Worst Returns

[knocturnal]

What have been some of the worst returns that you've seen in wrestling and why do you feel that way. Was it the way that they returned, the fact that they returned with little to no fan fare or once they returned they were just sort of there with nothing to do and maybe creative should have kept them off of our screens until they had something better planned.

 

[Killercam]

The first one that comes to mind for me was Warriors third return at Mania 12. First of all the card could have sold without his return, so he probably should have returned after Mania (shortly after Hall & Nash left) to have a bigger impact. They also ruined it by having him in a squash match with Trips (who was a non-factor then so it was way too obvious this would just be a squash). If they were so concerned about him returning at Mania they should have done an angle with him and Piper (since Piper had a match at that Mania against Goldust, who was IC champ and feuding with Razor at the time), this could have also set up Goldust going over Ramon at Mania. I think this return ruined Warriors career. He could have held out longer to return to WWF and done something with Austin or just skipped this return altogether and could have made a bigger splash with his WCW return (which I think was in 97 and could have been the first time we'd seen Warrior in 5 years)

 

[Wolf Pac]

Mr. Perfect. His return at the Royal Rumble 2002 was fantastic and watching it you'd think he would've been in line for a nice last run but the WWE barely used him after and whenever they did, he lost all of his matches and was placed in a short-lived tag team with the Big Bossman. I'm not saying he should've been pushed for a run at the World Title, he was never main event material imo, but he could've had one last run with the IC Title and had some amazing mid-card feuds over the belt with guys like RVD, Edge and whoever was in the division at the time. I've always wanted to see Perfect face Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania X8 (with Angle as the babyface) but they missed out on that opportunity too and put him on the dark card instead.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The first one that springs to mind is a recent one: Sting's return to TNA this past Thursday. It may have been the most completely lackluster return I've seen for a wrestler in my lifetime.

TNA was doing the whole 1-3-13 videos and all that. They hyped Sting's return for a few weeks, and throughout the show last Thursday. I think everyone was expecting some big event, Sting coming out for a big segment in which he'd address some things before maybe getting down to business, he'd bask in the glow of the adulation of the fans, etc. Instead, all we got was Sting just strolling down to the ring with his baseball bat on his shoulder wearing his tights and a t-shirt. He gave a few whacks to Aces & Eights and that was pretty much it.

It just seemed like a pretty decent amount of build but with a ho hum payoff. Sting just came out there like he hadn't been gone from TNA for a while. It just didn't work out in my eyes. He's back now, of course, but I thought the point of hyping a big return was to actually have a big return.

 

[Brewski]

The first one that springs to mind is a recent one: Sting's return to TNA this past Thursday. It may have been the most completely lackluster return I've seen for a wrestler in my lifetime.

TNA was doing the whole 1-3-13 videos and all that. They hyped Sting's return for a few weeks, and throughout the show last Thursday. I think everyone was expecting some big event, Sting coming out for a big segment in which he'd address some things before maybe getting down to business, he'd bask in the glow of the adulation of the fans, etc. Instead, all we got was Sting just strolling down to the ring with his baseball bat on his shoulder wearing his tights and a t-shirt. He gave a few whacks to Aces & Eights and that was pretty much it.

It just seemed like a pretty decent amount of build but with a ho hum payoff. Sting just came out there like he hadn't been gone from TNA for a while. It just didn't work out in my eyes. He's back now, of course, but I thought the point of hyping a big return was to actually have a big return.

I agree Sting's return last week was lame since he really just showed up and started hitting people with the bat. It wasn't anything memorable but I would argue that I didn't really need to be. Sting really hadn't been gone that long so I think the promos were really uncalled for. I think TNA was just trying to get hype so viewers would come back after the new year and before Genesis. The problem was is that they also made it seem that Sting coming back would be special. Imagine if he just came back without any vignettes and it wouldn't be anything worth complaining about, it would be like the last time he came back after the initial A8 attack.

Without thinking back too far Chris Jericho's last return was just bad since he really didn't accomplish anything. I'm mixed on the idea of him coming out and not saying anything since it really did get heat from everyone including "smarks" so it did serve its purpose, just maybe not as well as planned.

 

[fenderjapan]

Davey Boy Smith's Attitude Era return.

Its not so much that he had a completely bad run or anything. But I feel, personally, that he could have and should have been the WWE Champion at least once. He had a match with the Rock and was in the Six-Pack Challenge...those were the only real main-event caliber moments of DBS' last WWE run.

I suppose if WWE knew about his drug problems at the time that could be why he didn't get a main event push but I still wish he had.

 

[HBsam31]

Sting's return immediately popped into my mind. He just ran out like he was never gone at all. Swung the bat a few times, and that was it. With all the return videos I expected at least a little bit of fanfare. Christian's return to the WWE was another one that came to mind. He just randomly returned on an episode of ECW, had a match, and that was about it. He went on to be a main eventer, but his return was not so great. I can't even remember that they announced it before hand. I always thought they could have done a bit more.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Jericho's return last year. All those video packages. Coming out and not saying a word. I still can't believe people were impressed by that. Making out like Jericho was so talented for doing it. Anybody could've walked out there and done nothing for 15 minutes. Ted DiBiase. Yoshi Tatsu. Point is, it was boring and shit. It led to nothing. And all that "she" business lol

Also Sting's return last week for sure.

 

[HBsam31]

Another one that came to my mind was Christian's return to the WWE after being in TNA. He just kind of showed up to a match on ECW and the commentators just kind of acted like he was never gone. I know Christian wasn't one of Vince's top guys, but I think he could have returned with some actual videos and build. He has always had a good fan following, and his return could have been bigger than what it was.

 

[Wald]

Honestly I would go for the nWo's return/debut in the WWE.

I mean here you have the three guys who created most famous & dominant heel faction in wrestling history, one that almost put the WWF out of business. Couple that with the return of Razor & Diesel, two of the biggest stars they had in the 90s AND the return of Hulk Hogan, the guy who made the company, after a 9 year absence. This is the biggest return/debut in the history of wrestling waiting to happen!

So they announced by Vince doing his mega-heel nonsense and have nWo written on the back of his chair as he turns around at the end of the show.

The crowd reaction was zero, the moment when they came out at No Way Out lessened. Bah it annoys me to even think about today.

How hard would it have been to open a Raw or the No Way Out PPV with JR & Lawler talking about what's coming up before this the screen suddenly goes to black, the film burns up and the familiar New World Order voice hits with the music playing. Why not do it during a Rock promo? Hell make up some way for Austin & Rock to be in the ring together and do it then!

That could have been the biggest pop in wrestling history

 

[BaconBits]

Goldberg's return to WCW after he cut his arm was the lame as fuck.

I mean, he had some of the best entrance music EVER. So they replace it with some bullshit Megadeth track that sucked ass. Then, instead of having his music hit when some type of calamity is going down in the ring and have him clean house to reassert his dominance, they just have him come out on the stage to declare that "I'm back".

It was just pure shit. I suppose it was to be expected, though, WCW by that time was just a giant clusterfuck of horrible writing and booking.

 

[Just Do It]

Foley 2012 return. I didn't mind the segment with Cena as bad as others hated it, but how he was used after that. Appearing at Wrestlemania with Santino to promote a fishing show. Jesus Christ.

Foley fell down hard.

It would appear with his HOF indiction looming he is about to go up a few notches again. But deep down, he must know in his heart the peers he had in his prime would NEVER have been treated as bad as he was at Mania 28.

 

[dukes07]

Bret Hart: April 2000. To be fair he was injured but it was still pretty damn weak. Also his 2010 return while memorable in some aspects and a lot of it was not his fault due to his injury but it still had a lot of dull moments. His WM match being a big one.

Some of HBK's returns throughout 98-9 were underwhelming.

Jericho 2012: Supposedly he was set to win the Rumble but it was changed at the last moment. This killed any heat and hurt his feud with Punk. It also could have been used to elevate Punk more.

Lesnar 2012: You spend 5 million or more to bring this guy back, to hopefully lure some fans back and then job him in three weeks and no sell everything. Terrible.

Warrior 96: Oh boy....People have said enough on this. Now, and I will gladly take flack for this: I did not mind parts of his 98 return. I found it actually entertaining in a masochistic way.

nWo 02: I detailed this on a thread. But unlike an above poster, I saw NWO 02 and thought the pop was quite large. But he is correct in that it was handled quite poorly.

Neidhart and Bulldog in WCW.

Raven in WWF: Handled so badly and relegated right to midcard. Same with Tazz. A solid debut then beaten by HHH soon after.

Hogan in TNA: His and Hart's return got me back into wrestling. I watched some TNA before he arrived to get acquainted. I fell in love with Desmond Wolfe and his feud with Angle. And while the nostalgia factor was great, it quickly wore off. The Hogan era buried more talent to elevate old timers. I think it set TNA back and it still has not fully recovered.

Big Show 99: Vince mocked Bischoff for not knowing what to do with a giant and then jobbed him to Austin. He got his title only because his contract said he would get a title reign. Then they kept changing his character keeping him irrelevant for years.

I would include Piper in 96 but I enjoyed that part. It was when he jumped the shark the following year with some long ass, rambling promos. When he brought out his friends to try out to fight for him prior to the Uncensored PPV. Thank God Bischoff nixed that shit.

And finally DDP and the rest of WCW in 01. No wonder millions left wrestling.

I am sure there are more but those are the ones that stand out.

 

[OnceMeansOnce]

Kevin Nash's 2011 return! Was great to see him come out at that years Royal Rumble. I had heard he signed a multi-year contract with WWE but then hardly anything! Im not sure if it was due to injury or what but was really let down.

 

[Toron]

All of Jericho's returns.

They're all undeserved build-up, and then no payoff.

And, ultimately, it's always just the same, boring ol' Jericho who returns, and nothing ever matters or happens. That happend with his return last year, and I'm sure that's going to happen with his return this year.

It seems to me the only time Jericho really had a somewhat...memorable return was when he returned the 1st time with short hair. And that was only because he had actually been gone from the company for a while, if I remember correctly. It wasn't something like 6 months, it was closer to 2 years. But also because he had short hair (which to this day, I still don't like). And then afterwards I believe he went on to actually have some sort of successful run, but to be honest, all I remember was his short hair.

 

[NotJerryMcDevitt]

I will have to say Jericho's very first return as a savior.

It was supposed to be his epic return to wrestling, after being a supposed Rockstar he finally found his way back to his original profession.

And wow did they try to make this bigger than his original debut in 2001, they made countless vignettes with hidden clues, Jericho was mysteriously brought up more and more by commentators and on WWE.com and the fans were into it too, as they wee able to decipher all of the vignettes rather flawlessly.

And then it happened everyone was hyped for Jericho to kick some ass and take some names and he did when he came back in an epic way by ... beating up Randy Orton while wearing a chain wallet ...

He looked like a middle aged Boyz2Men reject, was a face and had no-one to actually oppose other than JBL. Yes, all of the build-up led to a Face Jericho facing a heel JBL in a mediocre match for no title. The WWE tried hard for Jericho to become a new top face but had to face the harsh reality that he is pretty bad as a clean cut babyface.

This run led to nothing and Jericho had to turn heel in order to save himself.

Bad return.

 

[cawsnallthis]

My worst return ever is every time Hogan returned. I despise Hogan, always have. Every time he left, I hoped he would never, ever return. So every time he did return, it was the worst return ever. You may now return to your own returns.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Blackjack Mulligan.

His last go-around with WWE was so stunted, I can't even remember exactly when it was to have occurred, although it had to have been mid-90's because the Attitude Era hadn't started yet. (His Wikipedia page says he retired in 1988, but this had to be later than that. Maybe it didn't register because he never performed).

It was to be the last round-up for Mulligan before retirement and I remember a bunch of filmed vignettes featuring Mulligan as a rough, tough cowboy, riding the range like the Marlboro Man. He spoke of his life and times.

Of course, all of it was to lead to a return to WWE rings.......but it never happened. The vignettes were aired for a few weeks, and then.....poof. No Mulligan, no mention why. A non-event.

I never knew what happened (or didn't happen) and never read a thing about it afterward. I was disappointed, because I had heard lots of great things he did in the 70's and was looking forward to seeing him in the ring.