Best Surprise Return Ever

[Kidd]

I am going to have to go with HHH's return after he was out for almost a year with that quad tear....

From memory it was MSG, JR went completely nutso screaming "it's THE GAME, THE GAME IS BACK...."

When he walked down to the ring he just looked super massive (like he had swallowed a truck load of roids)... and everyone in the place went crazy...

I remember sitting with my brother and the 2 of us fell of our sofa in shock...

As awesome as this return was, it was not a surprise return. They had been advertising this return for weeks.

Another good one and please forgive me for not remembering hardly at all i was pretty young was when shane came out and told vince about something and vince said "the HE you are talking is not stone cold then who the hell is the HE you are talking about??!" and i was upset cause i was a huge austin fan, then seconds later "IF YOU SMELL..." and that whole crowd came unglued along with me watching. Again sorry for not remembering, but that was a hell of a return by the rock. I believe he came back after filming the rundown.

This was so awesome! I remember being so bummed that Austin had walked out on the WWE and as soon as the Rock's music hit, it was a total reversal of emotions for me.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Kane's return. I can't remember what year (Pretty sure it was 2001 or 2002). Anyway, the Un-Americans were about to set fire to the flag when the explosion went off. This had been happening for a few weeks only to have "Kane's coming back soon!" come up on the titantron. I thought this time was no different. I remember JR saying something like, "Damnit! Another vignette!"

Then a second explosion and out comes Kane who begans laying waste to the Un-Americans.

 

[goodlay]

No particular order here.

Ric Flair (2001) - This was fucking monumental, and it was right here in Charlotte. Ric returns to WWE, but not only that, he is part owner of WWE too?!! Just hearing that theme music back in WWE was amazing.

HBK (2002) - I can understand in saying 2007, but there's no way it was better than this one. Before Summerslam 2002, HBK was done. He had been done. WM 14 was his last match, his back was fucked, there was no way he was wrestling ever again....right? Wrong. Not to mention his match with HHH at Summerslam was easily one of his best ever.

Undertaker (2000) - This may not be a universal choice, but I don't care. HBK was the special ref of the Iron Man Match between Rock/HHH. McMahons/DX throw HBK out of the ring and beat the hell out of Rock. Bells toll, Taker comes out on a motorcycle and clears the ring in mere seconds. We hadn't seen Taker for 6-7 months, so this was a huge shock. Not to mention the even bigger shock that was Taker's new appearance/gimmick.

 

[Muffin Top Merkley]

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Before the return, I remember thinking for the long time that all big wrestling announcements were always a let down in the fact that they were always too predictable, or not worth the hype. When Kevin Nash announced at the start of Raw that he had a ground-shaking announcement, I expected another let down.

The return of Shawn Michaels was completely out of no where for me, and I never expected to see him return (he had been away for so long, and during an interview with WWE Confidential (a while before his return), he said that he was physically unable to compete in a wrestling ring).

Needless to say, this was one of the rare moments an earth shaking announcement held up to the hype.

 

[jmt225]

Definitely when Raven returned to ECW in 1999:

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Luckily, by the time this aired on TNN, I still hadn't heard the news (not that I had the internet back then, but there was this free hotline in Baton Rouge that gave you wrestling updates, spoilers, rumors, etc.), so when I saw it... I was ecstatic. To this day Raven is one of my all time favorite wrestlers, but back then... I really fucking loved the guy. And when he returned, to that loud of a pop, to beat a team I fucking hated, it was just an awesome, awesome moment, even if in hindsight it all went downhill from there regarding Raven's run in ECW.

Raven also made a great return to the WWF a couple years after that, but it no way surpasses this moment. Nothing does.

 

[Alex]

Another one I'd like to add is this one

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Yes Jeff Hardy's return to TNA. It was competley out of the blue, no one (including myself) was expecting it. It seemed likely that Hardy would go back to WWE at some point, but then out of the blue he turns up on Impact and (in my opinion)stole the show because TNA had managed to land Jeff Hardy.