Some of the best kept secrets in WWE wrestling.
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00:00Taking advantage of contract blunders, only making decisions final at the very last second,
00:06or simply doing everything humanly possible to keep a huge impending moment under wraps,
00:11have all led to some of the most astonishing happenings in wrestling history.
00:16So I am Gareth, this is WhatCulture Wrestling, and here are the 10 best-kept secrets in wrestling history.
00:2210. John Cena's Royal Rumble Return
00:25A return so deeply shocking and exciting, 20,000 folks briefly forgot it wasn't cool to love John Cena during the late 2000s.
00:34Wonderful stuff.
00:35After going down injured in October 2007 with a pectoral tear,
00:39most expected to not see the face that runs the place for around 6 months to a year.
00:44But this freak of nature isn't your average human being, folks.
00:47About a month before his sensational comeback inside of Madison Square Garden during the 2008 Royal Rumble,
00:54folks within the company were already aware one of the most unlikeliest of comebacks was on,
00:59according to Bruce Prichard on his Something to Wrestle pod.
01:02And then when the time came to execute this monumental surprise at the pay-per-view,
01:06Cena was hidden all day, and even marched through the hallway covered when the time came to finally blow the roof off of MSG.
01:14All that effort to keep this Rumble return under wraps paid off and then some in the end though.
01:199. Malakai Black Is Suddenly All Elite
01:22It may not have led to the sort of consistently mesmerizing run folks were hoping for,
01:27but Malakai Black's first night as an All Elite menace is still one of the most surprising and captivating Tony Khan's company has ever seen.
01:35And what made Black's arrival on the night of July 7th, 2021 so legitimately stunning,
01:40was the fact not a single soul honestly thought the former NXT champion had a chance of appearing on AEW TV for at least a few more months.
01:48You see, in the wake of being released by WWE on June 2nd,
01:52most assumed Black would have to stick to the typical 90-day non-compete clause the sports entertainment company stick in their contracts.
01:59However, with Black working on the Black and Gold developmental brand for a time,
02:03before being called up to the main roster,
02:05it was eventually revealed that WWE had stupidly failed to update the star's NXT 30-day non-compete clause
02:12to the usual main roster 90-day one after he hopped over to Raw and SmackDown.
02:17What came next was one of the coolest debuts in AEW history.
02:21A blackout led to the amazing reveal of the former Aleister Black secretly signing with the company,
02:26before Arne Anderson was utterly pulverized with a spinning heel kick at that year's Road Rager.
02:31Now I've got a quick question for you, what do you think's been the best ever AEW debut?
02:35Was it Malakai Black's spinning heel kick to the Arne?
02:38Or something else? You let me know in the comments section down below, baby.
02:42Number 8. Christian Cage is cleared for a Rumble comeback
02:45Returning to the greatest multi-person match in all of wrestling now,
02:49and to yet another moment nobody ever thought could actually be a possibility heading into a Royal Rumble event.
02:55Now sure, the prior year's men's over-the-top rope epic had seen the unlikely comeback of a certain rated-R superstar,
03:02folks also once thought they'd never see bumping again.
03:05But rumours of Edge's impossible return becoming a reality were very much doing the rounds before the 2020 Rumble.
03:11The same could not be said for the WWE Hall of Famer's best pal, though.
03:16Though he had technically taken part in an unsanctioned fight with Randy Orton in 2020,
03:20away from that one-minute squash,
03:22Christian hadn't been involved in a match since retiring due to concussion issues.
03:26That all changed on the night of the 2021 Men's Rumble, however.
03:30With Christian and a few others actually being made aware of the fact he'd been cleared to return a few months before the event.
03:37After them managing to keep that vital information a secret in the time leading up to the Thunderdome show,
03:42Captain Charisma was finally given the thumbs up to make a jaw-dropping comeback to action on the Friday before the PLE.
03:49And with that, the once unthinkable visual of Edge and Christian competing in a WWE match together,
03:54soon unexpectedly warmed the hearts of genuinely stunned fans around the globe.
03:59Number 7. No one knew Pat McAfee was going to be calling the Rumble 2023 action.
04:04It wasn't just those watching the 2023 Royal Rumble inside of the Alamo Dome and at home
04:09that were caught entirely off-guard by Pat McAfee's unannounced arrival that night.
04:14If it wasn't already clear from the way an unquestionably stunned and overjoyed Michael Cole reacted to the return of his blue show pal,
04:21and Corey Graves' hilarious exasperation at being nudged down the bench,
04:25it was later noted that neither man had any clue Pat was going to be back that night.
04:30The majority of WWE's production crew weren't told about the awesome McAfee secret either,
04:34with WWE's decision to keep the epic return to the booth close to the vest,
04:39kicking the event off in the most unpredictable and joyous way imaginable.
04:43Watching a legitimately giddy Cole then be told in real time that his mate would be joining the twosome for the entire night of action,
04:49was a terrifically wholesome moment too, and one that wouldn't have been possible had someone let their pat out of the bag beforehand.
04:566. Roman Reigns Wrecks Everybody Out of Nowhere
04:59Heading into the first crowdless SummerSlam in WWE history,
05:02the company promised the folks locked up in their homes around the world that they would never see it coming.
05:08And in what had become something of a rarity at that point,
05:10WWE actually only went and delivered a truly remarkable shock,
05:14that no fan on the planet honestly foresaw in the weeks before the biggest party of the summer.
05:19The big dog hadn't been seen on WWE programming since dropping out of WrestleMania 36,
05:24and taking some time away from wrestling during those early pandemic days.
05:28And with there being very few hints at exactly what the future held for the former world champion in the months that followed the show of shows,
05:34outside of WWE eventually releasing new merch for the absent figure,
05:38most understandably assumed that aforementioned tagline was likely just referring to even more demented Fiend Braun Strowman shenanigans in the main event.
05:47What they didn't expect to see was Roman Reigns not only making a shocking post-match return to all things sports entertainment,
05:53but as a badass heel who ate spooky monsters for breakfast at the head of the table.
05:57To ensure this monumental show-closing return would come as a real game-changing shock to much of the wrestling world,
06:03Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE didn't even tell a bunch of Roman's fellow superstars
06:09that he was about to come back and kick off one of the most dominant runs in wrestling history either.
06:14And he's never looked back since.
06:15Cheers for watching this video today, and if you like what you see, then go and hit that subscribe button down below.
06:205. Shane O'Mac brings back the money
06:23Long before he strutted out as one of WrestleMania 39's best-kept secrets,
06:27and unfortunately limped back out again a minute or so later,
06:30Shane McMahon found himself in the middle of an even bigger shock return in 2016.
06:35It had been announced that someone was going to be handed the most prestigious award that WWE will ever present on the night of February 22nd,
06:42that being the Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award, of course.
06:46But just before Vince could hand the award over to the on-screen heel with a quote-unquote
06:51warm, good-hearted soul known as Stephanie McMahon,
06:54a rather familiar tune blasted through the speakers.
06:57The money was back, baby.
06:58And a crowd that had just spent much of the last few minutes groaning and wotting their way through another soul-crushing start to Raw
07:05suddenly erupted in stunned euphoria.
07:07Nobody had a Shane O'Mac comeback on their 2016 WWE bingo card, that's for sure.
07:12Vince would later tell the Orlando Sentinel that the big reveal was kept a secret,
07:16thanks to Shane being locked away on a bus until the moment Stephanie's music hit that night.
07:20And when Shane O'Mac did eventually show up in Guerrilla moments before shaking things up a little,
07:25the folks sat around reportedly said they couldn't believe what was happening.
07:28They were likely saying something similar back in April,
07:31after watching Snoop Dogg drop a surreal people's elbow to cover for the destroyer of the 2022 Men's Royal Rumble's torn quad.
07:38Number 4, it's Sting in AEW.
07:41Returning to an era most folks understandably don't have the fondest memories of,
07:45AEW also managed to give their audience a much-needed shot of completely unforeseen joy
07:50during their first ever Dynamite Winter is Coming event in 2020.
07:54Now sure, folks were aware that the legendary Sting had quietly parted ways with WWE midway through the year,
08:00and it did feel like AEW was a logical destination for the icon at some point in the future.
08:05But very few predicted precisely when that debut was going to go down,
08:08and that was largely due to the likes of the Young Bucks and Tony Khan keeping Sting's incredible arrival under wraps for months.
08:15Matt and Nick Jackson would also confirm to Living the Gimmick that they used the old Hydra massive surprise in a trailer trick on the day of the event.
08:22And when it was finally time for the Stinger to wander into position,
08:25the EVPs recalled watching the genuinely shocked talent inevitably mark out around him.
08:31Similar reactions were no doubt happening all over the planet,
08:33when Tony Schiavone let out an iconic It's Sting for the first time on AEW programming,
08:39as all involved pulled off one of the finest surprise arrivals of the modern era.
08:43Number 3. Mark Henry was far from finished
08:45After being a part of the WWE system since 1996,
08:49lifting World Championship gold and enjoying a terrific Hall of Pain run,
08:53most fans were quick to believe the once-unstoppable Mark Henry was done
08:57when he began teasing retirement on Twitter in June of 2013.
09:01And right up to the moment the emotional powerhouse had his arm raised by John Cena,
09:06after telling those watching on that he was retiring from the active roster,
09:09there wasn't a person out there who didn't fully believe they were watching the end of the lovable big mans in ring career.
09:16Then, in a move that left millions of jaws banging off the floor,
09:19Henry only went and revealed the entire thing was one big swerve,
09:23nailing Cena with a world's pinkest slam in the middle of the ring.
09:26Henry would later admit down the road that he was actually considering retiring around this time,
09:32but after Vince McMahon talked him out of it,
09:34the committed star then spent months tricking folks into believing the end was near.
09:38And after successfully keeping the real plan to have him actually attack Cena,
09:43and set up a match for Money in the Bank over the WWE Championship a secret,
09:47through his brilliant retirement teases and moving speech,
09:50Henry masterfully completed one of the greatest shock turns of all time.
09:542. Brock Lesnar Beats The Streak
09:56The Undertaker's streak, shockingly coming to a heartbreaking end at WrestleMania 30,
10:01was a call that very few outside of the key players involved
10:04had any idea was about to rock the Superdome.
10:07In fact, it was reported in the Wrestling Observer newsletter around the time,
10:11that referee Chad Patton was actually told Taker would be walking out of New Orleans with a 22-0 record.
10:17But with the rule being for WWE officials to ref the contest as a shoot,
10:21Patton simply brought his hand down for the incredible three.
10:24It would also later be revealed by Taker himself in an interview with Ariel Helwani,
10:28that the original plan up until the day of the show was actually for the Deadman to go over the Beast on the grandest stage.
10:35But early that afternoon, Vince made his way into the Phenom's dressing room,
10:39and secretly changed wrestling history forever,
10:41altering the old finish to the one that ultimately involved the concussed icon being F5 to Smithereens for the Brock win.
10:48And just a few hours later, the entire wrestling world was left feeling utterly shook
10:52by a first-ever Taker Mania L that came completely out of left field.
10:57At number one, CM Punk comes back home to WWE.
11:01It still feels rather surreal to be living in a world where this chip magnet is once again strutting around Monday Night Raw
11:06with a potential pipe bomb in his back pocket.
11:09But after arguably the best-kept wrestling secret of all time, well, here we are.
11:13After months of speculation and many a report debunking the idea of CM Punk making a shocking return to WWE,
11:20the unthinkable became a deafening reality inside of the All-State Arena in 2023.
11:25This wasn't a case of simply lying about what was on the horizon for months, though.
11:29It was reported that WWE and Punk only made a deal together around 10 days or so before Survivor Series,
11:35with the wise decision then being made to keep the whole thing a secret heading into the War Game show.
11:40Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer even noted how certain TKO group executives
11:45were not told about the incoming Best in the World,
11:48with the folks in the War Game's main event being among the few who actually knew Punk was in the building,
11:53and this genuinely shocking return being kept from almost everyone.
11:57All this secrecy resulted in a noise unlike anything you're ever likely to hear again,
12:02as the Punk has shocked the world one more time in Chicago.
12:05Did you enjoy this Best Kept Secrets in Wrestling History list today?
12:08If so, then check out this 10 secret conversations that change wrestling history forever video too then.
12:14It is Ace, bye bye!