4 current WWE stars who returned straight into the title picture

Usually, in WWE, the next challenger for the WWE or Universal Title is chosen because of their run of good performances or a string of back-to-back wins. Sometimes there's even a #1 contender match.

Typically this would be someone who has been around for the last few months and has been steadily rising up the ranks, but conversely, WWE also has a tendency to overlook these people.

Instead, the company will quite often happily have someone else jump to the front of the queue simply because of who they are. In fact, we've seen it happen several times in the last few months.

Here are four WWE Superstars who have recently returned to WWE, only to get entered into the title picture straight away.

#4. Sasha Banks returns on WWE SmackDown to team up with, and then attack, Bianca Belair

.@SashaBanksWWE comes to the aid of @BiancaBelairWWE! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/gsox7DZ3YL
— WWE (@WWE) July 31, 2021

The Boss Sasha Banks made her WWE return on this week's SmackDown teaming up with Bianca Belair to take on the thrown-together tag-team of Carmella and Zelina Vega.

However, Banks would betray Bianca Belair by attacking her after their match and making it clear that she's looking to regain the SmackDown Women's Title that she lost at WrestleMania.

Banks had been absent from WWE since WrestleMania and even though the match hasn't been made official yet, it very much looks like she's just returned straight into the #1 contenders spot ahead of everyone else on the roster.

#3. John Cena comes back to WWE and immediately goes after Roman Reigns and the Universal Title

Your official #SummerSlam poster is HERE.

The #UniversalTitle will be on the line at Your Summer Vacation Destination when @JohnCena challenges @WWERomanReigns, streaming LIVE, August 21 on @peacockTV in the U.S. and @WWENetwork everywhere else. @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/kfFTCp1KPS
— WWE (@WWE) July 31, 2021

A WWE Superstar as big as John Cena should absolutely be in the title picture, and when he returned at Money in the Bank to confront The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns, many were expecting it, and were happy with it.

However, WWE decided to throw a curveball into the mix by having Reigns turn down Cena's challenge and instead accept the challenge of an also returning Finn Balor.

This would've been fine, but next week WWE then immediately undid this by having Cena hijack the contract signing (after Baron Corbin attempted to) and inexplicably sign Balor's contract, which WWE officials said was legitimate, making Cena vs. Reigns at SummerSlam official.