5 Superstars whose return WWE run was more successful than their original run
Who doesn't love getting a second chance, especially when the company to work for is a professional wrestling giant like WWE? Over the years, even all-time greats like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair have worked for WWE through multiple runs, and have had success every time they've appeared for WWE.
Also, there have been some who achieved mind-boggling success during their initial runs, but failed to capitalize on the opportunities given to them years after their initial success, such as Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. However, finding someone who reappeared in WWE after a significant gap following their first release and still managed to achieve overwhelming success, even more than their initial runs, is quite rare.
Take, for example, Drew McIntyre, who has been in the WWE for only a year in his second run but is already poised for a better in-ring career than he had during his first run. This is not a new thing, as a few superstars have achieved this significant feat in the past as well. Here are 5 such superstars whose return WWE run was more successful than the original one.
#5 Christian (2009-2014)
In the eyes of WWE, Christian was never a bonafide main event star. Unlike his best friend Edge, who was the top villain in the WWE for almost 5 years, Christian rarely got the chance to showcase his talent at the top of the order despite being equally good inside the ring. As someone who was in the WWE for almost 15 years, Christian seldom gets enough credit.
Making his debut as a tag team wrestler back in 1998, the team of Edge and Christian revolutionized the art of tag team wrestling in WWE. Wrestling a number of all-time classics along with The Hardys and The Dudleys, the two accumulated 7 tag team title reigns before the two went separate ways in 2001.
Following the breakup, Christian stayed in the mid-card for most of the time, winning the Intercontinental title, Hardcore Title, European Title and 2 more Tag Titles, until he was released in 2005 after a main event run. Following his first WWE run, Christian had a highly successful run with TNA, where he won the NWA World Title twice and was a staple of their main event scene. The success of TNA not only brought Christian back to WWE in 2009, but it came alongside him.
Merely months after his return, Christian won the ECW Championship, held it one more time and lost it only on the last night of ECW. Christian's peak, however, came in 2011, when, following Edge's retirement, he won the World Heavyweight Championship twice and had a universally acclaimed feud with Randy Orton. Christian's last title run came in 2012 when he won the Intercontinental Title for the last time as he was mostly sidelined after that before hanging his boots in 2014.