11 MORE WWE Returns That IMMEDIATELY Backfired
5. Brock Lesnar (2025)
WWE had to know that there'd be significant backlash once Brock Lesnar returned to action at SummerSlam 2025. After all, Lesnar had been mentioned in the ongoing legal issues involving Vince McMahon and ex-WWE employee Janel Grant, and that had stopped the promotion from using him from at the 2024 Royal Rumble. His last match before that was a loss to Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam 2023.
The company steered clear of Lesnar chat as much as possible following this, but he eventually launched a comeback by attacking John Cena following the main event at SummerSlam 2025. Yes, he was on the sidelines for 2 solid years. As expected, many expressed their disgust with WWE for bringing Brock back into the fold, and Cena himself even distanced himself from the decision making by claiming that he wasn't handpicking his retirement tour opponents.
Not all of them, at least.
Lesnar then embarked on a mini-comeback tour that included a rubbish in-ring skit with R-Truth on the 12 September SmackDown and a match with Cena (one reminiscent of their SummerSlam 2014 squash) at the Wrestlepalooza show on 20 September. Since then, Brock has been back under wraps, and it remains to be seen what's coming next.
Was the aggro worth it? Bringing Lesnar back in was always going to be controversial, and there have been reports that several behind the scenes at WWE weren't too comfortable with it. Management may reason that he's too big a star to keep on ice forever, but they had to realise that they'd receive a ton of flak for using Brock again.