Puerto Rican wrestler Carlito made a shock appearance at WWE Backlash on Saturday in San Juan, two years after his previous appearance on the circuit.
Unlike most returns and appearances these days because of social media, Carlito’s return was a genuine shock to the WWE Universe, and boy did they pop hard when he interfered in Bad Bunny’s match with Damian Priest.
Since his shock return, a comparison photo has gone viral on Twitter showing just how unreal he looks now, arguably even better than he looked 18 years ago!
Talk about aging like a fine wine, huh?!
Carlito in WWE
Carlito was a regular on the WWE scene in the noughties and created an iconic gimmick of spitting apple in the face of ‘people who don’t want to be cool’, but he has made only a few appearances with the organisation ever since.
The former United States champion recently appeared in the UK at the ‘For The Love of Wrestling’ convention in Manchester.
Speaking to Metro prior to the WWE Backlash event, he hinted that a possible appearance was on the cards.
He said: “Yeah, I’m open to whatever, any good offer from anywhere it doesn’t matter.
“Thing is, nobody calls me so I don’t sit by the phone either. If something comes up, great, if not I keep doing what I’m doing.”
Well, it is clear that something did come up as the wrestling star gave fans a treat as he appeared on the same night as Savio Vega and the Latino World Order also.
The Puerto Rican has been in the business for a long time, and he admitted just how difficult it was when he made his first steps into the wrestling limelight, all those years ago.
He added: “That was more nerve wracking, just getting in the ring in front of an audience. That was always nerve wracking.
“I can remember when I was 19 when I had my first match, I’d only trained for about three weeks. That’s probably the most nervous I’ve ever been.”
He did appear in 2021 at the Royal Rumble, which did spark rumours that he might be a permanent fixture with the company again.
But it wasn’t to be, and it now just remains to be seen if his appearance at Backlash will spark regular nights on the WWE roster or whether it was another one-off cameo.
The fan favourite would delight supporters if he is to become a major part of the Latino World Order stable.