10 WWE Wrestlers Who Should NEVER Have Come Back

"Never go back", said no wrestler ever when the price was right. But which returns were the worst?

Kurt Angle
WWE.com

Buried - in more ways than one - in this list are a series of wrestlers that have been responsible for some of the greatest moments and matches in industry history.

Legendary battles, iconic angles, stories that lasted lifetimes. The stuff that hooks you to this stuff and keeps you forever. The things promoters can only dream of. Addictions, but healthy kinds, where longterm investment is virtually assured by virtue of a life spent accepting wrestling as a habit as much as a hobby. That's what most of these performers achieved at one point or another.

All that, and then some pr*ck on the internet makes some sh*tty jokes about one sh*tty comeback.

Such is life though, eh?

Wrestling coverage is as fickle a game as wrestling itself, and those that decided to go for that elusive extra run did so fully aware of the risks. In all cases, you'd hope that enough money was doled out to make it worth the performers' while, but that's far that just something to be taken as read.

Apart from when that money comes from a less-than-ethical source...

10. Shawn Michaels

Kurt Angle
WWE.com

Shawn Michaels' first comeback in 2002 was, for an entire generation of wrestling fans, the first opportunity to watch 'The Heartbreak Kid' wrestle at all.

The business boomed like never before pretty much the day after he left it in 1998. Stone Cold Steve Austin's inexorable rise came at his expense at WrestleMania XIV, and by the time he returned four years later, the bloom was off the rose. The company was at least perfectly placed to house his skills - innumerable awesome matches would have been missing from the 2000s if not for his contributions between SummerSlam '02 and his WrestleMania XXVI retirement, but the same cannot be said for a horror choice made when millions of dollars were on the line.

Crown Jewel 2018 needed to go ahead for WWE to keep their end of a 10 year deal, even if it existed under the shadow of Jamal Khashoggi's murder. Michaels took the deal and the match, but damaged his legacy (and ultra-prestigious retirement) when he wasn't able to stop it absolutely reeking.

In this post: 
Kurt Angle
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 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 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, 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. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett