5 times an injury revived a wrestling career

The WWE Universe was dealt a huge blow on last night's Monday Night RAW with the announcement that resident lunatic Dean Ambrose is not only injured but expected to be out of action for a whopping nine months.

The iron man of the company, Dean had been wrestling the most matches without a break since 2014 up to 2015. It was a bumper year for the Lunatic that resulted in a push up the card, with a Wrestlemania match against Brock Lesnar and a WWE Title reign capped off by sealing the victory in the much anticipated Shield triple threat match.

Since then, after a good main event stint on Smackdown Live; Dean has pretty much floundered, losing a smidge of fan support in the process. The dark horse of the Shield will now seek redemption on his way back.

Once a superstar returns from heavy injury, the return is met with roars and in Dean's case, we know it'll be true. However, the hope is the cheers will be short-lived, allowing Ambrose to surprise us with his psychotic side he has so far suppressed.

Regardless of the result of his return, Dean will be rejuvenated, fresh and most importantly the fans will embrace him ten fold than the current growing apathy. It might not be the best, but in many ways, an injury is a fine blessing for a wrestler.

Don't believe me?

Here are some examples...

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#5 Edge returns with a vengeance

Edge's glorious 2004 return would both be the beginning and end of an unprecedented main event run!

Considering he ended his career due to a neck injury, this might be a bit insensitive. Yet the constant push and pull of Edge's long winding career to the top, came with a massive and heartbreaking injury that became the turning point of his changing fortunes.

Prior to No Way Out in 2003, Edge suffered a severe neck injury (unfortunately the first of many). In many ways, he was already wrestling on borrowed time since, but the year away brought a rejuvenated man.

Brought to RAW during the interim from Smackdown, Edge returned with a fire and a legion of support that pretty much secured him as a top class babyface. In this time he would go to dominate with Intercontinental and Tag Team reigns. A short injury in between was a hiccup, but it provided the catalyst for a ruthless heel turn that resulted in Edge finally cultivating the persona that would catapult him to the main event.

Seeing the love of fans, then realizing it's just not enough made him obsessed and incensed enough to continue on a warpath that eventually resulted in retirement with eleven World titles and countless other accolades.

#4 Terminator Like Recovery

Cena's victorious return at the Royal Rumble was met with unanimous cheers.

Despite the huge blowback against him as a face, quietly but surely John Cena has managed to win over fans he had lost long ago. Nowadays it's just a fun tactic to give the man dueling chants.

His biggest and toughest road to the show of shows came in 2007-2008. After a year-long reign filled with much fan derision, Cena finally faced the brunt of his hard work when a pectoral muscle injury kept him off No Mercy in 2007. Set to clash with Randy Orton (when such a match was still fresh), John ended up on the shelf expected to miss over seven months of action.

Since this is Cena we're speaking off, he instead brushed off the injury before delivering a five knuckle shuffle to the WWE Universe. In a stunning return at the Royal Rumble, Cena proved once and for all why he is the face that runs the place.

An exhilarating victory with fans unbelievably cheering him on, Cena made the first of many stunning recoveries reasserting his dominance. In many ways, the continuous dedication even when injured, won him the fans begrudging respect.

#3 An Architect Builds his Own Rules!

Seth Rollins glorious three-year long redemption began with a shocking return unlike any other.

As mentioned in the opening, injury returns normally always end up with a heroic welcome back for the superstars that got shelved. Even if you went down as a despicable heel, you return as a much-loved babyface.

The flimsy reason to justify this is that between injury, the villainous scum has found his heart and realized how much the fans and spotlight mean to him. It's a generic and oft-abused excuse for return.

That is why despite its controversial nature the return of Seth Rollins in 2016 was an undeniable masterstroke. Barring that his slow burn face turn was a bit muddled due to the Triple H attack later in the year and Balor's unfortunate story derailing injury.

But Rollins like his mentor returned to much fanfare after a knee injury that took him out, just before his big title match at Survivor Series in 2015. Yet that fanfare was much short-lived, as the very in tune with his character Rollins decided to call out the foolish fan support.

He made it back on his own will and was still the chicken heel that had left, an injury wasn't going to make him forget, us forget, or his brothers forget what he had done. He broke up the Shield and there was a long way to go to his redemption.

The beautiful story they told, with its unfortunate hiccups has made Rollins quite the multi-layered character alongside Dean Ambrose. So it'll be fun to see once the tables are turned on Ambrose's return.

#2 Time to Play The Game

The King of Kings roars with his MSG Return!

Speaking of mentors and students, the game himself was subject to a similar fate like his protege Seth Rollins.

In 2001, Triple H along with Stone Cold Steve Austin dominated as a heel team with all the gold appropriately named the Power Trip. Their ruthless dominance resulted in a tag team title match against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit where his left quadriceps gave way forcing him to be shelved.

A career-threatening injury unlike any, it seemed Triple H might never make it back. In fact, for a while, most had even forgotten about him. The man that had dominated the Attitude Era as a Ruthless corporate-backed heel, returned to the hallowed grounds of Madison Square Garden in 2002.

As Jim Ross eloquently put it, his return blew the roof of the building. Triple H, now leaner and meaner declared his intent to win the Royal Rumble and Main Event Wrestlemania. Indeed the Game was back and the Game won.

The first of many such injuries to Wrestlemania Main Event runs for multiple superstars, it all began with the measuring stick of the business. Months forward Triple H would see the luster of his return, overshadowed by Hulk Hogan's mega face turn and the loss of support turned him back and thus began the Reign of Terror under the Game.

#1 The Heart Break Miracle Kid!

Michaels capped of his miracle return with a World Heavyweight Championship win at the Elimination Chamber in 2002

There's no denying it, Shawn Michaels is the greatest Wrestler of all time. He wouldn't be remembered as such or remembered at all in many cases if it weren't for one fortunate career-ending back injury in 1998.

Even after the injury, for a while, Shawn was pretty much in the dumps. Destined to be forgotten as a man with immense fulfilled potential and still wasted due to his attitude and antics.

Despite his abilities, Shawn had a bad name in the business. Fortunately somewhere away from the ring, the man found god and more importantly the support of family. In an instant, the Heart Break Kid seemed resurrected though likely never to make it back in the ring.

Finally, something clicked and in 2002, Shawn Michaels was cleared for an in-ring return having since trained future stars like Brian Kendrick and Daniel Bryan in the interim. While we would do best to forget the dark period that was HBK as NWO leader.

Post that Shawn's reunion and subsequent rivalry with former right-hand man Triple H just lit a fire under Michaels. From 2002-2010, now fresh, hungry and above all else in good mind and health; Shawn Michaels became the man we know today.

Performing at an elite and selfless level, he put on undeniable classics all the way towards a superb heartbreaking final fight. Just the kind of thing Shawn excelled at.

Indeed, you can guarantee even Shawn Michaels considers his injury as a blessing in disguise.