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Make no mistake about the fact that WWE employs only the cream of the crop when it comes to in-ring talent. They've always had extremely talented Superstars on their payroll, irrespective of whether they're getting a decent booking or not.
For whatever reasons, a WWE Superstar may not be able to showcase his or her full potential while being with the company. It could be a case of Creative not having enough for them or just that the roster was brimming with talent everywhere else for them to really make a name for themselves.
Thus, we've seen several WWE Superstars fail to make the desired impact in their first run with the company only to leave, make a return, and strike the sweet spot on the second time of asking.
Thus without further ado, let us look at five such Superstars whose second stint with WWE was better than their first.
#5 Jinder Mahal
Jinder Mahal's first stint in WWE started in 2011 with him initially joining hands with The Great Khali before going on to feud with him. He had a decent spell in NXT during the Gold Rush Tournament to crown the inaugural NXT Champion but he was defeated by Seth Rollins in the final.
After this and a few other lackluster feuds, Mahal joined hands with Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater to form 3MB, a faction that would only pick up wins against lower mid-card opponents while getting squashed several times. Mahal was then released by WWE in 2014.
It was only following his return in 2016 that Jinder Mahal was portrayed as a dominant player. He went on to win the WWE Championship against Randy Orton at Backlash in 2017 and even had multiple successful title defenses against The Viper including in a Punjabi Prison Match.
The Modern Day Maharaja eventually dropped the title to AJ Styles but then went on to become the United States Champion. Currently, Jinder Mahal is off WWE TV and recuperating after undergoing knee surgery.
#4 R-Truth
R-Truth is currently one of the longest-serving veterans on the WWE roster. He has been contracted to the company since 2008 but this run is actually his second stint with the company.
Truth had initially signed with WWE back in 1999, where he used the moniker K-Kwik. He would team up with Road Dogg to compete in tag team competition and also went on to win the Hardcore Championship twice.
However, R-Truth has achieved much more during his current run. He won the United States Championship by beating The Miz and then later was involved in the WWE Championship picture again when The Awesome One was the champion.
R-Truth's exploits for the WWE Tag Team Championships with Kofi Kingston were interesting, to say the least. He also recaptured the US title recently by picking up a roll-up pin against Shinsuke Nakamura before dropping the title again.
R-Truth has been reduced to a humorous act of late but his segments involving the 24/7 Championship have been comedy gold.
#3 Jeff Hardy
Jeff Hardy's first stint with WWE which started in the late 1990s was nothing short of iconic. He had an impeccable tag team run with brother Matt Hardy where the duo participated in the first couple of TLC matches against the perennial tag team rivals The Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian.
Hardy even won several mid-card titles during the time. He beat William Regal to win the European Championship before uniting it with the Intercontinental title. He even won the Hardcore title multiple times before being released by WWE in 2003 due to drug overdose issues.
It was only after his return in 2006 that Jeff Hardy charted his path towards becoming a bona fide singles star in WWE. The Charismatic Enigma embarked on multiple IC title reigns, beating the likes of Johnny Nitro and Umaga in the process.
Hardy eventually moved to the world title picture, winning his first WWE Championship after beating Triple H and Edge at Armageddon in 2008. His final feud in WWE during this run was against CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship in the second half of 2009.
#2 Drew McIntyre
Drew McIntyre first signed with WWE back in 2007 and his original run with the company wasn't all that bad either. He won the Intercontinental Championship by beating John Morrison at TLC in 2009.
McIntyre was even able to win the WWE Tag Team Championship with Cody Rhodes at Night of Champions in 2010. But his stock started to fall after that. His run with 3MB was not at all inspiring and the company released him in 2014.
After slogging for three years in the indies, McIntyre signed again with WWE in 2017 and arrived on NXT. He claimed the NXT Championship after beating Bobby Roode before moving to RAW the next year as an ally of Dolph Ziggler.
McIntyre won the RAW Tag Team titles with Ziggler before branching out as a singles competitor again. Following a year of questionable booking, The Scottish Terminator finally received the main event push he deserved, starting with a Royal Rumble victory earlier this year.
McIntyre then beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36 to become the WWE Champion and has been extremely dominant ever since.
#1 Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar had the world at his feet during his first run in WWE in the early 2000s. The Next Big Thing, as dubbed by Paul Heyman at the time, Lesnar won the 2002 King of the Ring tournament.
Lesnar also went on to become the youngest WWE Champion after beating The Rock at SummerSlam. However, The Beast decided to throw it all away to pursue a career in football.
Brock Lesnar only returned to the WWE in 2012 but has easily been the most dominant force in WWE ever since. Barring one exception he has wrestled exclusively on PPV and achieved many feats.
The Beast broke The Undertaker's WrestleMania streaking in 2014 before going on to decimate John Cena at the following SummerSlam to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
The Beast has been a constant presence in the world title picture ever since, including his record 503-day reign as the Universal Champion which he started after defeated Goldberg at WrestleMania 33. He also went on to win the WWE Championship again by beating Kofi Kingston on the FOX debut of SmackDown before dropping it to McIntyre at WrestleMania 36.
