4-time WWE champion comes out of retirement after 3 years just before SummerSlam 2026

The last few months have seen several megastars, including a few of those in WWE, calling it quits on their wrestling careers. Amid this, a veteran of the business has made his unlikely return just before SummerSlam 2026. Ex-WWE star Val Venis ended his retirement to wrestle at an indie show last weekend.

Venis had more than a decade-long tenure with the global juggernaut from 1998 until 2009. The first few years of his run proved to be fruitful as he won the IC Title twice and captured the European and Tag Team Titles once each. However, the 55-year-old performer was later relegated to the lower card and barely made any impact prior to his eventual release from WWE in January 2009.

Following this, Val Venis began competing on the indie circuit and wrestled sporadically before hanging up his boots after his last match in May 2023. However, his retirement seems to have been short-lived, as he made a comeback at an event in Wildwood, New Jersey, last weekend. Check it out below:

Whether this translates to a full-time return remains to be seen, as Venis doesn’t seem to be in the shape to perform regularly against much younger performers.

Ex-WWE star Jack Swagger also ended his retirement

In a recent interview, Swagger, who retired in 2024 only to return last month with a couple of matches, shared his plans to compete regularly inside the ring. The former Heavyweight Champion revealed that while his rental and trucking businesses were doing well, he wanted an additional stream of income.

“I have rental property. I have a trucking company that’s a year old, so I would definitely get into that. But I think in this day and age, everybody needs multiple streams of income,” said Jake Hager.

Barring a World Heavyweight Title win, Swagger’s run in WWE was mostly lackluster. Same with his tenure in AEW, where the 44-year-old star worked in the shadow of Chris Jericho as a member of two of his stables. Moreover, following his departure from the company, Jack Swagger leveled serious accusations against Tony Khan for not pushing him due to his conservative political views.