5 WWE Superstars who recovered after getting fired

#1 Drew McIntyre

McIntyre is scheduled to be in the main event of WrestleMania 36.

Few comeback stories in WWE history are more heartwarming than that of Drew McIntyre.

McIntyre was introduced to the fans in mid-2009 as "The Chosen One" by Vince McMahon himself, both in storyline and in actuality, at the young age of 21. After some time in a prominent role, including a run as Intercontinental Champion, a title he won 3 months after McMahon's proclamation, Drew would fail to live up to the impossible hype that had been bestowed upon him by the boss and found himself languishing in the lower midcard for years, essentially doing nothing but showing up, wrestling short, unimportant matches, collecting a paycheck -- rinse, repeat.

As his stock fell, he would find himself in the laughable, comedic stable known as the Three Man Band, or 3MB, alongside Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal. It was clear WWE no longer had interest in making a star of him, which truly hit home when he was served his papers in 2014.

McIntyre himself has admitted that his own performance and his bad attitude were to blame for his firing, but that his desire to return to WWE grew strong during his years away.

He would return in April 2017, having honed and improved his craft in TNA and across the independent scene in companies like EVOLVE and his former stomping ground, ICW, in Scotland. He would quickly go on to win the NXT Championship only 4 months after his return to the company. He would lose the title in November in a match that also saw him get injured, leaving him out of action for about 4 months. He returned from injury almost exactly one year after his NXT return, only this time he showed up on the main roster. McIntyre would continue to impress, even though he was mostly featured in the background as a supporting perfomer instead of being a leading man. He finally broke out on his own near the end of 2019 and gained a lot of steam thanks to overwhelming crowd support, leading to his astounding victory in the 2020 Royal Rumble.

He is now set to challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 36, which comes almost exactly 3 years after his return to WWE, and 2 years after his return to Monday Night RAW. This has been a long time coming for the Scottish Psychopath. If he wins, which many feel is the expected outcome, McIntyre will earn the distinction of being both the first-ever Scottish NXT Champion and, more impressively, the first-ever Scottish WWE Champion.

What do you think? Will McIntyre be victorious at WrestleMania? Are there any other comeback stories in WWE you've been thrilled by? Let us know in the comments.