15 WWE Returns That IMMEDIATELY Backfired

In the immediate aftermath of CM Punk's iconic "pipe bomb" promo in June 2011, nobody sat down and said: 'Y'know what'd really kick this into high gear? A confusing sub-story starring Kevin Nash'. WWE thought that was a fab idea, so they brought 'Big Sexy' back at SummerSlam to attack Punk and open the door for Alberto Del Rio to cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase.

This cut the 'Summer Of Punk' off at the knees, and wasn't a surface level "dumb" return that turned out to be genius. That was true at SummerSlam even before Nash got to his weird claims about receiving a text from Triple H even thought it turned out it wasn't actually Triple H texting from Triple H's phone. Yeah. That explanation sucked bad. This was the age of scripted promos, and it seemed even Kev was mystified by the plot he was asked to spew.

Punk's "pipe bomb" on John Cena, Vince McMahon and WWE in general broke the fourth wall, referenced New Japan, mentioned ROH and came across as something completely refreshing in an otherwise sanitised corporate world. Rather than capitalising on that and Punk's disappearance with the WWE Title post-MITB, the promotion crowned an interim champ then had Diesel launch into a mini-feud with CM after that.

Fans there live were always going to react to Nash, but his comeback didn't make sense unless he literally was there to help out Hunter. Apparently, that was far too simple a concept for the weary creative team to fathom. They went with Kevin and Trips at loggerheads as Punk's hot summertime shoot became less and less of a concern.

Backfired is putting it mildly.