10 WWE Returns That Came Out Of Nowhere
"WTF LOL"
Jeff Jarrett's 2019 WWE return (those five words are insane) didn't quite come out of nowhere.
Jarrett's 2018 induction into the Hall of Fame (those eight words are insane) almost guaranteed an Old School RAW cameo or, at the very least, a Table For 3 appearance - which did happen, alongside Road Dogg and Elias. What we didn't expect, because it was contrived as hell and there are 324 active members of the roster, was for Jeff Jarrett to enter the Royal Rumble match in the #2 slot. We might have been kinder - Jarrett was great value as a worker and showman in the mid-1990s - but the idea of the epic event actually ending was, by that point, as inconceivable as the notion of Vince McMahon ever forgiving him.
The timing didn't help, but you had to marvel at Jarrett's incredible carny instincts. He is the Forrest Gump of professional wrestling, only he's never led a feature. Ain't he great at working every single last angle? The guy was in the nWo and the Bullet Club. He is with everybody's baby tonight.
Similarly, the following returns rendered you slack-jawed in sheer WTF disbelief, compelling you to text your famous pro wrestler brother "WTF LOL thought they were dead"...
10. Gangrel
A cult favourite here at WhatCulture Towers, we like Gangrel because he is a shared, unforgettable monument of our Attitude Era adolescence and, by wrestling standards, he seems a very decent chap. He's an amiable dork who loves vampire culture so much that he gave himself shoot fangs.
We love Gangrel.
Vince McMahon did not like Gangrel for this reason. To recap: Vince McMahon has conceived of and promoted race car drivers, waste disposal technicians, magicians, pirates, evil dentists, evil monks, evil hockey players, anthropomorphic turkeys, and sneaky burglars - but a vampire character was deemed too stupid. The Brood, to a reluctant Vince, acted purely as a platform to get Edge over, and once that mission was halfway accomplished, he force-fed Gangrel garlic on the way out of the door.
All of which made his return a very odd, is-this-real-life sort of deal. Drafted in by JBL as pawns in a game with rival the Undertaker - "Hey Heath, your ass still sore from last time?!" - Gangrel and Viscera, having assaulted the Undertaker the previous week, faced off against the Dead Man in a handicap match.
The Undertaker character, incidentally, is also undead. And he's Vince's most enduring favourite.