Best Career Revival?

[Guest jm29195]

As the title states, which American wrestler had the best year(s) of their career or a brilliant comeback despite being written off as either to old, to broken down, or just as generally crap in the ring for many years?

 

 

I'd say Savage from 97 through to GAB 98 wrestled like a man half his age and certainly with an energy and fire that put all the other big names at the time (Hogan, Piper etc) to shame... of course he came back as a steroid bloated shell of his former self in 99 but he can still look back and be proud of his 97/98 work.

[Guest Ransome]

As the title states, which American wrestler had the best year(s) of their career or a brilliant comeback despite being written off as either to old, to broken down, or just as generally crap in the ring for many years?

I realise this doesn't exactly fit the criteria of your question, but when I read the topic title I immediately thought of Eddie Guerrero.

 

After being taken off of WWF TV for addiction problems in 2001 and his subsequent firing, I really thought that would be the end of his career. To his credit, he immediately rebounded on the independent circuit, working his ass off with matches that forced the WWE to take notice and rehire him in 2002. Two years later, he would be walking into Wrestlemania with the WWE Heavyweight title, and retaining it to boot.

 

Along with Benoit, Eddie has one of the truly great and inspirational 'stories' in pro-wrestling. I can't think of any other wrestler that hit rockbottom then made it to the top in such a short period of time.

[The Decemberists 0]

Hogan turning heel at BatB 96.

 

From a horribley stale super hero face, back to being, for about a year, the number one draw in the US again. The matches still sucked, but in terms of being a draw it was a pretty awesome turn around.

[King Kamala 0]

I'm a big fan of Rick Martel's revival in 1998, to me it came from nowhere. I didn't even know he was still around and all of a sudden he's a solid midcarder and has the TV title. Too bad his comeback was ended prematurely.

[Guest Fook]

Regal, like Eddie, completely turned his career around after being released from the WWF.

[Team Angle Pusher 0]

Chris Candido?

[eiker_ir 0]

Ric Flair after the plane accident went to become a wrestling legend.

[Just John 0]

Steve Austin after his heel turn in 2001. He ditched the stale face gimmick he had for 3 years, and started cutting fresher promos and wrestling smarter and better matches.

 

Shawn Michaels in 2002. After 4 years on the shelf, he came back and started working solid matches and got incredibly over after his face turn.

[Fökai 0]

Hogan. No ifs, ands or buts.

 

His heel turn is the epitome of a career revival.

[iliketurtles 0]

Hogan in 1996 AND 2002. Can't forget his comeback to the WWF when everyone figured he was done after the whole Russo deal in WCW.

 

Michaels in 2002 as well. I never thought he'd still be wrestling today. I figured he'd be back one more time and that was it.

[Gary Floyd 0]

-Eddie in '04

-Hogan in '96

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

Goldust's last run in the WWE. Most folks had wrote him of as a has been. At first I didn't like the angle with Booker T but, the rapport between those two and the way they worked as a tag team really showed how far Dustin had come.

[Guest JebusNassedar]

'Hardcore' era Terry Funk

Eddie

Keiji Mutoh

Tazmaniac

[Guest Edgehead]

Austin 3:16

[Jericholic82 0]

I'm a big fan of Rick Martel's revival in 1998, to me it came from nowhere. I didn't even know he was still around and all of a sudden he's a solid midcarder and has the TV title. Too bad his comeback was ended prematurely.

me too, Martel looked better than he had in years and actually gasp got pushed.

 

I'd say Backlund in 94, his heel turn got him perhaps more over as a heel than he ever was as the face champ years ago. too bad he got squashed by Nash after he won the belt.

[Shooting Star 0]

Nobody gave a shit about Hogan in 94 and 94 and then BANG! NWO get's him fucking over.

 

Shawn Michaels I was CERTAIN would never eeeeeeeever Wrestle again and then he comes back and starts handing out 4 and 5 star matches.

[Guest Crimson Idol]

k-Kwik

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

k-Kwik

I'll second that.

 

Hogan, HBK and Austin take the win place and show, however.

[TheFranchise 0]

Ric Flair after the plane accident went to become a wrestling legend.

Awh nuts, I thought of this and hoped nobody would think of it.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

Shane Douglas and Raven had a damn solid feud when both of them had been pretty much written off.

[Guest JerichosHi-Lite]

Awesome topic.

 

To reiterate what most everybody else said, Hogan's WCW heel turn, Shawn Michaels in 2002 and Stone Cold in 2001. Especially with the dramatic change in Austin's character, which I actually didn't think would get over, but he was awesome in the crazed-psycho character.

 

Don't know if this really counts, but I always think of Mick Foley in 2003/2004 in his feud with Randy Orton. To think he came back, lost a scary amount of weight, bumped, bled, put Orton and Evolution over like crazy, just to do that for Randy Orton is incredible. He didn't even have a book to plug!! I know I definitely didn't think he was the right person to give Orton's heel push a big step up, but he did. Foley's such a class act.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

Backlund probably wasn't favourite to feud with Bret Hart over the title in the 90s. There was a reason for that...