WWE News: 5 WWE Superstars Who Got Better with Age

Everybody knows that a fine wine only gets better with age.  But pro wrestling is supposed to be the antithesis of such a notion, given the merciless beating that wrestlers must endure on a near-daily basis. 

The average wrestler's shelf life is equivalent to that of a sitcom picked up by FOX, or a major title reign in the WWE these days, however, a select few veterans seemed to have bucked that ominous trend as they evolved during what were supposed to be their twilight years.  

1. Batista

Batista was 300-plus pounds of money-drawing power.  Once he became less green in the ring, WWE had created a monster both in the ring and at the box office.  

As Superstar 1A behind John Cena, one of Batista's few setbacks that created noticeable separation between him and WWE's top star was his limitations on the mic.

After a lengthy babyface run following a fallout with the highly successful Evolution stable, Batista turned heel, at the tender age of 40, out of frustration of not capturing the World Heavyweight Championship in a Fatal Four Way match at Bragging Rights. From then on, Batista took a "less is more" approach with slow talking promos and an irksome sense of fashion that was a far stretch from his typical screaming promos of the past. 

Heel-tista captured the WWE Championship match at Elimination Chamber in 2010, but lost the title to John Cena at WrestleMania 26 several weeks later.  Seemingly at the top of his game, Batista left the WWE in 2010 to pursue acting and MMA ventures. 

2. Chris Jericho

Following Chris Jericho's second comeback to the WWE, he fell rather flat during his initial babyface run.  Things started to heat up for Jericho once he began a slow burning heel turn on Shawn Michaels that led to a highly captivating feud in 2008. 

Chris Jericho's slow-talking, suit-wearing heel antics, ripe with a verbose vocabulary, definitely weren't the first of their kind.  But Jericho brought back one of the oldest heel templates in wrestling as his influence can be seen in the likes of the Miz, Alberto Del Rio, and to some extent, Cody Rhodes.  

In 2009, Jericho took his talents to the tag team division with one of the better tag team runs in recent memory alongside the Big Show. 

Claiming he was the best in the world at what he does, Jericho backed up the grandiose claim with multiple World Title reigns before leaving the WWE in 2010. 

3. Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels was left for dead in 1998 following an ill-timed back injury that occurred just before the WWE's biggest boom period to date. 

Michaels was forced into semi-retirement as a result of the back injury. However, in 2002, time had seemed to heal all wounds. 

At SummerSlam of that year, a healthy Shawn Michales returned to the ring to take on Triple H in a match that was both entertaining and emotional.  Despite a four-year layoff, Michaels did not appear to have lost a step. 

Shortly after his in-ring return, Michaels captured his fourth world championship victory at the inaugural Elimination Chamber at Survivor Series. 

Michaels went on to have incredible matches with the likes of Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, John Cena and the Undertaker (to name a few) in a renaissance virtually unseen in the wrestling business. 

4. The Undertaker

Despite his talents of being able to squeeze out serviceable matches against otherwise terrible workers, the Undertaker was saddled with absolute filth during the first half of his now iconic WrestleMania undefeated streak.  

Following a cartoonish match against the Big Boss Man at WrestleMania XV, and his subsequent disappearance, the Undertaker seemed to be on a sure fire path to pro wrestling irrelevance. 

But proving that he indeed was as immortal as his gimmick suggested, the Undertaker returned as "the American Badass" in a gimmick that revitalized his career. 

As the American Badass, the Undertaker had standout WrestleMania matches with Triple H (X-Seven) and Ric Flair (X8).

Following a return as the classic Undertaker, Taker had a less-than-impressive match with Kane before returning to form, putting together a string of top notch matches from WrestleMania XXIII-XXVII including a match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXV that is considered to be the greatest in WWE history. 

5. Mark Henry

Mark Henry has been heated up like a skillet at Applebee's, and he has ran with the opportunity.  It seems like forever since he last lost, and the World's Strongest Man has been by far and away the most dominant wrestler in 2011. 

Undefeated on pay-per-view in 2011, Mark Henry continued his perfect record with a surprisingly one-sided victory over Randy Orton at WWE Night of Champions.  The win earned Henry his first World Heavyweight Championship reign in WWE.  

Once an afterthought for much of this decade and half of his career, Henry recently dropped weight, got better on the mic with a "less is more" approach similar to the aforementioned Batista, and has all but perfected the monster heel gimmick. 

The lyrics to the hook of Henry's theme song, of "somebody gon' get they ass kicked," were once hollow and lifeless.  Given how Henry has been booked in the second half of this year, they have suddenly become prescient. 

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