10 WWE Wrestlers Who Should NEVER Have Come Back
9. Stone Cold Steve Austin
Though it really doesn't hold up to scrutiny if watched week-to-week, enough people have nostalgic memories of Steve Austin's Raw General Manager/Sheriff runs between 2003 and 2004 that it can have a pass this time around. But as early as 2005, it was becoming increasingly clear that WWE couldn't really be a*sed to treat 'The Rattlesnake' that seriously.
Austin knew it too. He walked out of a pay-per-view payday when he was asked to lose to Jonathan Coachman, and turned semi-regular spots into occasional cameos as the years passed. On and off relations with the company resulted podcast/interview projects coming and going on the Network, but he remarkably became something of an elusive figure on reunions and get-togethers until Raw 25...when they absolutely f*cked it with him.
Called upon to open the show and not say a single word during a segment with The McMahons, Austin was marginalised as a single issue Stunner machine. Attempts to rectify that fateful night have over-reached, with his 2019 and 2020 appearances going way too long out of sheer necessity rather than carefully-thought-out creative.