History Main / CareerResurrection

* Wrestling journalism example:'''Adam Blampied''' was one of the most well-known voices in the pro wrestling fandom as a member of [=WhatCulture=] Wrestling, with him helping out in the founding of [[Wrestling/DefiantWrestling [=WhatCulture=] Pro Wrestling]]. In 2017, just as he and other prominent [=WhatCulture=] Wrestling members were about to leave to [[StartMyOwn create Cultaholic Wrestling]], allegations of sexual talks with multiple women was uncovered and with this being at the height of the [=#MeToo=] Movement, this was heavily scrutinized. Despite the women in question forgiving him and others agreeing it wasn't nearly as bad as the allegations against others, he still decided to take time off to reflect and improve. Come 2020, he was hired by [=WrestleTalk=] to do lists and analyses of various wrestling news, as well as to host a wrestling trivia game show called Quizzlemania, to much acclaim and fanfare from the fandom. Combined with starting a channel dedicated to his love of board games, it's fair to say Plumpy is in the best shape of his career after all that happened.

* Mexican voice actor '''Ricardo Bautista''' in ''VisualNovel/DiabolikLovers'': Around the mid-TurnOfTheMillennium, Bautista had a budding career coming from his TenorBoy voice, which helped him get roles like Hanataro Yamada from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' and Komatsu from ''Manga/{{Toriko}}''. All of this was at serious risk when he had the bad luck of playing Keitaro Urashima in ''Manga/LoveHina'', in a dub that was so poorly received it ended up killing the love for the franchise as a whole. A few years later, however, Bautista got the role of Ayato Sakamaki in the Mexican Spanish dub of ''Diabolik Lovers'' and the series actually [[BigInJapan hit it big in Mexico]], making him quite more popular and giving him the chance to improve his talent, including Michelangelo in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' and Ty Rux in ''WesternAnimation/DinoTrux''.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comeback_Player_of_the_Year_Award The Comeback Player of the Year Award]] in several professional sports lives off of this trope, with the season winner rebounding from an injury or slump from the past season.

* '''Brian Vickers''', the former record holder[[note]]he was 20 years and 19 days when he set the record; in 2014 Chase Elliott set a new record at 18 years, 11 months and 11 days[[/note]] for youngest NASCAR national series champion (set in the second tier Xfinity Series, then known as the Busch Series, in 2003), has needed two of these just to stay active in the top tier Sprint Cup Series. His first derailment came when Hendrick Motorsports advanced him from their Xfinity program into the #25 entry on the Cup side, with the expectation that he would be able to improve the performance of the team from its long-time midpack stature to being on par with the team's other three entries (which all posted top ten points runs the year before). Vickers, however, put up results more in line with the previous several years of mediocrity in the #25, with his only win at Hendrick, in October 2006 at Talladega igniting a firestorm of controversy after he wrecked both Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the sport's most popular driver, and his own teammate Jimmie Johnson, which seemingly ended Johnson's already sputtering chances of winning a title.[[note]]Before this race, Johnson hadn't recorded a top ten in the 2006 Chase, and had been wrecked at New Hampshire to start the postseason on the wrong foot; after however, Johnson would put together four runner ups and win to roar back and win his first of five straight and (as of 2014) six total titles[[/note]] In 2007, he landed with start-up Red Bull Racing, and frequently struggled just to get the cars in the field. But when he could get into the field, he became a fairly reliable top ten finisher, and by 2009 he and Red Bull had their program strong enough for Vickers to win at Michigan and get them into the Chase field. However, things came unraveled again when Vickers was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis (blood clots in the legs), pulmonary embolisms (clots from the DVT that had migrated to the lungs) ''and'' a hole in his heart in May 2010, which took him out of the car for the rest of the year. Red Bull underwent almost a complete regression without Vickers behind the wheel, such that when he returned in 2011, he was running severely limited equipment, at which point he began [[AxCrazy taking out his rage at his cars on his competitors]] and basically blacklisted himself from any competitive openings when Red Bull imploded at the end of the year.[[note]]for that matter, even Red Bull's successor, BK Racing, which could've used someone with Vickers' still indisputable raw talent to improve their own program, passed on him, preferring run less talented but also less controversial drivers like Landon Cassill and Travis Kvapil instead[[/note]] His second resurrection began when he got a part-time deal with a suddenly ascendant Michael Waltrip Racing in 2012, and posted five top tens (and three top fives) in eight starts. He got a slightly expanded deal the next year and won his third career race at New Hampshire that July, which eventually got him a two-year full-time deal with MWR. However, MWR began to derail shortly after a cheating scandal (in which Vickers was marginally involved) led to the loss of major sponsor NAPA and a shutdown of one of the three teams, the #56, which was driven by Martin Truex, Jr.; Vickers' contract was for the #55 car, whose sponsor Aaron's stuck with the team. However, the loss of both revenue and real-world data from that third team has severely impacted MWR's ability to remain competitive, and Vickers has been unable to transcend this decline,[[note]]not helped by multiple recurrences of his health issues; the DVT came back and forced him out of the car in October 2013, when he was running the #55 after another of its drivers, Mark Martin, went to Stewart-Haas Racing to fill in for the injured Tony Stewart; meanwhile, a patch used to seal the hole in his heart would be rejected by his body in December 2014, which forced him to get heart surgery and sit out the first two races of 2015[[/note]] which means he may require another resurrection once his contract with the team ends after 2015. Vickers filled in for Tony Stewart (who had broken his back in a sandrail wreck) during the early part of the 2016 season and then retired due to health concerns. He's largely disappeared from public life since it was revealed that his wife, Sarah Kellen, was a close associate of Jeffrey Epstein. The two of them now reportedly live in Manhattan and run an interior decorator business.

* Similar to Harper's example in terms of "less is more", '''Bob [=McAdoo=]''' debuted in the NBA with a bang as a top rookie for the Buffalo Braves, a.k.a. the future LA Clippers, in 1973. He followed that up with three straight seasons as the NBA's scoring leader, consistently norming over 30 points per game. And while he still mostly averaged at least 25 points per game in the seasons that immediately followed, he bounced from team to team and developed a reputation as a malcontent by the time TheEighties rolled around. The then-mighty Los Angeles Lakers took a chance on him in the 1981-82 season, surrendering a lowly second-round draft pick to acquire the former scoring champ from the New Jersey Nets. Though he never averaged more than 15 ppg, he still provided quality minutes off the bench as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's backup at center and Kurt Rambis' backup at power forward. As for his rep as a malcontent, he proved to be a solid citizen and a locker room leader, not minding his reduced role at all. After a short stint with the 76ers, [=McAdoo=] moved to the Italian league, where he won two [=EuroLeague=] titles.

* '''Justin Verlander''' was one of the most dominant pitchers in Major League Baseball in the 2010's, with a Rookie of the Year award, an MVP, three no hitters, and eight All Star appearances to his name. However, he played only one game in the shortened 2020 season, and missed all of 2021 because he had Tommy John surgery. In 2022, Verlander came back as good as ever, going 18-4 as a starter for the Houston Astros, winning the World Series, Comeback Player of the Year '''and''' a third Cy Young Award. That offseason, he signed a large free agent contract with the New York Mets.

* '''Creator/DavidMorrissey''' in ''Series/TheWalkingDead''. As one of the UK's biggest TV stars in the early 2000s, Morrissey decided to go to Hollywood, and picked out what seemed like the perfect StarMakingRole: ''Film/BasicInstinct2''. [[StarDerailingRole We all know how that turned out]]. His next role was as the male lead in ''Film/TheReaping'', a horror movie about the Ten Plagues in a small Southern town. That also failed (and became a StarDerailingRole for Creator/HilarySwank on top of it). After disappearing for a few years, he appeared in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E14TheNextDoctor a Christmas Special]] of ''Series/DoctorWho'' with his friend Creator/DavidTennant, which turned out extremely well. Then, a few years later, he played The Governor in ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', a fan-favorite character. One acclaimed performance later, and Morrissey is more famous than he ever was before.

* '''Creator/LexLang''' in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' and ADR Director of '''Anime/YukiYunaIsAHero''': Lang's first big voice-acting role was as Kenshiro from ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar''. Around the time of the anime industry crash around the mid-2000s, his presence in anime dubs diminished with most of his voice work limited to video games, western animation, and minor roles in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' and ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' (and much like his wife Creator/SandyFox, has done a lot of humanitarian work in addition to his music career). Around 2015, he returned to the anime voice acting scene as Egor in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' as well as making his presence as an ADR Director for ''Anime/AldnoahZero'' and ''Anime/YukiYunaIsAHero''.
* '''Creator/{{CLAMP}}''' in ''Manga/CardCaptorSakuraClearCard'': This shojo manga team saw its popularity slowly falter due to the controversial endings of ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' and ''Manga/{{Xxxholic}}'', sinking even further with the negative reception of 2011's ''Anime/BloodC''. They still continue to write new material, but none of it seems to have made as big of an impact as any of their older stuff. They even put ''Manga/DrugAndDrop'' and ''Manga/{{Gate7}}'' on hiatus to continue ''Tsubasa'' and ''xxxHolic'', but ''Tsubasa World Chronicle'' only had two volumes released before it ended in 2016 and ''xxxHolic: Rei'' was a ToughActToFollow due to slow pacing and sporadic release of chapters. That same year, CLAMP decided to continue ''Cardcaptor Sakura'' with a brand new ''Clear Card'' story arc, with the original staff and cast of ''CCS''[='=] AnimatedAdaptation returning to produce the anime in 2018. This has also led to CLAMP working on the manga adaptation of the J-drama ''HIGH&LOW'', as well as the character designs for the spring 2017 anime ''Anime/{{Kabukibu}}'' and ''Anime/CodeGeassLelouchOfTheResurrection''.

* '''Wrestling/TonySchiavone''' was WCW's main play-by-play commentator throughout the 1990s. After WCW was bought out by the WWF in 2001, Tony stepped away from the business apart from brief stints in XWF and TNA, and seemed to distance himself from wrestling altogether. However, in 2017, he started a podcast with Conrad Thompson called "What Happened When" where the two discussed Tony's memories of WCW. This re-ignited Tony's passion for the business, leading him to return to wrestling commentary, first for MLW, then for Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling.

* '''Creator/DeborahNorville''' on ''Series/InsideEdition''. Norville first gained national prominence when she was transfered from Creator/{{NBC}}'s owned and operated UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} affiliate to anchor ''NBC News at Sunrise'' in 1987. It was there, that the ratings for ''NBC News at Sunrise'' jumped to 40 percent. Naturally, this eventually led to Norville being asked to become the news reader on ''Series/{{Today}}'' in 1989. Later that year, longtime co-anchor Creator/JanePauley announced that she would be stepping down at the end of the year, with Norville being [[PassingTheTorch named her successor]]. What proceeded was one of the most notorious missteps network television history, with the press accusing Norville of pushing a beloved anchor like Jane Pauley out[[note]]''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' even made light of this in a sketch that spoofed ''Film/AllAboutEve'' with Creator/KathleenTurner as Norville and Creator/JanHooks as Pauley[[/note]] and serving as a proverbial "homewrecker" between Pauley and her co-anchor Bryant Gumbel. Consequently, ''Today's'' ratings with Norville now [[ReplacementScrappy at the helm]], [[AudienceAlienatingEra began to plummet]] as critics felt that she [[NoSparks lacked chemistry]] with Gumbel and many loyal viewers began turning to rival Creator/{{ABC}}'s ''Good Morning America''. After only 14 months, Norville was gone and [[MorePopularReplacement replaced]] by Creator/KatieCouric. While Norville would soon land gigs with ABC Radio and Creator/{{CBS}} News as a correspondent for the newsmagazines ''Street Stories'' and ''48 Hours'', it wasn't until she succeeded Creator/BillOReilly as anchor of the syndicated series ''Series/InsideEdition'' in 1995 that she experienced her true comeback. Over 25 years later, Norville still hosts ''Inside Edition'', in the process, becoming the [[LongRunners longest-serving]] anchor on U.S. television.  

* An episode of ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'' had the boys befriending a washed-up magician called '''"The Great Doheney"'''. He becomes famous again after Megan gives him an idea for his attempted comeback show: to [[FakingTheDead fake his death]] and "come back to life" at his funeral.

* '''Madd Dogg''' of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' gained extreme popularity as a rapper in the late 1980s. However, his fame started to wane as the 90s rolled around, not helped by the murder of his manager and the disappearance of his rhyme book. Seemingly overnight, he became a laughingstock struggling with alcoholism and up to his eyeballs in debt, and was even forced to give his mansion to a drug lord. But after [[PlayerCharacter CJ]] saved him from killing himself and sent him to rehab, things started to look up for him. CJ became his new manager and helped him make his comeback album, ''Forty Dogg'', which quickly achieved gold record status. His resurrected career proves to have staying power, and by [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV 2013]], the Vinewood Walk of Fame has a star honoring him.

* Similar to Harper's example in terms of "less is more", '''Bob [=McAdoo=]''' debuted in the NBA with a bang as a top rookie for the Buffalo Braves, a.k.a. the future LA Clippers, in 1973. He followed that up with three straight seasons as the NBA's scoring leader, consistently norming over 30 points per game. And while he still mostly averaged at least 25 points per game in the seasons that immediately followed, he bounced from team to team and developed a reputation as a malcontent by the time TheEighties rolled around. The then-mighty Los Angeles Lakers took a chance on him in the 1981-82 season, surrendering a lowly second-round draft pick to acquire the former scoring champ from the New Jersey Nets. Though he never averaged more than 15 ppg, he still provided quality minutes off the bench as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's backup at center and Kurt Rambis' backup at power forward. As for his rep as a malcontent, he proved to be a solid citizen and a locker room leader, not minding his reduced role at all. After a short stint with the 76ers, [=McAdoo=] moved to the Italian league, where he became a superstar again.

* Similar to Harper's example in terms of "less is more", '''Bob [=McAdoo=]''' debuted in the NBA with a bang as a top rookie for the Buffalo Braves, a.k.a. the future LA Clippers, in 1973. He followed that up with three straight seasons as the NBA's scoring leader, consistently norming over 30 points per game. And while he still mostly averaged at least 25 points per game in the seasons that immediately followed, he bounced from team to team and developed a reputation as a malcontent by the time TheEighties rolled around. The then-mighty Los Angeles Lakers took a chance on him in the 1981-82 season, surrendering a lowly second-round draft pick to acquire the former scoring champ from the New Jersey Nets. Though he never averaged more than 15 ppg, he still provided quality minutes off the bench as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's backup at center and Kurt Rambis' backup at power forward. As for his rep as a malcontent, he proved to be a solid citizen and a locker room leader, not minding his reduced role at all.

* '''Mariya Yamamoto''' of ''VisualNovel/ShiningSongStarnova'' was once a member of Quasar, Japan’s largest and most popular IdolSinger group, but despite spending almost ten years with them she never achieved enough notoriety to make it into Quasar’s prestigious front row unit and found herself constantly overshadowed by much younger girls, and was ultimately fired [[ChristmasCake for being too old]]. By the time the story begins she’s become a chain-smoking alcoholic working various jobs that she hates while struggling to find more idol work. Joining the newly-formed idol group Starnova helps to resurrect her career: she experiences a popularity resurgence in any route and in her own route [[spoiler:she achieves her lifelong dream of becoming Japan’s most popular idol and performing live in the Tokyo Dome]].

* '''Wrestling/TonySchiavone''' was WCW's main play-by-play commentator throughout the 1990s. After WCW was bought out by the WWF in 2001, Tony stepped away from the business apart from brief stints in XWF and TNA, and seemed to consider his wrestling career OldShame. However, in 2017, he started a podcast with Conrad Thompson called "What Happened When" where the two discussed Tony's memories of WCW. This re-ignited Tony's passion for the business, leading him to return to wrestling commentary, first for MLW, then for Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling.

* '''Chuck Howley''' was drafted seventh overall by the NFL's Chicago Bears in 1958. After suffering a knee injury during his second season, Howley retired for a couple seasons before signing with the Dallas Cowboys. By 1966, the linebacker had blossomed into a star. And in Super Bowl V (1971), he became the only player on a losing team to be named Super Bowl MVP, with two interceptions and a fumble recovery. Howley was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023.

* Similar to Harper's example in terms of "less is more", '''Bob [=McAdoo=]''' debuted in the NBA with a bang as a top rookie for the Buffalo Braves, a.k.a. the future LA Clippers, in 1973. He followed that up with three straight seasons as the NBA's scoring leader, consistently norming over 30 points per game. And while he still mostly averaged at least 25 points per game in the seasons that immediately followed, he bounced from team to team and developed a reputation as a malcontent by the time TheEighties rolled around. The then-mighty Los Angeles Lakers took a chance on him in the 1981-82 season, surrendering a lowly second-round draft pick to acquire the former scoring champ from the New Jersey Nets. Though he started only ''one'' game for the Lakers and never averaged more than 15 ppg, he still provided quality minutes off the bench as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's backup at center and Kurt Rambis' backup at power forward. As for his rep as a malcontent, he proved to be a solid citizen and a locker room leader, not minding his reduced role at all.

* The man starting ahead of Howard on the Lakers, '''[=JaVale McGee=]''', enjoyed a Career Resurrection of his own in recent years. After enjoying a solid first few years in the NBA, [=McGee=] eventually turned into meme fodder for his penchant for making boneheaded plays, becoming a two-time ''Shaqtin' a Fool'' MVP on ''Inside the NBA'' for all his troubles. He then became a certified NBA journeyman, bouncing from team to team and playing limited minutes, but his performance in the 2018 Playoffs for the championship-winning Golden State Warriors showed that he still had it in him to be a productive player. As such, the Lakers took a chance on him in the summer of 2018, as he was one of the few bright spots during [=LeBron=] James' disappointing first season in Los Angeles, averaging a career-high 12 points (also his first double-figure season since 2011-12) and finishing among the league's Top 10 in blocked shots. As of 2019-20, [=McGee=]'s numbers have dipped a bit, but he still deserves credit for turning things around so late in his career.

* '''Wrestling/TripleH''' was on the outs with the then-WWF in 1996 after the infamous "Curtain Call" incident where he and [[Wrestling/TheKliq Kliq]] buddies Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, Wrestling/ScottHall, and Wrestling/KevinNash broke {{kayfabe}} in a group-hugging send-off for the latter two. As the only participant whom WWF could realistically punish (Michaels was WWF Champion while Hall and Nash were Wrestling/{{WCW}}-bound), the wrestler then known as Hunter Hearst Helmsley lost his planned push as Wrestling/KingOfTheRing, with Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin winning the tournament and skyrocketing to stardom in the process. He did a series of jobs, including one at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania XII'' where he was {{squash|Match}}ed by Wrestling/UltimateWarrior, who notoriously [[NoSell no-sold]] his Pedigree finisher[[note]]Though the fact that even bothered jobbing him out instead of just sealing him in a crate and shipping him back to [[Wrestling/{{WCW}} Atlanta]] says that Vince at least saw ''something'' in the guy. Also, it should be noted that he got squashed by Warrior about 6 weeks '''before''' the Curtain Call[[/note]]. But Helmsley soldiered on without complaint, and by the fall of 1997, he had dropped his "Connecticut Blueblood" gimmick for good, launching an edgier, raunchier persona as he and Michaels founded the [[Wrestling/DGenerationX DX]] stable. The rest, as they say, is history.

* CareerResurrection/{{Film}}

* '''Wrestling/ShawnMichaels''' is easily this. In TheNineties, he was acclaimed for his great ring work but run down for his drug use and constant showboating and backstage politics. In 1998, a bad back injury forced him out of the business and it looked like he was done. In 2002, after some replacement surgery and having undergone a religious conversion, HBK returned for "one more match" against Wrestling/TripleH. To the shock of everyone, Michaels wrestled a fantastic brawl that soon got him back into the swing of things. Indeed, it's arguable that Michaels was actually better ''after'' his injury than before it, winning titles and creating classic Match of the Year battles against Wrestling/JohnCena, Wrestling/TheUndertaker, Wrestling/ChrisJericho, and more. Also, Michaels was hailed for changing his attitude, more accepting and giving the rub to others. He finally retired in 2010 but his comeback established his legacy from a one-time great to one of the true icons of the entire business.

* '''Wrestling/TripleH''' was on the outs with the then-WWF in 1996 after the infamous "Curtain Call" incident where he and [[Wrestling/TheKliq Kliq]] buddies Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, Wrestling/ScottHall, and Wrestling/KevinNash broke {{kayfabe}} in a group-hugging send-off for the latter two. As the only participant whom WWF could realistically punish (Michaels was WWF Champion while Hall and Nash were Wrestling/{{WCW}}-bound), the wrestler then known as Hunter Hearst Helmsley lost his planned push as Wrestling/KingOfTheRing, with Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin winning the tournament and skyrocketing to stardom in the process. He did a series of jobs, including one at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania XII'' where he was {{squash|Match}}ed by Wrestling/UltimateWarrior, who notoriously [[NoSell no-sold]] his Pedigree finisher. But Helmsley soldiered on without complaint, and by the fall of 1997, he had dropped his "Connecticut Blueblood" gimmick for good, launching an edgier, raunchier persona as he and Michaels founded the [[Wrestling/DGenerationX DX]] stable. The rest, as they say, is history.

* '''Josh Hamilton''' was one of the most highly touted prospects in the history of baseball when he was drafted first overall by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. But after sustaining injuries in a 2001 car accident, he turned to alcohol and drugs to ease the pain, leading to him become hopelessly addicted to them. As a result of his substance abuse and further injuries, he was banned and ''out of baseball in 2004, 2005 and most of 2006''; Creator/{{ESPN}} then named him the 35th worst draft pick of all time. Then, amazingly, he found religion, cleaned himself up, went to Cincinnati and then Texas, and has now gone on to be one of the game's best players, including an amazing home run derby performance in 2008. Unfortunately, Hamilton then had a couple of relapses in 2012 and 2015 and hasn't played since.

* '''Justin Verlander''' was one of the most dominant pitchers in Major League Baseball in the 2010's, with a Rookie of the Year award, an MVP, three no hitters, and eight All Star appearances to his name. However, he played only one game in the shortened 2020 season, and missed all of 2021 because he had Tommy John surgery. In 2022, Verlander came back as good as ever, going 18-4 as a starter and becoming the frontrunner for Comeback Player of the Year '''and''' a third Cy Young Award.

* '''Lee Iacocca''' with Chrysler's K-cars. One of the Ford Motor Company's most promising engineers in TheSixties after designing a slew of {{cool car}}s like the Ford Mustang, the Lincoln Continental Mark III, and a revival of the Mercury brand, he quickly rose through the company's ranks and became its President in 1970, only for his career at Ford to be destroyed by the [[EveryCarIsAPinto Ford Pinto debacle]], leading to his termination in 1978. The only company in Detroit willing to work with him was the near-bankrupt Chrysler Corporation... which he turned around so successfully upon becoming their CEO that he became a national icon and a modern symbol of American industry. His K-cars, a pet project of his at Ford that he finally got to implement at Chrysler, proved that American automakers could build small family cars that weren't pieces of junk, with the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager in particular pioneering an entirely new type of vehicle, the minivan that soon displaced the station wagon as the symbol of suburbia.
* '''David Valadao''' had spent three termsas a popular moderate Republican congressman from the inland Central Valley of California, consistently winning in a district that wasunfavorable to the GOP higher up the ballot. But in 2018, his luck would finally run out as he was narrowly ousted by Democrat TJ Cox. It was considered a sign that the days of Republican success in the region were done. However, this all changed corruption scandals began to engulf Cox. With the Democrat's popularity taking rapidly, Valadao saw an opportunity at a comeback. Originally dismissed as unlikely, as he was no longer the incumbent and now had to face GOP-unfriendly territory head on, he surprised everyone when he narrowly took his seat back even as Democrat Joe Biden was carrying it by double digits. It helped that although Biden won it, he actually did worse than Hillary Clinton had four years prior.

* '''Creator/GeneWilder''' suffered through a severe career slide in the late '80s, coinciding with the 1989 cancer death of his wife Creator/GildaRadner, that continued through the '90s until he took on the role of a theater director turned gumshoe in a couple of A&E television movies that met with critical and audience acclaim. He followed them up with a couple of guest spots on ''Series/WillAndGrace'', which earned him an Emmy win, his first acting award since 1962. He then turned his attention to writing before advancing Alzheimer's disease caused him to cease working again before his death in 2016.

** During the early/mid-2010s, after the success of the above Wii, Nintendo saw their first years of operating income loss since entering the video game market in the 1980s. While part of this was due to the rocky start the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS had, most of it can be attributed to the massive flop that was the UsefulNotes/WiiU. Thanks to [[Analysis/WiiU enough issues to make its own page]], they were getting beat left, right, and center in most territories by their competitors. And as for fan perception during this time, a number of {{Fanwork Ban}}s didn't help matters at all. Then, in 2017, Nintendo released the Wii U's successor, and their reception and popularity [[UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch switched]] right on a dime thanks to an attractive gimmick and a first year full of hotly-anticipated titles.

* '''Wrestling/{{Edge}}''' and '''Wrestling/{{Christian}}''' both managed to pull this off within a year of each other. Edge was one of the most successful wrestlers of the 2000s, having won several world championships with Wrestling/{{WWE}}. Christian was more of a midcard star, but did enjoy a brief stint of success in [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] under his original full ring name of '''Christian Cage'''. And together, they were one of the Attitude Era's most popular tag teams. Edge was forced to retire in 2011 due to a neck injury, and while Christian lasted a few more years, he too was out of action by 2014 due to concussions. However, at the 2020 Royal Rumble, Edge made an unexpected return to a thunderous ovation, and came back on a part-time basis for programs with the likes of Wrestling/RandyOrton and Wrestling/SethRollins and would go on to win the 2021 Rumble. The latter Rumble is also where Christian made his return, but it turned out WWE would only be a brief detour leading to his true comeback in AEW, where he became Christian Cage again for the first time since 2008. And thanks to AEW's partnership with TNA's successor company Impact Wrestling, he would be back on Impact shortly afterwards and finally won the company's world title for the first time ever (having previously only won the NWA version in his first stint).

* '''The [[Wrestling/MattHardy Hardy]] [[Wrestling/JeffHardy Boyz]]''': were one of WWF's top tag teams in the Attitude Era and would pursue solo careers in the 2000s, but both men were derailed by their personal issues (various injuries, Jeff's drug addictions, and Matt's poor handling of [[Wrestling/{{Lita}} his girlfriend]] having an affair with his [[Wrestling/{{Edge}} best friend]]) and left WWE for TNA at the end of the decade. The low point for both men was 2011, when Jeff showed up to a TNA world title match against Sting doped to the gills (forcing Sting to shoot-pin him after about a minute) and Matt was fired due to a drinking problem, subsequently faking a suicide note, leading the wrestling fandom to completely turn on them both. However, both men spent the next few years cleaning up their act, with Matt in particular becoming one of the hottest things in pro wrestling with his "Broken" Matt Hardy gimmick in TNA. This was enough for WWE to give them another chance and re-hire them in 2017, with a RAW Tag Team Championship run to boot.

* '''Simon Trent''' in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Beware the Gray Ghost" was an actor known for starring as the titular vigilante in the ShowWithinAShow ''The Gray Ghost'', which would inspire Bruce to become Batman later on. However, the show was subject to KeepCirculatingTheTapes as a fire destroyed the studio that produced it, so the public largely forgot about it. Simon Trent is now old, broke and hasn't had an acting job in a while due to TypeCasting (RealitySubtext, as he's voiced by Creator/AdamWest) living in a run-down apartment and barely paying the bills by selling his ''Gray Ghost'' memorabilia to collectors. After an unknown criminal begins imitating crimes from the show, Batman convinces Trent to help him solve the mystery. After the culprit is defeated, Trent is revered as a real hero, ''The Gray Ghost'' finally gets a home video release (as Trent had copies of the original episodes stashed away) and Trent's career is presumably revived.

[-[[caption-width-right:200:From [[Film/{{Chaplin}} celebrated actor]] to convicted felon, and then [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse right back]] to [[Characters/MCUIronMan the top]].]]-]

* An episode of ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'' had the boys befriending a washed-up magician called '''"The Great Doheney"'''. He becomes famous again after Megan gives him an idea for his attempted comeback show: to fake his death and "come back to life" at his funeral.

* '''Madd Dogg''' of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' gained extreme popularity as a rapper in the late 1980s. However, his fame started to wane as the 90s rolled around, not helped by the murder of his manager and the disappearance of his rhyme book. Seemingly overnight, he became a laughingstock struggling with alcoholism and up to his eyeballs in debt, and was even forced to give his mansion to a drug lord. But after [[PlayerCharacter CJ]] saved him from killing himself and sent him to rehab, things started to look up for him. CJ became his new manager and helped him make his comeback album, ''Forty Dogg'', which quickly achieved gold record status. His resurrected career proves to have staying power, and by [[VideoGameGrandTheftAutoV 2013]], the Vinewood Walk of Fame has a star honoring him.