As I said before, being an MK9 tournament top tier character is a shit excuse for bringing him back.
By that logic, Cyrax and Kabal should also come back, and I hope that Cyrax gets killed in story mode and Kabal stays dead.
Any character can be made top tier in MKX, as is evident by Displacer Raiden, Sorcerer Quan Chi and Blood God Kotal Kahn.
Kung Lao feels like a wasted slot that could have gone to a post-MK3 or new MK character.
If a dead and bland story character like Kung Lao gets praise, then people shouldn't b**** if / when Johnny and Sonya get revealed, especially since they are the 2 surviving MK9 heroes (along with Raiden) and have valid reasons for being in (Cassie).