WWE Wanted Former NXT Star To Return Earlier This Year

Last night on Friday Night SmackDown, Lars Sullivan made his first appearance for WWE in over a year as he attacked Jeff Hardy, Matt Riddle, The Miz and John Morrison after their tag team match.

However, it has been reported by Fightful Select that WWE actually wanted to have “The Freak” return to WWE earlier on this year. However, Lars’ injury was worse than initially believed so his recover took longet than expected:

When Lars Sullivan went down with a knee injury last year, the company originally had him with a tentative return date of June 2020. However, we’d been told several times that Sullivan himself expected to be back much sooner, as he’d been through knee operations in the past. As it turns out, things were much worse than expected.

Though Sullivan posted a rehab video in December, he was obviously nowhere near returning, and we’re told the recovery had been an uphill battle. Those that we’ve spoke to within WWE have indicated that Sullivan ended up having to get both knees fixed, and the outlook went from roughly a year out of action to 16-18 months.

Lars Sullivan’s return on last night’s show came as a surprise to many, with it not being reported or even speculated by anyone online that the former NXT star would be on his way back to the company.

Sullivan’s last match on WWE TV came on the June 10th episode of Monday Night Raw last year, when the former NXT star defeated Lucha House Party in a three-on-one handicap elimination match.

While Lars Sullivan did return on Raw last night, it has not been confirmed or reported which brand he’s going to end up on. Stephanie McMahon noted last night that Sullivan will be drafted on Monday’s Raw.

• Injury
• Lars Sullivan
• Return
• wwe

Share this article with friends