Vindicated By History / Professional Wrestling

• One of the biggest cases of this in wrestling history is Mildred Burke. Burke had been married to NWA promoter Billy Wolfe; they'd had a bitter falling out that saw Burke frozen out of the NWA even though she was the reigning Women's Champion. When a match between Burke and June Byers (Wolfe's daughter-in-law) was finally booked, it was a two-out-of-three-falls match. Because Burke and Byers legitimately hated each other, the match was (allegedly) a real shoot-wrestling match. Burke was injured at the time and quickly gave up the first fall to conserve energy for the second, the second fall ran for an hour and was stopped by the referee without a decision. Both Burke and Byers believed they were the champion, but Wolfe pulled strings in the NWA and it sided with Byers. Both Burke and her splinter promotion the WWWA took a massive blow in credibility over the loss. However, decades later the full story came out. Burke is now considered the godmother of women's wrestling in the USA and Byers is best known as the woman who helped Wolfe and the NWA ruin Burke's life.
• Big Van Vader's run in WCW, his first with a major promotion in the US since the American Wrestling Association, wasn't a favorite of his fans, mostly because he had a slow start with Sting and Hulk Hogan later no sold his moves, drastically reducing Vader's Wrestling Monster aura. However, after even more embarrassing feuds with Shawn Michaels (this was before Shawn got injured, found religion, and learned some humility), Goldust, and Kane in the WWF, people instead looked back more fondly on what went right for Vader with Sting, as well as his matches with Ron Simmons and Cactus Jack.
• Edge and Lita: In 2005, word got out about the two having an affair, cheating on Edge's second wife and Matt Hardy respectively. This and Hardy's reaction which got him fired over it caused a lot of fan backlash towards both of them at the time, which WWE decided to make into an angle (first involving Lita's storyline husband Kane, then rehiring Matt) to take advantage of the situation. This especially lingered on with Lita to the point it played a hand in her decision to retire toward the end of 2006, receiving a less-than-admirable sendoff from the company on the way out. In the years since then, Edge has entered a nepotistic romance storyline with Vickie Guerrero for about a year or so which worked to the point that if Lita had returned to take Edge back it would've been a Heel–Face Turn less than two years later. Hardy has increasingly gone Jumping Off the Slippery Slope as a career-midcarder, and began excusing his brother and friends' every mistake while taking four years to clearly define that his legit heat with Edge was over. Edge has become a modern day legend through great feuds and matches with the likes of The Undertaker, John Cena, CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Batista, Randy Orton, so on and so forth, still being the generally all-around awesome guy backstage (seriously, even Cena has the rare dirt sheet article or shoot interview saying he's treated someone like crap. Edge? NOTHING outside the love triangle scandal. In fact, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder still praise him on Twitter a fair deal for helping them in their formative WWE years, and Hawkins has had a subtle nod to Edge's "Easy Bein' Sleazy" shirt as the logo on his ring jacket). The WWE Women's/Divas Division has plummeted into 2/3-minute snooze-fests on Raw and SmackDown, and took such disrespect at WrestleMania XXV that Lita and Trish Stratus refused to be among the returnees for that night's show because they saw it coming.
  • Edge is a first ballot Hall of Famer living a mostly quiet life and loving every minute. Lita has people begging for her return after just showing up at Axxess and later joined the HOF herself in 2014. Matt Hardy is widely derided as an egotistical Hollywood Pudgy Attention Whore, who has been arrested on drunk driving charges multiple times in 2011, got fired from TNA after the first of said DUIs (and not just for the DUI, as Kurt Angle and Christopher Daniels can attest to), and faked a suicide note after said firing, just to get more attention. "The Reason You Suck" Speech Edge gave Hardy in 2005 in response to his return promo would never have been listed for long without a counterpoint back then even if this wiki had been as huge as it is now, but now it's taken (along with Lita's statement in one Byte This! interview that something had to be wrong for her to go to another man) as a prophetic deconstruction of everything about Matt, at least prior to him getting his life back together.
• Matt Hardy: After years of being viewed as the lesser Hardy Boy compared to his main eventer brother Jeff Hardy and getting the worst fallout from the Edge and Lita situation, Matt has reinvigorated his brand with the So Bad, It's Good gimmick of Broken Matt, sprouting catch phrases like "DELETE, DELETE, DELETE!" and "OBSOLETE" as well as giving Jeff the moniker of "Brother Nero" in a terrible unidentifiable accent. The Hardy Boyz even got a monster pop at WrestleMania 33. He also has a new loving wife and children as well. So in essence, everyone involved in the Matt, Edge, and Lita scandal somehow came better off than before.
• After the Brawl For All, it seemed that "Dr. Death" Steve Williams had faded into obscurity, never living down the moment when he got knocked out by Bart Gunn. Until he got cancer, rebuilt his friendship with Jim Ross that fell apart after Doc's WWF run and became Dr. Life. As a result, Steve Williams is still considered one of the toughest wrestlers that ever walked despite The Brawl For All.
• John "Bradshaw" Layfield. When Bradshaw shifted into his wealthy tycoon gimmick in 2004, the backlash was fast and furious for numerous reasons, not the least of which was that Bradshaw had rarely been seen as a future main eventer up until that time. As JBL, however, while fans still agreed he was never the greatest in the ring, he did reveal a knack for getting under the skin of fans just by being a gleefully hammy, Politically Incorrect Villain - in fact, he quickly became one of the best promos in the business. He cemented this reputation during his stint as a color commentator with Michael Cole, with the bonus of an encyclopedic knowledge of old school wrestling. Now that he's retired, fans who previously decried him for being unworthy of his push now miss him for his memorable (if sometimes off-color) promo work. His return to commentary since Jerry Lawler's heart attack has only further cemented this trope, at least until he became just another Vince mouthpiece with the passage of time.
• Kayfabe-wise: Many of the casual fans probably wince whenever they think about CM Punk's Straight Edge Society run after his feud with Chris Jericho, who exposed the source of Punk's decision to be Straight Edge (namely, his traumatic childhood with his alcoholic father) which kind of justifies why Punk was so hardcore about it. Subverted with those who watch Ring of Honor, where Punk talked more freely about his family's past. That being said, in hindsight many openly began to agree with the message he was trying to preach, which is probably one of the reasons why the gimmick was gradually phased out of his character.
• Even those who HATE The InVasion Angle agree that its ending at Survivor Series 2001 was the closest thing to an epic Grand Finale to the Monday Night Wars (even more so than WrestleMania that year) that the WWE has ever put out on pay-per-view.
• Doink the Clown's initial heel run originally drew little more than shrugs from hardcore wrestling fans. An evil wrestling clown was bound to be another failure in the world of Wrestling Doesn't Pay. But once Matt Borne left the WWF and his personal life flew off the rails, Doink was turned face and made into a comic relief character, and the company got saturated with more embarrassing gimmicks, smarks looked back at Borne's work in a more positive light. The consensus on heel Doink is that Borne took a gimmick that sounded stupid on paper and actually made it work, making him one of the New Generation era's greatest unsung heroes.
• What did fans think of Drew McIntyre in 2010? He's a boring, two-dimensional wrestler who is being pushed too fast and protected by Vince and the gang (the irony being that was actually his gimmick but it just came off too strong). What do fans think of him since his return? He proved his worth in the indies, in hard-core matches in ICW, became champ, became grizzled, and in the 2020 Royal Rumble finally got the rocket strapped to him, as he kicked Brock Lesnar's ass, eliminating him and winning the Rumble to set up the WrestleMania main event, with the fans chanting along every time he hits his finisher.
• The Anonymous RAW general manager. People quickly got sick and tired of him and wanted the angle to be killed off as quickly as possible. Let's just say when his identity finally was revealed, fans were not happy and would have been happier if it remained anonymous.
• Mark Henry's 2006-2008 heel work has been viewed in a noticeably more positive light after his 2011 "Hall of Pain" heel run.
• Gorilla Monsoon was considered a terrible commentator back in the day, winning a whopping six Worst Television Announcer awards by the Wrestling Observer newsletter. Nowadays, he's practically a Sacred Cow.
• The Hulk Hogan vs. André the Giant match at WrestleMania III was panned by critics in 1987, but all of that criticism has since been obscured by its historical importance in wrestling history and for its enormous box-office draw. The quality of the match itself, however, is still fair game.
  • The Brawl to End it All match between Wendi Richter and The Fabulous Moolah has also been affected in a similar manner.
• Goldust was named the worst gimmick of 1995 by Wrestling Observer, but is today looked back upon as one of the greatest gimmicks of all time^note That "award" was somewhat justified, Goldust had only made his debut in October and the gimmick had yet to evolve past "sexual deviant that keeps making unwanted advances towards Razor Ramon". Given Vince McMahon's past history (and wrestling history in general) everyone assumed this was just another insensitive homophobic angle that was going to make everyone look like trash and draw no money, and it "won" in a rout.
• Samoa Joe. Turning Point 2007. Scott Hall no-showed the event and Joe, given a live mic to announce his replacement in the match, used the opportunity to shoot on his frustration of how "superstars" are starting to flood into the promotion and take away the spotlight from the homegrown talent. At the time he was denounced as a whiner^note And supposedly got smacked around backstage by Kevin Nash. Today, fans who look back on it see it as one of the forewarnings of the major problems TNA had later on, which would reach its zenith at the start of the Hogan-Bischoff era, where everyone got shoved down the card to make room for their buddies and ex-WWE and WCW wrestlers. Joe is now seen in a much more sympathetic light, especially as his TNA career slowed down to midcard hell.
• John Cena:
  • The wrestler spent years vilified by the smarks and hardcore fans for his stale, kiddy-pandering "Superman" gimmick. However, when Cena began to transition into a part-timer role and do other things, Roman Reigns effectively got booked into his place with the same character. It didn't fit him. Reigns' push as the new face of the company has gone so terribly that many began to look at Cena and his push to the top more objectively. Cena was called up as part of the famous OVW class of 2002 (Lesnar, Orton, Batista, and Cena), and out of all his class, he's the one who had the least amount of help from the company. Orton and Batista joined Evolution with Triple H and Ric Flair, while Lesnar got Paul Heyman and was hotshotted to the main event in his first year. Cena was left on his own, floundered, and if it hadn't been for Stephanie McMahon hearing him rap, might have gotten fired. Then he developed the "Doctor of Thuganomics" gimmick and spent time as a midcard heel, who became more and more popular to the point they had no choice but to turn him face and push him to the moon, especially after Lesnar left and Orton's initial face push didn't pan out well. Case in point, Cena got over organically — it was his booking after he won his first world title that ruined him for many fans, and even then it was a testament to his talent as a performer that he managed to make such a terrible gimmick bearable and watchable for 8 years. When Reigns, with his manufactured push (he was the well-protected "hot tag" guy in The Shield, to build up his popularity) and much more inferior mic skills, got booked in his place as the chosen new face of the company, the fans shunned him to the point that they began to pine for Cena, and realized that Cena was a much more talented performer than they ever gave him credit for.
  • When Cena lost the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar at Summerslam 2014, many hoped he would then go away for good because they didn't want to see him win the world title for a 16th time, tying Ric Flair's world championship record. All of the aforementioned with Reigns happened after that, so when Cena DID win the WWE title again at Royal Rumble 2017 (in a match vs AJ Styles that many felt stole the show that night), many fans gave him cheers and respect for it.
• Michael Cole was despised by smart fans thanks to his obnoxious heel commentator run from 2010-12, where he'd bury every face and get into awful feuds with other commentators. Nowadays, it's widely acknowledged that this wasn't his fault, and he's a very effective commentator. He even played the character well, and had a more penetrating approach to criticism of faces than most heel commentators you'll ever hear. The main culprit was WWE's creative keeping him as the inescapable voice of the company, even as a whiny heel. It's telling that his reputation immediately improved after Jerry Lawler's heart attack ended the heel Cole character. He still earned criticism as a lame catchphrase machine while a babyface, but that was due to Vince's micromanagement; a lot of viewers would come out of shows where he wasn't involved, such as the Beast in the East show, being amazed that he was good at this. After being partnered with Pat McAfee in 2021 showed off their great chemistry, and 2022's new head of creative Triple H no longer being in his ear like Vince was, he's practically beloved.
• It's hard to believe that Mr. Fuji was an eleven-time winner of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's "Worst Manager" award given he's today universally regarded as one of the greatest heel managers of all time.
• Michelle McCool was popular during her heyday but had a massive smark hatedom who accused her of being pushed just because she was dating, and later married to, The Undertaker. The hate has mostly died off since her departure, and her matches are remembered more fondly. She is less inclined to be thought of as a Creator's Pet once stories came out that she suffered the same Chickification as her fellow Divas - having to refilm matches, being told off for spots that looked too good etc.
• Nikki Bella was the more popular of the Bella Twins for years, but similar to Michelle McCool above she gained a massive smark hatedom when it became known that she was dating John Cena (Although Brie is generally regarded as a worse performer than Nikki, she didn't receive nearly as much hate due to her partner — and later husband — being Daniel Bryan, who is far more beloved by smarks than Cena, especially back then). Things only got worse during her second reign as Diva's Champion, when she surpassed A.J. Lee as the longest reigning Divas champ despite being injured and rarely defended the belt at all during the second half of her reign (with it being widely speculated that the only reason why they didn't strip Nikki of the belt was as a Take That! to AJ and husband CM Punk, as both had left on very bad terms). By the end of 2015, Nikki had taken time off to have neck surgery and by the time she returned nearly a year later, her in-ring work had improved significantly, she stayed away from the now Women's championship and helped put newcomer Carmella over, winning back respect from the fans and proving that she wasn't totally undeserving of her Diva's title push.
• WWE's Ruthless Aggression Era, at the time, was seen as a step down for simply not being the Attitude Era. With the rise to prominence of several stars who got their start in this era (Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, Batista and John Cena), nostalgia for the great women's division and general appreciation of good quality wrestling - without the twists and gimmicks of the Attitude Era - it is more fondly remembered nowadays.
• David Arquette, especially back in 2000, was perhaps the most hated man in the industry due to his title run being one of the decisive factors in the death of WCW. However as years went by and people had a chance to reevaluate his role in the whole thing (where not only was he as opposed to the idea as everyone else, but that he used his earnings to help the families of Owen Hart and Brian Pillman), they've come to agree that he did the best he could with the role, and now blame for it is almost squarely on Vince Russo. Coupled with a Career Resurrection in the 2010s on the independent circuit, it's safe to say he's come a long way in the eyes of the fans.
• WWE's ECW (nicknamed by fans as WWECW), was correctly deemed a complete bastardization of the original ECW in its heyday. After it ended, many fans came to remember it as a decent show that often had better writing than RAW and SmackDown that helped elevate several young wrestlers and introduced them to the wider WWE audience, such as Sheamus, John Morrison, The Miz, and most notable of all, CM Punk^note The idea of a show focused on young talent with straightforward booking would later be refined into NXT, which was much more well received. Most fans just wished it hadn't been called ECW.
• Tony Schiavone's reputation had taken a nosedive in the 2000s due to both his poor commentary during the final years of WCW as well as Bobby Heenan's unflattering stories about him in Heenan's autobiography. The fact that Tony had quit the business altogether and never tried to defend himself from allegations didn't do him any favors. Following Tony's Career Resurrection in the second half of The New '10s, which included a return to the very same networks where he had once called WCW with All Elite Wrestling (a move widely praised for being a deft combination of nostalgia and experience), opinions on him improved drastically, with many realizing that Schiavone is actually a good commentator and no one could have saved WCW's horrible product in its dying days, and his What Happened When podcast with Conrad Thompson allowed Schiavone to finally tell his perspective on what happened in WCW.
• Roman Reigns: Back in late 2014-2015, Reigns was considered a green Creator's Pet, undeserving of his main event push and future position as face of the company. These days, that opinion has shifted dramatically; while almost everyone still agrees that Reigns really was too green in 2015 to receive that level of push at the time, his "Tribal Chief" gimmick and subsequent run with the Universal Championship starting in late 2020 proves that he really is a generational talent who is every bit deserving of his top spot. As an extension of that, most feel he's actually one of the biggest victims of WWE's complacent, tone-deaf, and corporate-driven booking of the 2010s, being a natural heel who was forced to play a character that he didn't fit at all just because the company wanted someone to replace John Cena and thought his marketability would make him a fitting substitute.
• Sting's "Insane Icon" (aka. "Joker" Sting) persona in 2011 was hotly controversial in the midst of its run, but you are likely to see a lot more love for it today. At the time it was largely viewed as TNA being TNA; giving an iconic wrestler a bizarre and ill-fitting gimmick in an attempt to capitalise on a recent popular film, with confusing results. Now however, the gimmick is increasingly praised for its creativity and depth of character; mixing the grounded backstories and Worked Shoot aspects of popular wrestlers at the time with a classic Parts Unknown-style character to great effect. The gimmick is also praised for giving Sting, who has played a white-meat babyface for most of his career, the opportunity to try something completely different and hone his promo skills; and now that the stigma associated with TNA has largely faded, people are willing to admit that he did a great job in the role. In the years since we have seen psychological horror-inspired acts such as The BROKEN Universe, The Fiend and Danhausen all become incredibly over, and so you are now willing to see a lot of fans view Joker Sting as ahead of its time and a genuine bright spot in TNA's early-2010's Audience-Alienating Era.