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WWE: From CM Punk to The Rock – 12 biggest returns in WWE history

By Tom Colohue

Shawn Michaels (R) and Triple H, of D-Generation X, celebrate their win during a tag team match as part of as part of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Crown Jewel pay-per-view at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh on November 2, 2018. (Photo by Fayez Nureldine / AFP) (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)
Shawn Michaels (R) and Triple H, of D-Generation X, celebrate their win during a tag team match as part of as part of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Crown Jewel pay-per-view at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh on November 2, 2018. (Photo by Fayez Nureldine / AFP) (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images) /
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9. John Cena

It isn’t possible to ignore a name as huge as John Cena, but this comes with the extra caveat that Cena is literally inhuman in his recovery time. Cena transformed MSG, transformed the Rumble and transformed WWE programming for everything that followed.

Before his injury, Cena was still by and large the old Doctor of Thugonomics character, despite the writing clearly being on the wall. This was the start of the child favorite John Cena and the tight grip of PG that came with it. It was also the continuation of John Cena’s seemingly unending grip on the WWE championship that wouldn’t end until Cena ushered in the Era of Wyatt at the Elimination Chamber several years ago.

Cena would use this moment to become probably the most important wrestler in the company for near a decade. He walked into the Royal Rumble as the top man in the industry; a place from which he would not be removed for a very, very long time.

8. Shane McMahon

Despite everything that’s happened since, including a near unanimously decried amount of victories and screen time, the return of Shane McMahon in early 2016 was truly one of the biggest surprises that WWE had offered in a very long time. The former boy wonder had quite literally gone away to seek his fortune to tremendous success and returned older, wiser and ready to go.

Of course he also completely forgot that the moment that there was a tall structure to jump off of. And jump off things he did. And he did again. And he did again. Shane McMahon always jumped off of things and somehow he continues to do so.

Shane’s return heralded in the brand new brand split, which takes us to where we are now. It saw Vince McMahon calling The Undertaker his b**** and it started one of the most compelling mysteries in WWE history: the lock box. The dirt that Shane McMahon had on Vince. When we found out the answer to that, we were all stunned, weren’t we? Oh right, we never found out.

Since then, we’ve seen one of the most successful brand split launches ever given just how powerful the start of SmackDown Live was. Shane of course became the best in the world and now, finally, he’s off TV. What a shame. What a very very shame.

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