way to capitalise. As numbers plummeted though, McMahon quickly realised the thirst was for nostalgia rather than little-and-often doses of 'The Hulkster'.

Hogan didn't completely agree, and stepped away when requests to defeat Brock Lesnar at November's Survivor Series were rebuffed. All was made well for a WrestleMania bout with McMahon himself the following Spring, a Shawn Michaels story in 2005 and a SummerSlam time-filler against Randy Orton.

Each run felt more of a mutually beneficial offering than for any kind of creative impetus, and it's been the template for the two sides ever since.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.