10 Wrestlers Who Left WWE & Came Back Without Changing Much

One of the many reasons that plenty of elder statesmen in wrestling talk about its cyclical nature is because a lot of superstars don’t stay with the same promotion their entire career. Companies shut down, superstars choose to leave or get released, but the superstars shifting around, bouncing between the same few companies certainly helps the business being cyclical.

Sometimes when a superstar leaves the WWE, they’ll do what JR like to say and “go off and learn a new hold,” and return with new tricks. Other superstars might go and take that message to heart, learning new moves. But they didn’t change much about how they look.

10 John Morrison

As of this writing, Johnny Drip Drip, Johnny Mundo, Impact, World, Morrison, whatever he wants to call himself, is probably one of the only superstars to have won championship gold wherever he went, except for the WWE Championship.

Compared to when he released years ago, his look hasn’t changed much. He still wears bell-bottom-esque tights with huge sunglasses. Since he returned, much like his early years, he’s been at the side of The Miz, struggling to break out of the midcard..

9 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin

While some never thought a guy simply wearing black trunks would ever be able to get over, ol’ Stone Cold showed them by becoming the biggest name ever in the business. All the guy needed was those very same black trunks, black boots, a vest, and an anti-authoritarian attitude.

Austin would eventually and admittedly make the biggest mistake of his career when he walked out of the company in 2002. When he returned several months later, he came back with the very same minimalist gear that made him so famous in the first place.

8 Goldberg

Considering some thought Austin’s look would never get over, once it did, they moved pretty quickly to produce a reasonable facsimile. Enter Bill Goldberg who was a more muscular looking Austin, but with less mobility. By the time he arrived in WWE, Austin was already retired.

After his year run with WWE, Goldberg went away for over a decade, only to return to be the face of a WWE video game and smash Brock Lesnar, or anyone else that got in his way in about three minutes or less. Much like his earlier run and his fellow bald-headed counterpart, he was able to get by with black trunks and black boots.

7 Brock Lesnar

From the moment he debuted until the moment he and Goldberg were booed out of WrestleMania XX, Brock Lesnar had consistently heard chants of “Goldberg,” comparing him to the WCW hero. Similar to both Goldberg and Austin before him, the future Beast wore black trunks and black boots.

The only big difference was that his tights had a design on the back. After a break from the squared circle, he would return to the WWE after dominating the Octagon. The only change was that instead of trunks, he wore tight shorts. But they too for the most part were standard black.

6 Jeff Hardy

When both Hardy Boyz left the WWE, they would head to TNA and reinvent themselves several times over. Thanks to the 'Broken' gimmick, Matt and Brother Nero were at one point the hottest act not in the WWE.

Jeff even resurrected and reinvented his Willow character while in TNA. But when the brothers returned in 2017, Jeff reverted back to the look that made him famous in WWE, and has stuck by it ever since, though there have been teases of Willow or Brother Nero returning.

5 Ric Flair

There’s only one Ric Flair and there is no need or wanting to change The Nature Boy. The lavish, grandiose robes, the styling and profiling - it’s all in a day's work for Flair.

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As one of the first guys to head from the NWA to WWE, Vince McMahon didn’t change much about the presentation of Flair, and McMahon wants to change everyone! But one can’t, nor should one ever change Ric Flair, and during both of Flair's WWE runs, not much was changed expect perhaps, trading the Horsemen for Evolution.

4 Shawn Michaels

Almost from the moment Shawn Michaels heaved Marty Jannetty through the Barber Shop window, the look of The Heartbreak kid seldom changed; sans the color palettes.

HBK would strut his way to the ring with all kinds of dangling jewelry, wild eighties rocker tops with a WWE twist, and matching chaps. Despite a total lifestyle change and four years away from the ring, the legend returned just as he left. Funnily enough, even his DX get-up remained mostly the same over the years.

3 Kurt Angle

When you’re the only Olympic gold medalist in the history of the sport, you don’t need much more of a gimmick than that. But thankfully, Kurt Angle was so much more than that, and had no issue coming off like a complete goof. Especially since inside of the ring, no one could outmatch him.

With the exception of losing his hair and years later coming out decked in Shield gear, the only thing that changed during Kurt’s first run in WWE and his last, was the design of his singlets.

2 Bobby Lashley

The beauty of lots of MMA fighters-turned-wrestlers is that they don’t need a lot of gimmick changes and costume changes. They just need the promotion to get behind him or her. Bobby Lashley came into the WWE in 2005 and seemingly had the rocket strapped to his back Unfortunately, the big man was gone almost as quickly as he was pushed.

After over a decade traversing the indies, MMA, and TNA, Lashley returned looking just as good as when he left and with relatively the same ring gear. It was until he switched things up a little last year, that the Chief Hurt Officer of The Hurt Business began to really take off.

1 King Kong Bundy

At six-foot-five and billed at almost 500 pounds, King Kong Bundy was aptly-named. The “walking condominium,” as Gorilla Monsoon referred to him, was one of the first great big men of The Hogan Era - a monster who could move; for his time.

Up until this past WrestleMania, he was part of the only steel cage match in WrestleMania history. Years later, he’d return to the company and wind up becoming part of The Million Dollar Corporation and fall victim to The Undertaker’s Streak. For both of his WWE runs, Bundy wore a black singlet to the ring.

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