WWE star suddenly shows up after more than 3 years; loses return match

A veteran performer made his unexpected WWE in-ring return after more than three years, which has got the wrestling world buzzing. At the most recent episode of Evolve, Timothy Thatcher made his unannounced in-ring return in the Stamford-based promotion, competing against Sean Legacy.

Thatcher is a two-decade veteran of the business who joined WWE in 2020. Despite memorable feuds with the likes of Matt Riddle and Tommaso Ciampa, the 42-year-old star's run eventually fizzled out, and he was released in early 2022.

However, Timothy Thatcher returned to the company as a trainer for its recently launched ID program in November 2024. Though he continued to wrestle in the indies, he finally laced up his boots for the first time in WWE since August 2021 at the latest episode of Evolve, where he lost to the up-and-coming star, Sean Legacy.

It now remains to be seen if Thatcher's in-ring return was a one-off or if he will continue to compete sporadically on Evolve in the coming months.

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WWE Superstar Gunther thinks Timothy Thatcher could have been a bigger name

Last year in an interview, Gunther spoke about his time on the European wrestling circuit, where he crossed paths with Timothy Thatcher several times. The World Heavyweight Champion firmly believes Thatcher could have been a bigger success had he embraced the more mainstream side of wrestling.

"I think Tim would be on a bigger stage right now if he would divert away from some of his core values and accept professional wrestling for what it is on the big stage. As much as I enjoyed that gritty, catch-as-catch can shoot-style wrestling with no smoke and mirrors, the reality is that it isn’t going to draw the attention of a lot and lot of people in 2024. At the end of the day, what we do is a business."

Gunther is gearing up to defend his world title against Jey Uso at WrestleMania 41 in a match that's expected to headline the Night One of the event.