Every Impossible Wrestling Return Ranked From Worst To Best
5. Stone Cold Steve Austin
Even in his older, dire years, Vince McMahon still has something to teach the new generation of bookers - even those who are better now at what he has always done.
"Huge Announcements" are very cool - they invariably herald very fun and or important things that get people hyped and make them happy! - but a surprise Steve Austin match pitched as euphoric over-delivery might just be cooler.
An incredible surprise attraction, Steve Austin's performance level at WrestleMania 38 was also incredible. He looked shaky at first, understandably, but quickly eased back into it in a spectacle best described as the composite Stone Cold experience.
He brawled, he bumped on concrete, he smashed Kevin Owens through tables, he drank beers, he commandeered an ATV with Kevin Owens in it and dropped him all over the shop with suplexes: he basically performed an angle/match hybrid, and he was always a priceless entertainment machine at each discipline.
Austin blew an entire stadium away, created an un-ironic 'WrestleMania Moment', and proved that the return need not scan with lamentable, in-it-for-the-money cynicism.
He obviously got paid a great deal, but he earned all of it.