10 Wrestlers Who Had To Take A Break... Only To Return Better Than Ever

1. The Undertaker

In 1999, the 'Lord of Darkness’ Undertaker surprisingly started loosening up on the mic, even doing commentary for matches on Raw and SmackDown. He was suffering a groin injury and needed to compensate for his lack of in-ring action with promos and segments. He was supposed to return at Armageddon 1999 as his usual Phenom self, even appearing on the PPV poster, but towards the end of the year he also tore his pectoral muscle that would have him out of action for nearly eight months. In those eight months, Mark Calaway and the WWF had a rethink of his entire character.

He transformed into ‘The American Bad Ass’, reappearing at Judgement Day (2000) to take out the McMahon-Helmsley Faction. This persona along with his Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit themes that accompanied him to the ring are remembered fondly when he went to battle with the likes of Triple H and Kurt Angle. Especially towards to the end of 2001 when he went one further with his new gimmick by cutting his hair, losing weight, and turning heel, going on to have some of the best matches of his career.

Undertaker has said on The Broken Skull Sessions regarding the change, “I always felt like, if I started feeling stale, my audience is probably feeling it before me. I don’t think I would had made it through if I hadn’t changed when I did to go to the American Badass. The character (The Deadman), I don’t think would have lasted through the Attitude Era.”