While WWE’s current female roster is currently at its absolute best, sometimes wrestling fans pine for a blast from the past and wish that some of their favorite females from would return to the ring. While some of these dreams do some true, others are just not possible. I for one will always hope that Trish Stratus will make her long-awaited return to WWE for more than one night (check out one of my other articles shows here, which shows she is certainly better than in-ring shape for a return), but also know that there are so many factors that play into if a certain former wrestler will ever return. How did they end their relationship with the company? How have they conducted themselves since leaving WWE? Or do they have unfinished business that would give them a desire to return to the ring? So many questions need to be answered when looking at the numerous amount of women that could return to the company.

The fact of the matter is that there are certainly some women who are in the best position possible for a return to WWE – they have kept their noses clean, are in great shape and would be welcomed back to WWE with open arms by both the fans and Management. However, there are also a lot of women who have created a sour relationship with WWE and their decision-makers that would make returns near impossible to envision. While some of these circumstances are understandable and we wouldn’t want some of these performers to return, others are just downright sad because it means we won’t get to see the wrestle on the big stage ever again.

15 Won’t Bring Back: AJ Lee

The fact that AJ Lee has retired from professional wrestling before 30 is proof we are not allowed to have nice things as wrestling fans.

Now, why would a woman with this level of fandom not be brought back to WWE? Well, she dared do something that wrestlers seldom do – she spoke her mind about inequality in the workplace. In a response to Stephanie McMahon on Twitter regarding her support of gender equality, AJ replied with a tweet which showed how unequal the WWE is to women

“Your female wrestlers have record selling merchandise & have starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times, And yet they receive a fraction of the wages & screen time of the majority of the male roster.”.

While this was not a direct catalyst for AJ retiring early in her career, it certainly does not help her chances of being brought back to WWE.

14 Won’t Bring Back: Candice Michelle

If you were to look up “most improved” in the WWE dictionary, I would not be surprised to see a picture of Candice Michelle during her run as WWE Women’s Champion in 2006. Now why would WWE not want someone like this back on their roster? Allegedly after returning from an injury, Candice was let go from her WWE contract for not returning in “ready for television” shape, and has been rather vocal since her release about being treated this way. Given all of the bad publicity this would elicit, I would anticipate WWE would rather distance themselves from Candice Michelle. She has visited the company backstage several times to say hi to old friends, but it's pretty clear WWE doesn't see a need to bring her back.

13 May Bring Back: Molly Holly

I have said it before and I will say it again – I believe that Molly Holly is one of the most naturally gorgeous women to ever be a part of WWE. From her initial run as the blonde Holly cousin, through her time as the cape wielding super hero Mighty Molly, all the way to her being a bald-headed librarian, she has always stood out to be as being incredibly beautiful, despite being portrayed as a prude on television.

After her surprise appearance in the Women’s Royal Rumble this year, she also showed that she is in spectacular ring shape, which means a return could potentially be in the cards. Molly has been able to stay in ring shape due to her affiliation with The Academy School of Professional Wrestling in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While Molly has technically been retired from in-ring competition since leaving WWE in 2005, she has kept a great relationship with WWE which could lead to a return in the future, or at the very least an opportunity to teach at the WWE Performance Centre.

12 Won’t Bring Back: Kaitlyn

While not a Diva Search competitor, Kaitlyn has the “distinction” of winning first female NXT competition (that’s right, it used to be a competition, not a spectacular wrestling show) to earn a WWE contract. While this would normally not parlay into a solid career with WWE, Kaitlyn was able to turn water into wine and become a very popular wrestler during her time with the company, ultimately becoming Divas Champion and having a great feud with the aforementioned AJ Lee.

Kaitlyn eventually asked for her release from WWE after not finding happiness in her role as a wrestler, and returned to her fitness modeling roots and ended up opening her own clothing line. She returned to the independent wrestling scene in 2018, but it would be unlikely that we see her in WWE again due to a previous incident between her and Stephanie McMahon, where she allegedly interrupted a conversation Stephanie was having backstage which led to the Billion Dollar Princess becoming upset with Kaitlyn. Don’t cross the boss, Kaitlyn!

11 Won’t Bring Back: Gail Kim

Due to WWE’s constant misuse of her as a woman and a wrestler, Gail Kim vowed never to work for them again, which she has stayed true to since her departure in 2011. Even with WWE’s utilization of their female talent really ramping up over the past two years, Gail has still gone on the record to say that it is “too little, too late”, and obviously has not entertained a return with them.

Following her time in WWE, Kim experienced a wonderful career in Impact Wrestling, where she finished off with a beautiful swan-song just recently in July 2017, and became the first female inducted into their Hall of Fame after announcing her retirement from wrestling. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. That is exactly how Gail Kim views her experiences with WWE, and certainly would not look to make give them a third opportunity to make her look foolish.

10 May Bring Back: Brandi Rhodes

While this return may rely on Cody Rhodes’ relationship with WWE, we have seen more strained wrestler and management relationships be repaired in the past, so having Brandi Rhodes back under the WWE banner is certainly not out of the realm of possibility. If someone were to ask me this question last year, I would have initially guessed that Brandi would only be a part of WWE in a valet capacity, but since she has actually shown some formidable wrestling ability during her wrestling appearances with Women of Honor, it is possible that she could re-debut with a wrestling role.

It is no secret that Cody Rhodes has lit the independent wrestling world on fire since leaving WWE, and his incredibly gorgeous wife Brandi has been right alongside him for the ride, so return is certainly not out of the question.

9 Won’t Bring Back: Zahra Schreiber

While it does feel slightly odd including her in this article, I felt that I needed to for two reasons – firstly, Zahra Schreiber is a very gorgeous woman if you are into the gothic, tattooed, punk-rock-princess type of look, and secondly because there is absolutely no way that WWE will ever bring her back. While Schreiber showed great promise during her time in NXT, there are just certain things that WWE will not tolerate from their wrestlers, and apparently one of them is an affiliation with Nazism.

During a routine check of her previous Instagram posts, Schreiber was noted as posting proud photos of her Nazi memorabilia collection (including a very strange photo with a swastika on a My Little Pony character), which led to her WWE departure. While Schreiber has claimed over the years that she is strictly interested in the historical context of the collectables, this is certainly not behavior that WWE would want to be linked with.

8 Won’t Bring Back: Cameron

Cameron did not have the greatest career in WWE starting from her beginnings in the reality show Tough Enough, where she infamously stated that her favorite wrestling match was a bout between Melina and Alicia Fox which showed her miseducation of the wrestling industry. It appears that her training did not become any more positive following this, as she made a very embarrassing blunder during a live episode of RAW where she attempted to pin Naomi on the mat while her opponent was on her stomach. Yes, you read that correctly – Cameron attempted to pin somebody on her stomach.

Not surprisingly, Cameron was released from her WWE contract in 2015 without many cries from wrestling fans, and there is certainly not an inkling on WWE Management’s part to bring back someone with so little knowledge of basic wrestling abilities.

7 May Bring Back: Eve Torres

Upon first glance at this list, you may see Eve Torres’ name here and think to yourself “Why would WWE want her back on the roster if they are focusing more on wrestling ability and not looks?”. If that is the case, then there is much more you have to learn about Eve Torres. Her championship wins notwithstanding, the focus of Eve Torres’ WWE career was around her relationship with men, including Zack Ryder and John Cena, so it would be easy to lump her in with other women during her time period, but there is much more to Eve than meets the eye.

In addition to her striking good looks, she is also an athlete in many sports including basketball and kickboxing, as well as being an accomplished Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu wrestler. With WWE’s focus on their female wrestler’s athleticism, Eve Torres would fit much more into this era of Women’s Wrestling than she did during her previous WWE run. Considering her relationship with WWE remains very strong due to her role as a WWE Ambassador, she could easily be parlayed back into the ring.

6 Won’t Bring Back: Summer Rae

While Eve Torres has a good chance at returning to a WWE ring due to the focus on female athleticism and wrestling ability, this also does not play in the favor of Summer Rae. Due to her lack of in-ring ability that was shown throughout her WWE career, Summer would have fit much better with WWE during a different era, but was obviously outmatched in the ring by current members of the female roster. While she was well-liked enough during her time in WWE to warrant consistent television time and a spot in a WWE Studios film, it's very unlikely that she will be brought back in a wrestling capacity, unless there is a drastic change in her in-ring ability.

I can't lie and say that I would never want to see her back on television, as she certainly has the best set of legs in professional wrestling since Stacy Keibler, but since we are in an era which focuses on wrestling ability, we probably won't see Summer Rae in a WWE ring ever again.

5 Won’t Bring Back: Eva Marie

If you thought some of these other women didn’t have a chance of returning to WWE again, here is someone that should be at the top of the list. Despite being given every opportunity to reach the top of the Women’s roster, Eva Marie disappointed WWE Management at every turn. While the writing was on the wall for Eva Marie in the eyes of most wrestling fans, who instantly rejected her presence on television at every opportunity, WWE attempted to push Eva Marie during many points of her career, but she always failed. Whether it was during her initial way-too-soon run on the main roster, or her return to NXT, or her final “afraid to wrestle” character on SmackDown Live, she never reached the level that WWE Management wanted her to.

Following her failure of the WWE Wellness Policy in 2017, she was incredibly quick to begin distancing herself from WWE before being released, which more than likely left a bitter taste in management’s mouth, so it is unlikely we will ever see her in WWE again.

4 May Bring Back: Emma

I am of the mind that Emma’s entire WWE career is a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and if she had been placed in a different position that she would have been wildly successful due to her charisma and wrestling ability (if you don’t believe me, check out some her matches in NXT. While her final gimmicks in WWE were admittedly a flop, with the Emmalina storyline being a black mark on her record, all of the blame cannot be placed solely on Emma as a performer – if given the proper character and storyline she would be able to succeed, but was given rubbish instead.

Given the fact that she is now being showcased by Ring of Honor in their tournament to crown the first Woman of Honor Champion, she could use this as a platform to return to WWE if she chose to, as a star-making performance would be exactly what she needs to remind WWE Management about what they are missing out on.

3 Won’t Bring Back: Christy Hemme

Christy Hemme is without a doubt one of the most fiery, spunky and energetic women that WWE has ever had on their roster before, was absolute dynamite on television when she was used. However, it is very unlikely that we will ever see her work for WWE again, and it's not because of her spirited personality. It's also not because of her incredibly drool-worthy body. It is because she allegedly putting her hands on the wrong man, especially because that man was Triple H.

Rumors have always persisted that Christy Hemme had wanted to have an affair with Triple H during her time with WWE, and this was discovered by none other than his wife Stephanie. While there is no proof that this did actually occur, and Hemme has been only given vague answers about it during interviews like “It’s just behind-the-scenes … politics, politics.” and “It was one specific incident, so I’m just gonna leave it at that, ’cause I don’t need to go into details.”, it is very telling that she has never been invited back for any sort of WWE function since her release.

2 Won’t Bring Back: Melina

If success is measured in how you treat other people, then you would not be able to see very much success in Melina Perez’s WWE career, which is certainly why she will not be invited back to WWE any time soon. Numerous reports from her time in WWE state she was not well liked by other members of the roster, was notoriously difficult to work with. Whether these complaints came from other females on the roster about her – such as Lita forcing Melina to change in the hallway due to her lack of respect to other women – or even male members of the roster, who claimed that her backstage heat made it difficult to get along with her and her then-boyfriend John Morrison.

Respect is one of the cornerstones of professional wrestling, and the fact that despite being one of the best female professional wrestlers in the world that Melina has not appeared in WWE since 2015 is very indicative of how WWE views her, which means that it is not a surprise that we won’t be seeing her any time soon.

1 May Bring Back: Kelly Kelly

While I did say that Candice Michelle’s surprising in-ring abilities during her career was deserving of the term Most Improved, I would also have to say that she should share that honor with Kelly Kelly. While perhaps not he most charismatic or athletically-inclined performer, Kelly’s steady improvement in the ring made her a great underdog performer who was interesting to watch, and certainly could have continued to improve had she stayed with the company. She split amicably with the company in 2012, and has since made an appearance in the Women’s Royal Rumble, showing that she still has a passion for professional wrestling.

Couple this with the exposure that Kelly provides WWE by being on the television show WAGS due to her previous relationship with hockey player Sheldon Souray, she is certainly prime for a return to WWE.