History Main / CareerResurrection

* '''Creator/YoshioSakamoto''', the co-creator of the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' franchise, received major flak for the 2010 installment ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM''. While the game didn't kill his career - he continued to serve as producer for other series at Nintendo, such as ''VideoGame/WarioWare'', ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven'', and ''VideoGame/TomodachiLife'' - it divided the fandom on his credibility in regards to the ''Metroid'' series and made him hesitant to work on a new entry. Fans saw him as having singlehandedly put the franchise on ice, with some even refusing to believe he was responsible for the success of past entries. In 2017, Sakamoto would return to produce ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' with Creator/MercurySteam, a game that went back to the series' classic 2D {{Metroidvania}} roots. The game was met with high praise and restored the fanbase's faith in Sakamoto continuing to direct the franchise.

* '''Wrestling/{{Sting}}'''. After becoming a breakout star in the late '80s, Sting became WCW's top guy in the early '90s, winning several world titles and being voted Most Popular Wrestler of the year in 1990, 1991, and 1994. Sting's momentum slowed down once Wrestling/RicFlair returned in 1993 after a two-year run in WWF, and took an even bigger hit when Hogan and Savage came aboard. As a result, Sting got lost in the shuffle, wrestling mostly in the midcard or as the RickyMorton to Hogan, Savage and Wrestling/LexLuger in tag team matches. After Hogan's own resurrection (see above), Sting knew he had to change his character or else he'd suffer the same fate as pre-heel turn Hogan. He changed his look from a bleach-blond surfer dude to a dark, ghostly avenger reminiscent of Eric Draven from ''Film/TheCrow'', [[SilentBob stopped cutting promos]] and took the fight directly to WCW's biggest threat via sneak attacks and theatrical mind tricks. He won the WCW World Heavyweight title at Starrcade 1997 (but not without controversy), which was his first world title reign since 1993, and was once again voted Most Popular Wrestler of the Year.

* '''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[[note]]It helped that this time around Shawn didn't want the pressure and brutal travel schedule (during most his second run Michaels only worked [=PPVs=] and ''Raw'', he rarely appeared on ''Smackdown'' and never worked house shows) of a top guy, so he didn't really have a spot that needed to be protected and had no reason to not play ball. Especially when he's best friends with [[Wrestling/TripleH the son-in-law]][[/note]]. 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. Today he's helping the next generation of wrestlers as a senior trainer in the WWE Performance Center and a producer/agent for ''NXT''.

* '''Wrestling/SamoaJoe''' was at one point considered to be one of the best wrestlers in North America and pretty much put Wrestling/RingOfHonor on the map with his classic trilogy of matches with Wrestling/CMPunk as well as having epic encounters with the likes of Wrestling/KentaKobashi, Wrestling/BryanDanielson and Wrestling/AustinAries. He then moved to [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] and had an 18-month long winning streak that cemented him as one of the top stars in the company and his match with Wrestling/KurtAngle led to TNA's highest PPV buy rate at that time(25,000). However, after that it all seemed to slowly fall apart for Joe as a disappointing World Title run, poor angles and a dose of BadassDecay had completely destroyed Joe's aura. It didn't help when TNA retooled Joe into an AxCrazy WildSamoan, [[{{Narm}} which seemed to provoke more laughter than fear.]] Eventually, TNA stopped trying and Joe's matches, save a great triple threat match with Wrestling/AJStyles and Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels, took a nosedive. Once Wrestling/HulkHogan and Wrestling/EricBischoff joined TNA, Joe [[DemotedToExtra floundered between the mid to low card]] and was pretty much irrelevant in TNA for a year and a half. Until he formed a tag team with fellow struggling wrestler Wrestling/{{Magnus}} and eventually, they became tag team champions, which made Joe relevant again in the eyes of fans. After the team broke up Joe's matches took a notable increase in quality resulting in show-stealing matches against old rivals Austin Aries and Wrestling/KurtAngle. He hasn't reached his 2005-2006 peak, but Joe is quickly climbing back up the TNA ladder again. He left TNA in 2015 and went to Wrestling/{{WWENXT}}, becoming the first two-time NXT Champion and becoming a top monster heel.

* '''Wrestling/CMPunk''' was the hottest heel in the Wrestling/{{WWE}} for a period of time in 2009, but after he lost his World Heavyweight Championship to Wrestling/TheUndertaker, he found himself in mid-card angles involving the Straight Edge Society, where he was constantly beaten by Wrestling/{{Rey Mysterio|Jr}} and Wrestling/BigShow. After he took over the [[Wrestling/TheNexus New Nexus]] in 2011, he got put in a boring, one-sided feud with Wrestling/RandyOrton. As his WWE contract was about to expire, he was going to have one last feud with Wrestling/JohnCena. Then, on June 27th, 2011, CM Punk sat down on the Raw stage and cut an epic {{worked shoot}} promo attacking WWE, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon, and Wrestling/JohnCena. This led to a classic match at that year's ''Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank'' where he won his first WWE Championship and left the company with the title. When he came back a week later, he proved himself to be the successor to John Cena's throne as the face of WWE. While he was never able to get that far, he still became one of the company's most popular superstars -- to the point that fans are still cheering his name years his sudden departure in January 2014.

* '''Wrestling/BeckyLynch''': Rebecca Knox was a wrestling prodigy in her home country of Ireland. When all-women's promotions in America were just starting to take off, she took the indie scene by storm. Then she suffered a serious head injury and had to retire at the age of nineteen. Later at the age of twenty-six, she made a sudden return to wrestling and was signed to Wrestling/{{WWE}} instantly and quickly became the biggest she's ever been. She is held up as one of the 'Four Horsewomen' of NXT, alongside three [[Wrestling/SashaBanks much]] [[Wrestling/CharlotteFlair fresher]] [[Wrestling/{{Bayley}} talent]], who helped put women's wrestling back on the map for a mainstream audience. In 2016 she became the first-ever [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion. She would experience this a second time towards the end of 2018. After losing the [=SmackDown=] Women's Championship, she finds herself gradually OutOfFocus for the next year and a half in spite of her audible fan support. Then her FaceHeelTurn in ''Wrestling/SummerSlam 2018'' happened, in which she attacked Wrestling/CharlotteFlair after her victory stating that Flair stole her spotlight and weaseled her way in the match that was originally just Becky's in the first place. Becky's subsequent MotiveRant (Flair [[CreatorsPet always getting free opportunities]], e.g.) would instead resonate with the fans instead of them turning on her. After defeating Flair to start her second reign, Becky was slated to face Raw Women's Champion Creator/RondaRousey on that year's ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries'' in a Champion vs. Champion match. But what ironically cemented Becky's status as WWE's BreakoutCharacter is the reason why the anticipated match ''didn't'' happen; on the final Raw before ''Survivor Series'', the [=SmackDown=] women attempted an invasion in which Becky was legitimately busted open and concussed by a stiff punch from [[Wrestling/NiaJax another wrestler]]. [[{{Determinator}} Becky shrugs off the injury to finish the segment]], winning her the respect of Wrestling/VinceMcMahon, everyone in the locker room, and the further adoration of the fans. Her popularity ultimately led her to be one of the first three women (along with Rousey and Flair) to main event ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'' in which she came out victorious.

* '''Wrestling/KennyOmega''' was a fairly popular name in the indy scene for a while, but he was widely considered a B-lister at best and never had anywhere near the same reputation as the likes of Wrestling/BryanDanielson, Wrestling/ClaudioCastagnoli, or Wrestling/KevinSteen. Once he left Wrestling/RingOfHonor in 2010, Omega became largely an afterthought in the minds of most wrestling fans. This all changed when he arrived in New Japan during the mid-2010s, where he quickly became a standout member of Wrestling/BulletClub and provided five-star matches with the likes of Wrestling/HiroshiTanahashi, Wrestling/KazuchikaOkada, and Wrestling/TetsuyaNaito, including three with Okada that went ''above'' the five-star scale, and essentially becoming arguably the hottest name on the industry outside WWE.

* '''Wrestling/JonMoxley''' was a successful act in multiple independent promotions before signing with WWE in 2011 and competed in its developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) under the new ring name Dean Ambrose. He made his debut on the main roster the following year and formed Wrestling/TheShield with Wrestling/SethRollins and Wrestling/RomanReigns, in which they became one of the most successful stables in the history of the promotion. After they disbanded in 2014 and despite championship success, especially becoming WWE Champion in 2016, he tolled away in the upper midcard and lost his edge as a character. Upon departing in 2019 due to CreativeDifferences, he reverted back to being Jon Moxley and debuted in AEW and NJPW both in spectacular fashion, feeling revitalized and showing fans how he should've been booked in the WWE. He became a two-time IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion and the second ever AEW World Champion, becoming arguably the wrestler of 2020 in the process.
* '''Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}''' 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).

* '''Landon Donovan''' became a worldwide name with a sterling performance for the USA at the 2002 [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup World Cup]], earning a Young Player of the Year award and attracting European interest. Then came the failed stints at German clubs, the whining about homesickness that earned him the nickname Landycakes, his lackluster play in the '06 Cup, and the eventual humiliation of losing his captain's armband at LA Galaxy to then-frenemy David Beckham. That turned around in 08/09: he became the country's all-time highest goalscorer, Galaxy's new manager restored him as team captain, and (with a newfound maturity he credited to his divorce) he played a vital part in taking the USA to the finals of the Confederations Cup. A highly successful loan to English team Everton and a career-high performance at the 2010 World Cup followed. Even the most cynical American soccer fans will now admit he's one of the country's all-time best players. He eventually retired in 2014 as the second-most capped player, the best goal scorer of the national team, and so much of an MLS legend that since 2015, the league's MVP receives the Landon Donovan MVP Award. Donovan came back to Los Angeles for one last hurrah in 2016 as a free agent after the team's stars went down with season-ending injuries. He couldn't stay retired, coming back ''again'' in 2018 with Mexican top-flight side León. Donovan lasted only five months in Liga MX, but then returned to the US, joining the San Diego Sockers of the Major Arena Soccer League in 2019. Donovan ended his playing career again after the 2019 MASL season, but remains in the game as principal owner and head coach of San Diego Loyal SC, which began play in the second-tier USL Championship in 2020.

* The man starting ahead of Howard on the Lakers, '''[=JaVale McGee=]''', enjoyed a comeback 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.

* '''Tommy John''''s Career Resurrection in Major League Baseball was such a success that they named a surgical procedure after him. He was in the middle of one of his best pro seasons in 1974 when he suffered permanent damage to his ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm. This would have normally been a career-ending injury, but thanks to the surgery that would soon bear his name, he made a successful return to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1976 and played in three straight All-Star Games from 1978 to 1980. Even more remarkable, he ended up pitching in the majors until 1989, when he was already 46 years old! And he won 164 of his 288 career wins ''after'' his surgery.

* '''Creator/TedDanson''' on ''{{Series/Damages}}''. After the end of ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' in 1993, Danson's star faded with him starring in a string of unsuccessful comedy films, an unpopular sitcom (''Ink''), and making occasional cameos as himself on ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm''. This changed in 2007 when he was cast as BigBad Arthur Frobisher for ''{{Series/Damages}}'''s first season. Danson's [[TomHanksSyndrome surprisingly strong performance]] garnered rave reviews from critics and his first Emmy nomination in 15 years. The renewed exposure also landed him a role in the HBO comedy series ''Series/BoredToDeath'' a part as the new lead in ''Series/{{CSI}}'' after Laurence Fishburne's departure, and a leading role on ''Series/TheGoodPlace''.

* '''Creator/KieferSutherland''' on ''Series/TwentyFour''. After ''Film/TheLostBoys'',''Film/YoungGuns'', and ''Film/YoungGunsII'', Sutherland looked to be well on his way. Then, he faded to the background thanks to his acrimonious breakup with Creator/JuliaRoberts (see above) and his own troubled personal life, turning up occasionally (''Film/AFewGoodMen'', ''Film/ATimeToKill'') on Hollywood's radar, and doing some very well-received independent work (like ''Film/DarkCity''). For a while, he retired from acting [[HeAlsoDid to become a rodeo champion]]. However, his Emmy-award winning turn as Jack Bauer on ''24'' put him back on the A-list.

* '''Creator/MichaelChiklis''' on ''Series/TheShield''. In fact, Chiklis has pulled this off ''twice''. First came his starring role in the much-despised Creator/JohnBelushi biopic ''Wired'', which saw his career dry up for two years and is considered by Chiklis to be an OldShame. Then, after starring on the successful series ''Series/TheCommish'', he almost killed his career with the critically bashed sitcom ''Daddio'', but ''The Shield'' brought him back from the brink and into the limelight, as well as earning him an UsefulNotes/EmmyAward for Best Actor.

* '''Creator/AnnaChlumsky''' on ''Series/{{Veep}}''. She started out as a child actress early in TheNineties, landing her first success with ''Film/MyGirl'' opposite Creator/MacaulayCulkin. The film became a SleeperHit at the box office, with Chlumsky returning [[Film/MyGirl2 for its sequel]]. Unfortunately, her next film after ''My Girl 2'' was the flop known as ''Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain'' alongside Creator/ChristinaRicci. Ricci recovered after a bit, but Chlumsky's career faded into guest spots on television before she took an acting hiatus to focus on school in 1999. After completing university, Chlumsky worked in publishing for a brief spell of time before finding it unfulfilling and returning to acting full-time in 2005. She worked sporadically for the next few years before landing a supporting role in the political satire ''Film/InTheLoop'', a spin-off movie of the Creator/{{BBC}} series ''Series/TheThickOfIt''. ''The Thick of It'' creator and ''In the Loop'' director Creator/ArmandoIannucci kept Chlumsky in mind, later casting her as political aide Amy Brookheimer in his Creator/{{HBO}} comedy ''Veep'' alongside Creator/JuliaLouisDreyfus as Selina Meyer. Its success truly reestablished Chlumsky as an actress and netted her six Primetime UsefulNotes/EmmyAward nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She'd later co-star opposite Creator/JuliaGarner in the Creator/{{Netflix}} series ''Series/InventingAnna''.

* '''Oscar Hammerstein II''' revived his weakening career in musical theatre with ''Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}''. In the previous years, Richard Rodgers had been one of Broadway's most successful composers in a partnership with Lorenz Hart that he was reluctant to discontinue (though it ended soon after with Hart's death), whereas none of Hammerstein's pre-''Oklahoma!'' musical plays had succeeded in New York or London since ''Music in the Air'' in the early 1930s, while he drifted in and out of Hollywood and wrote the occasional hit song (such as "The Last Time I Saw Paris", which won an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward that he disowned because he hadn't originally written the song for a movie).

** Following the major downturn in console sales following the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 and UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, many analysts and journalists had given Nintendo up for dead (despite Nintendo's more than ample cash reserves and [[UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance handheld]] [[UsefulNotes/NintendoDS dominance]]), and there were numerous "experts" predicting Nintendo would soon leave the console market and to become a third-party developer like former rival Creator/{{Sega}}. Nintendo's next console, the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, went on to revolutionize gaming by selling over 100 million units on the back of its simple motion controls, sitting in a perpetual state of being sold out for the first few years of its life. And in a testament to its wide-spread appeal, Sony and Microsoft rushed to make clumsy copycat attempts at replicating that appeal a few years later.
** 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 the failure of the console, 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.

* '''Creator/PlatinumGames''', while well known for their rather stellar action games, many of which were considered instant classics by fans of the genre, they found themselves in quite the slump during the mid-2010s. It mainly came down to them releasing [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames a slew of licensed games]] under Creator/{{Activision}} that were seen as quite sub-par, with the absolute low point being ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles: Mutants in Manhattan''. The cancellation of ''VideoGame/{{Scalebound}}'', a highly anticipated Xbox One title, didn't help either. And while they did release two critically-acclaimed games for the UsefulNotes/WiiU (''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta 2}}'' and ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101''), they were doomed to be {{Acclaimed Flop}}s on a failed console. According to Hideki Kamiya, Platinum was about to file for bankruptcy should their next title fail. Fortunately for them, ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' was not only a BreakthroughHit for creative director Creator/YokoTaro, but also a massive critical and financial success, saving the company from bankruptcy and restoring their reputation in the eyes of gamers.

* '''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. Probably also worth noting here that Vickers had already been told he would be fired at the end of the season and was shut out of all team meetings, so he probably didn't feel too guilty about taking out his soon to be former teammate[[/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, though he wasn't punished by NASCAR) 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 since it was revealed that his wife, Sarah Kellen, was a close associate of Jeffrey Epstein.

The bottom line is, their next big thing didn't work. Their career has bottomed out. At best, they take bit roles and second billing to [[MoneyDearBoy pay the bills]]. At worst, they can look forward to a long career as a walking punchline.

And then, suddenly...[[HesBack they're back!]] They landed a hot role, signed on to a SleeperHit or broke back into the industry as an EnsembleDarkHorse or what have you. If they were on drugs or had behavior issues, they've cleaned up. If they were always typecast, they [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct show a surprising range]]. If they were labeled as played out, they manage to innovate their style that refreshes their work and possibly their medium. They've resurrected their careers. And if they're really lucky, they're bigger than they have ever been!

* '''[[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-10-19/yuki-suetsugu-copies-art-from-other-manga Yuki Suetsugu]]''': In 2005, the {{shoujo}}[=/=]{{josei}} manga artist was caught plagiarizing art from other manga, like Takehiko Inoue's ''Manga/SlamDunk''. As a result, the "offending" manga ''Manga/EdenNoHana'' was pulled from shelves and Suetsugu had to put her whole career on hold. Two years later, she returned with her next manga series ''Manga/{{Chihayafuru}}'', which proved to be much more successful.

* '''Creator/DonJohnson''' on ''Series/NashBridges''. Johnson was one of the biggest TV stars in TheEighties, owing to his role as Detective James "Sonny" Crockett on ''Series/MiamiVice''. When he attempted to become a movie star, though, the results, like ''Film/HarleyDavidsonAndTheMarlboroMan'' in 1991, were disastrous. Following that flop, his films for the next five years misfired and thus motivated him to go back towards TV. Thankfully, playing the title role in ''Nash Bridges'' renewed his popularity when it became a success lasting six seasons. Johnson has continued cultivating a good career on TV, notably with a role on Creator/{{HBO}}'s ''Series/{{Watchmen}}''. He later found success on film as a supporting actor in movies like ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' and ''Film/KnivesOut''.

* '''Creator/GeorgePeppard''' on ''Series/TheATeam''. After a slow beginning on theatre and television, Peppard landed his big break starring alongside Creator/AudreyHepburn in ''Film/BreakfastAtTiffanys''. Its huge success led to roles in more hits like ''Film/HowTheWestWasWon'' and ''Film/TheBlueMax'', making him a huge star in TheSixties. He also was notorious for on-set perfectionism, which sometimes got so bad it alienated cast and crew alike. A series of duds later in the decade disillusioned him from film, so he went back to TV. ''Series/{{Banacek}}'', the first series Peppard headlined, only lasted two seasons and seventeen episodes, spread over two years. His further attempts at a television career fizzled in TheSeventies, and he infamously lost the role of Blake Carrington on ''Series/{{Dynasty}}''. On the big screen, Peppard tried rebounding by producing, directing, and starring in his passion project, ''Five Days from Home'', which was released with no fanfare. Most of his input, besides that, consisted of terrible B-movies, including ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars'' and ''Film/RaceForTheYankeeZephyr''. Peppard was on the verge of quitting acting before he auditioned for and won the role of Col. John "Hannibal" Smith on ''The A-Team''; it smashed ratings and was one of the top-ten most viewed programs in the United States, becoming one of the most ubiquitous shows of TheEighties and introducing him to a new generation. Its success, with Peppard earning $50,000, then $65,000 per episode, thus ensured he would remain famous up to his death in 1994.

* '''Oscar Hammerstein II''' revived his weakening career in musical theatre with ''Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}''. In the previous years, Richard Rodgers had been one of Broadway's most successful composers in a partnership with Lorenz Hart that he was reluctant to discontinue (though it ended soon after with Hart's death), whereas none of Hammerstein's pre-''Oklahoma!'' musical plays had succeeded in New York or London since ''Music in the Air'' in the early 1930s, while he drifted in and out of Hollywood and wrote the occasional hit song (such as "The Last Time I Saw Paris", which won an Academy Award that he disowned because he hadn't originally written the song for a movie).

* '''Max Bialystock''' in TheMusical version of ''Film/TheProducers''. He starts all versions of the story as a JadedWashout whose acclaim and success are far behind him, with seducing little old ladies as backers as his only means of staying afloat. In the original film, his SpringtimeForHitler scheme lands him in jail (but with plans to try again), but the musical adaptation (and the musical's own film adaptation) expand on this by having him and his partners pardoned, and restarting his Broadway career successfully with a string of hits (with the titles implying they duplicate Springtime's SoBadItsGood formula, albeit ''intentionally'').

* Subverted in ''Film/TheWrestler'' (ironically, given how the film revived Creator/MickeyRourke's career). '''Randy "The Ram" Robinson''' ''tries'' to relive his GloryDays, but ultimately his age, his trainwreck of a personal life, and the half-healed injuries of his wrestling past catch up with him.

This is what happens when a major star fights off the ill effects of the HollywoodHypeMachine. So they debuted hot and fizzled out. Maybe they were a [[HypeBacklash victim of their own hype]]. Maybe they [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously made some unfortunate role selections]] or [[TroubledProduction production choices]]. Maybe they [[RealLifeWritesThePlot were injured or ill]], or [[DrugsAreBad had some demons they couldn't conquer]]. Maybe she was a WhiteDwarfStarlet or a FormerChildStar whose career fizzled out. Perhaps they made [[GenreAdultery an ill-fated switch to another medium, or genre]] and didn't pan out. Or the big star [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor did something dumb or scandalous]] and [[OvershadowedByControversy they faded out amongst the uproar]].

* '''Creator/VeronicaTaylor''' was famous in the early 1990s/2000s for being the iconic English voice of [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Ash Ketchum]], along with many other characters in Pokemon and other shows dubbed by Creator/FourKidsEntertainment. But when Pokemon Company International licensed the show, she and the rest of the cast were replaced, and the fall of the voice acting industry in New York, especially for anime, left her without work. But she moved to LA a few years ago and has started to come back to voice acting, with her first major LA-based anime role being [[Manga/SailorMoon Sailor Pluto]]. Since then, she's started climbing back into prominence.

* '''Creator/{{Capcom}}'s fighting game division''' once reigned supreme across the 1990s. However, the commercial failure of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'', coupled with the decline of the 2D fighting game genre as 3D fighting games like ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'', ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'' and ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' taking the fighting game scene by the storm by the end of the decade, would lead to Capcom to progressively downsize their fighting game division, ultimately culminating in them shutting it down following the failure of ''VideoGame/CapcomFightingEvolution''. For the next couple of years, all future Capcom fighting games were outsourced to other studios such as Creator/{{Dimps}} and Creator/{{Eighting}}. ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' was a major success and it allowed Capcom to rebuild their fighting game division but numerous setbacks such as the failure of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' and the disastrous launch of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' meant that they were not out of the woods yet. It wouldn't be until ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6'' that Capcom's fighting game division finally regained its reputation it had once enjoyed before.

* '''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 since it was revealed that his wife, Sarah Kellen, was a close associate of Jeffrey Epstein.

* '''Brian Williams''' on Creator/{{MSNBC}} -- Williams was the anchor for ''NBC Nightly News'' from 2004 until 2015 when he was caught embellishing details about his personal involvement in a firefight during the Iraq War. Instead of being fired, Williams was demoted to "breaking news anchor" with no guaranteed air time. But he toughed it out and got positive reviews for helming MSNBC's 2016 election coverage. Enough for him to be given a temporary tryout for a regular show... at 11 pm, the cable news equivalent of the FridayNightDeathSlot. Contrary to expectations, however, ''The 11th Hour with Brian Williams'' drew in a regular audience for it to be picked up permanently and became such a ratings success that it beat both Fox News and CNN in its time slot. The show became respected enough that subbing for Williams raised Nicolle Wallace's profile so that she received her own dedicated afternoon slot while Williams eventually bowed out on his own terms in 2021 and MSNBC continued the show with Stephanie Ruhle, herself already an established name in journalism.

* '''Brian Williams''' on Creator/{{MSNBC}} -- Williams was the anchor for ''NBC Nightly News'' from 2004 until 2015 when he was caught embellishing details about his personal involvement in a firefight during the Iraq War. Instead of being fired, Williams was demoted to "breaking news anchor" with no guaranteed air time. But he toughed it out and got positive reviews for helming MSNBC's 2016 election coverage. Enough for him to be given a temporary tryout for a regular show... at 11 pm, the cable news equivalent of the FridayNightDeathSlot. Contrary to expectations, however, ''The 11th Hour with Brian Williams'' drew in a regular audience for it to be picked up permanently and became such a ratings success that it beat both Creator/FoxNews and CNN in its time slot. The show became respected enough that subbing for Williams raised Nicolle Wallace's profile so that she received her own dedicated afternoon slot while Williams eventually bowed out on his own terms in 2021 and MSNBC continued the show with Stephanie Ruhle, herself already an established name in journalism.

* '''Creator/{{Capcom}}'s fighting game division''' once reigned supreme across the 1990s. However, the commercial failure of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'', coupled with the decline of the 2D fighting game genre as 3D fighting games like ''VideoGame/Tekken'', ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'', ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'' and ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' taking the fighting game scene by the storm by the end of the decade, would lead to Capcom to progressively downsize their fighting game division, ultimately culminating in them shutting it down following the failure of ''VideoGame/CapcomFightingEvolution''. For the next couple of years, all future Capcom fighting games were outsourced to other studios such as Creator/{{Dimps}} and Creator/{{Eighting}}. ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' was a major success and it allowed Capcom to rebuild their fighting game division but numerous setbacks such as the failure of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' and the disastrous launch of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' meant that they were not out of the woods yet. It wouldn't be until ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6'' that Capcom's fighting game division finally regained its reputation it had once enjoyed before.

* '''Creator/{{Capcom}}'''s fighting game division once reigned supreme across the 1990s. However, the commercial failure of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'', coupled with the decline of the 2D fighting game genre as 3D fighting games like ''VideoGame/Tekken'', ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'', ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'' and ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' taking the fighting game scene by the storm by the end of the decade, would lead to Capcom to progressively downsize their fighting game division, ultimately culminating in them shutting it down following the failure of ''VideoGame/CapcomFightingEvolution''. For the next couple of years, all future Capcom fighting games were outsourced to other studios such as Creator/{{Dimps}} and Creator/{{Eighting}}. ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' was a major success and it allowed Capcom to rebuild their fighting game division but numerous setbacks such as the failure of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' and the disastrous launch of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' meant that they were not out of the woods yet. It wouldn't be until ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6'' that Capcom's fighting game division finally regained its reputation it had once enjoyed before.

* '''Creator/BilliePiper''' in ''Series/DoctorWho'' is somewhat of an example. While it's a straight-up StarMakingRole when strictly referring to her acting career and as far as international stardom goes, it thrust her back into the spotlight after her TeenIdol singing career started winding down.

* '''Creator/AnnaChlumsky''' on ''Series/{{Veep}}''. She started out as a child actress early in TheNineties, scoring her first big hit with ''Film/MyGirl'' opposite Creator/MacaulayCulkin. The film became a SleeperHit at the box office, with Chlumsky returning [[Film/MyGirl2 for its sequel]]. Unfortunately, her next film after ''My Girl 2'' was the flop known as ''Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain'' alongside Creator/ChristinaRicci. Ricci recovered after a bit, but Chlumsky's career faded into guest spots on television before she took an acting hiatus to focus on school in 1999. After completing university, Chlumsky worked in publishing for a brief spell of time before finding it unfulfilling and returning to acting full-time in 2005. She worked sporadically for the next few years before landing a supporting role in the political satire ''Film/InTheLoop'', a spin-off movie of the Creator/{{BBC}} series ''Series/TheThickOfIt''. ''The Thick of It'' creator and ''In the Loop'' director Creator/ArmandoIannucci kept Chlumsky in mind, later casting her as political aide Amy Brookheimer in his Creator/{{HBO}} comedy ''Veep'' alongside Creator/JuliaLouisDreyfus as Selina Meyer. Its success truly reestablished Chlumsky as an actress and netted her six Primetime UsefulNotes/EmmyAward nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She'd later co-star opposite Creator/JuliaGarner in the Creator/{{Netflix}} series ''Series/InventingAnna''.

* '''Creator/GeorgePeppard''' on ''Series/TheATeam''. After a slow beginning on theatre and television, Peppard landed his big break starring alongside Creator/AudreyHepburn in ''Film/BreakfastAtTiffanys''. Its huge success led to roles in more hits like ''Film/HowTheWestWasWon'' and ''Film/TheBlueMax'', making him a huge star in TheSixties. He also was notorious for on-set perfectionism, which sometimes got so bad it alienated cast and crew alike. A series of duds later in the decade disillusioned him from film, so he went back to TV. ''Series/{{Banacek}}'', the first series Peppard headlined, only lasted two seasons and seventeen episodes, spread over two years. His further attempts at a television career fizzled in TheSeventies, and he infamously lost the role of Blake Carrington on ''Series/{{Dallas}}''. On the silver screen, Peppard tried rebounding by producing, directing, and starring in his passion project, ''Five Days from Home'', which was released with no fanfare. Most of his input, besides that, consisted of terrible B-movies, including ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars'' and ''Film/RaceForTheYankeeZephyr''. Peppard was on the verge of quitting acting before he auditioned for and won the role of Col. John "Hannibal" Smith on ''The A-Team''. It smashed ratings and was one of the top-ten most viewed programs in the United States, becoming one of the most ubiquitous shows of TheEighties and introducing him to a new generation. Its success, with Peppard earning $50,000, then $65,000 per episode, thus ensured he would remain famous up to his death in 1994.

* '''Wrestling/HulkHogan'''. THE biggest wrestling star of the 1980s, Hogan's career stalled in the mid '90s after a combination of steroid allegations (promptly ridding him of his reputation for being a good role model for children), a disastrous movie career, and especially jumping to Wrestling/{{WCW}} while still retaining the tired gimmick he'd held for a decade. Seen as old hat, boring and having gotten involved with a group of poor angles and feuds, Hogan's popularity was at an all-time low when the decision was finally made to turn him Heel by being a founding member of the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]] faction. The move sparked interest in wrestling that it hadn't seen since the turn of the decade. Hogan once more became one of the biggest names in wrestling as a leader of the nWo.