History Main / CareerResurrection

* '''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.

* '''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 girls was uncovered and with this being at the height of the [=#MeToo=] Movement, this was heavily scrutinized. Despite the girls 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 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.

* '''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]], [[DorkAge 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.  

* '''Creator/{{SNK}}''' used to have very strong arcade presence thanks to their Neo Geo system. And they also became a fan favorite thanks to [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters their stellar]] [[VideoGame/SamuraiShodown fighting games]] which rivalled even Capcom's [[Franchise/StreetFighter own series]] and enough to make them duke it out in [[VideoGame/SNKVsCapcom a Capcom Crossover]]. At 2000, however... they suffered financial troubles thanks to their underdog status and the decline of arcade scene thus they had to declare bankruptcy, selling some of their assets to the Korean companies and entered a DorkAge. They came back a bit as 'SNK Playmore', but their games tends to be either a hit or miss and not exactly packing the similar punch as before, so they also had to produce mini-games, mobile games and pachinko titles. It took them 10+ years to eventually re-gather their resources and once again became just 'SNK' and released ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters XIV'' and ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown (2019)'', which gained great acclaim and earned them a spot in the EVO championship series, something that they never quite achieved before. And thus, SNK [[BackFromTheDead rose back from the grave like a phoenix]] and given a similar prestige that usually only given to their rival.

* '''Creator/ChristianSlater''' in ''Series/MrRobot''. Slater was a hot commodity in the late '80s and early '90s after ''Film/{{Heathers}}'' came out. By the end of the decade, his popularity was waning with bombs like ''Hard Cash'' and ''Mindhunters''. Slater's career was sealed shut after ''Film/{{Alone in the Dark|2005}}'' tanked, a film that also [[VideoGameMoviesSuck solidified the bad reputation of video game movies]] and turned director Creator/UweBoll into a worldwide laughingstock. Slater then went straight to video and none of his series (including ''Series/MyOwnWorstEnemy'') ever made it past a single season. In 2015, he starred as the title character in ''Mr. Robot''. The series received widespread acclaim, and Slater won a Golden Globe and Critics' Choice Award for his performance and has a recurring role on ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' as [[AdamWesting a fictional version of himself]].

* '''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 and later cast 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/RobLowe''' in ''Series/TheWestWing''. Lowe was a rising star in the '80s as a member of the Creator/BratPack, starring in hits like ''Film/TheOutsiders'' and ''Film/StElmosFire''. His career crashed down in 1989 when he was caught filming a sex tape with a 16-year-old. The act was considered legal in Georgia at the time, so his charges were dismissed, but it was ''not'' kosher in the minds of the public, and the backlash drove Lowe to check into rehab and become sober. In the early '90s, Lowe started to rebuild his reputation with comedic films ''Film/WaynesWorld'' and the ''Film/AustinPowers'' series, before landing long-term TV success with ''Series/TheWestWing''.

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

* '''Ed Boon''' of ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' fame. While other fighting series made a successful leap to 3D, ''Mortal Kombat'' had [[PolygonCeiling "hit and miss"]] luck there, and during the 2000s it was massively overshadowed by other fighting games. Then in 2009 Creator/WarnerBros promptly picked up the studio that produces the series (now known as [=NetherRealm=] Studios), following Midway's bankruptcy. The end result: a complete ContinuityReboot in 2.5D. ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' was not only a critical and commercial smash but also earned a spot as one of the featured tournament titles at the Evo Championship Series, a first for a ''Mortal Kombat'' title.

* '''Wrestling/TonySchiavone''' was WCW's main announcer throughout the Wrestling/MondayNightWars. 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.

* '''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 ''[[UpToEleven above]]'' the five-star scale, and essentially becoming arguably the hottest name on the industry outside WWE.

** Smith would later take this trope ''beyond'' [[UpToEleven eleven]]. He had led Washington to a 6–3 record in 2018 before suffering a severe leg fracture—the same type that ended the NFL playing career of former Washington QB Joe Theismann in 1985—in a game against the Houston Texans. While Theismann only needed one operation on his injured leg, further complications with sepsis that nearly killed Smith eventually led to him needing ''17'' of them. Two years and endless hours of rehab later, Smith made the Washington roster as a backup in 2020 and returned to the field in midseason. Given his situation, just playing again almost certainly qualifies as a resurrection, but he proceeded to put the icing on the cake by leading Washington to the NFC East division title after a 2-5 start.[[note]] Granted, the NFC East was a historically poor division that year and they finished 7-9, but still.[[/note]] Smith was named 2020's Comeback Player of the Year, and he retired after that season.

* '''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, to take his resurrection UpToEleven, he won 164 of his 288 career wins ''after'' his surgery.

* '''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.

* '''[[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" story ''Manga/EdenNoHana'' was pulled out of ''Bessatsu Friend'' 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/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, and her most recent role is [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses Manuela.]]

* '''[[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" story ''Manga/EdenNoHana'' was pulled out of ''Bessatsu Comic'' and Suetsugu had to put her whole career on hold. Now, however? Suetsugu is back, due to the success of her later manga ''Manga/{{Chihayafuru}}''.

* '''[[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-10-19/yuki-suetsugu-copies-art-from-other-manga Yuki Suetsugu]]''': In 2005, the {{shoujo}}[=/=]{{josei}} author was caught plagiarizing panels from other works, like Takehiko Inoue's ''Manga/SlamDunk''. As a result, the "offending" story ''Manga/EdenNoHana'' was pulled out of ''Bessatsu Comic'' and Suetsugu had to put her whole career on hold. Now, however? Suetsugu is back, due to the success of her story ''Manga/{{Chihayafuru}}''.

* '''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]], [[DorkAge 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'' 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.  

* '''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/ShinsukeNakamura, including two with Okada that went ''[[UpToEleven above]]'' the five-star scale, and essentially becoming arguably the hottest name on the industry outside WWE.

* '''[[Wrestling/DeanAmbrose Jon Moxley]]''' 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.

* '''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 and their "Broken Hardys" gimmick redeemed them in the eyes of the fans, enough for WWE to give them another chance and re-hire them in 2017, with a RAW Tag Team Championship run to boot.

* '''Creator/YoshioSakamoto''', the co-creator of the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' franchise, received major flak for ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM''. While the game didn't kill his career, as he continued to serve as producer [[VideoGame/WarioWare for]] [[VideoGame/RhythmHeaven other]] [[VideoGame/TomodachiLife franchises]] at Nintendo, it divided the fandom on his credibly of the ''Metroid'' series and made him hesitant to work on a new entry. Fans saw him as having singlehand, with some even refusing to believe he was responsible for the success of past entries. Several years later, Sakamoto would return to produce ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' with Creator/MercurySteam, and game that went back to the series' classic 2D {{Metroidvania}} roots. The game was met with high praise and nearly all fans had complete faith in Sakamoto directing the franchise.

* '''Creator/YoshioSakamoto''', the co-creator of the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' franchise, received major flak for ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM''. While the game didn't kill his career, as he continued to serve as producer [[VideoGame/WarioWare for]] [[VideoGame/RhythmHeaven other]] [[VideoGame/TomodachiLife franchises]] at Nintendo, it absolutely shot his credibly amongst fans of the ''Metroid'' series and made him hesitant to work on a new entry. Fans saw him as [[FranchiseKiller nearly killing the entire franchise]], with some even refusing to believe he was responsible for the success of past entries. Several years later, a humbled 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 sparked the beginning of fans trusting Sakamoto with the future of the franchise once again.

* '''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 uout 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).

* '''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 uout 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 Wreslting/AllEliteWrestling, where he became Christian Cage again for the first time since 2008. And thanks to AEW's partnership with TNA's succcessor 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).

* '''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 uout 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 turne out WWE would only be a brief detour leading to his true comeback in Wreslting/AllEliteWrestling, where he became Christian Cage again for the first time since 2008. And thanks to AEW's partnership with TNA's succcessor 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).

** This trope also technically applies to Franchise/DonkeyKong. The original ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' is one of the most iconic arcade games of all time, but as a character Donkey Kong was more a part of video game history than a full on character like Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog or Franchise/SuperMarioBros. That all changed when ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' was released in 1994. The game was a huge hit and revived the big gorilla as one of Nintendo's most prominent mascots, kicking off a long series of well-received 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/TaroYoko, but also a massive critical and financial success, saving the company from bankruptcy and restoring their reputation in the eyes of gamers.

* '''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, allowing Williams to eventually bow out on his own terms in 2021 and for MSNBC to continue the show with a new anchor.