50 Ups & 50 Downs For WWE's Decade: The 2010s
16. Forgiving, Forgetting & Finally Paying Tribute
Yet another positive element brought forth by Triple H rather that Vince McMahon, the re-emergence of many old faces on product that had once frozen them out has been far more common this decade than at any point in the company's history.
The old adage used to be painfully true - nobody ever left on good terms. In the 1980s it was because of diametric philosophical opposition, in the 1990s WCW's major money offers, and the 2000s because McMahon no longer had the time nor truck for sentimentality.
If not Hunter himself, something must have played to McMahon's softer side in later years. Wrestlers thought never to be part of the product again are unearthed for moving Hall Of Fame moments, then given beautiful sendoffs when they sadly pass. For all the organisation does wrong, it services fans with the memories and matches of anybody it chooses in its position as the gatekeeper of all wrestling.
For such a narrative to not be entirely and laughably false, this embrace was as necessary as it was welcomed.