Ranking All 24 WWE Debuts & Returns In 2023

14. Beth Phoenix

CM Punk Trish Stratus
WWE.com

Beth Phoenix’s blink-and-you-missed-it return this year consisted of one match and lasted less than a month, but it was so short and inoffensive that it merits decent placement on this list.

Phoenix returned at the Royal Rumble to back up her husband Edge in his feud with the Judgment Day, spearing Rhea Ripley to level the playing field. She and Edge challenged Finn Balor and Ripley to a mixed-tag match at Elimination Chamber, where the married couple emerged victorious.

Edge would go on to defeat Finn in a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania 39, while Phoenix would step out of the limelight. If anything though, her brief return reinforced the notion that she would be an ideal Hall-of-Fame opponent for Ripley if WWE decided to pull the trigger.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.