RUMOR: WWE Officials "Absolutely Hated" How Returning SmackDown Was Used

That didn’t work. There are all kinds of ways to bring a wrestler back after a lengthy absence. While some of them are brought back as a surprise, there are others whose returns are advertised in advance. That can lead to some interesting moments when they get back in the ring, which was certainly the case with a returning WWE Superstar this week on SmackDown.

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This week’s SmackDown featured the return of Giovanni Vinci, who was wrestling his first televised match since April as well as debuting a new character described as a “High Performance Human”. Vinci faced Apollo Crews, who defeated him in seven seconds with a rollup as Vinci was removing his shirt. According to WrestleVotes, there are a few “key” figures backstage who “absolutely hated” the direction that was taken with Vinci. There is no word on why WWE went in the direction they chose.

https://x.com/WrestleVotes/status/1832229626292146556

This was kind of a mess. Check out the match, the reaction, and Vinci in better days:

Opinion: The best thing that can be said about this kind of thing is that it was a surprise, though it needs to lead somewhere for Vinci. It does help a bit that he was little more than caught in a quick win rather than getting beaten in a decisive fashion. That being said, next week is going to have to be better for him, as this could be the start of a rather terrible run for anyone.