diff --git a/synapse/handlers/federation_event.py b/synapse/handlers/federation_event.py
index 06343d40e44e..c7a8f41addb9 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/federation_event.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/federation_event.py
@@ -953,6 +953,41 @@ async def _process_pulled_event(
             )
             return
 
+        # Check if we've already tried to process this event
+        failed_pull_attempt_info = await self._store.get_event_failed_pull_attempt_info(
+            event.room_id, event_id
+        )
+        if failed_pull_attempt_info:
+            # Process previously failed backfill events in the background
+            # to not waste something that is bound to fail again.
+            run_as_background_process(
+                "_try_process_pulled_event",
+                self._try_process_pulled_event,
+                origin,
+                event,
+                backfilled,
+            )
+        else:
+            # Otherwise, we can optimistically try to process and wait for the event to
+            # be fully persisted.
+            await self._try_process_pulled_event(origin, event, backfilled)
+
+    async def _try_process_pulled_event(
+        self, origin: str, event: EventBase, backfilled: bool
+    ) -> None:
+        """
+        Handles all of the async tasks necessary to process a pulled event. You should
+        not use this method directly, instead use `_process_pulled_event` which will
+        handle all of the quick sync checks that should happen before-hand.
+
+        Params:
+            origin: The server we received this event from
+            events: The received event
+            backfilled: True if this is part of a historical batch of events (inhibits
+                notification to clients, and validation of device keys.)
+        """
+        event_id = event.event_id
+
         try:
             try:
                 context = await self._compute_event_context_with_maybe_missing_prevs(
diff --git a/synapse/storage/databases/main/event_federation.py b/synapse/storage/databases/main/event_federation.py
index ac19de183cb6..541432fc7c06 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/databases/main/event_federation.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/databases/main/event_federation.py
@@ -108,6 +108,15 @@ class BackfillQueueNavigationItem:
     type: str
 
 
+@attr.s(frozen=True, slots=True, auto_attribs=True)
+class EventFailedPullAttemptInfo:
+    event_id: str
+    room_id: str
+    num_attempts: int
+    last_attempt_ts: int
+    last_cause: str
+
+
 class _NoChainCoverIndex(Exception):
     def __init__(self, room_id: str):
         super().__init__("Unexpectedly no chain cover for events in %s" % (room_id,))
@@ -1583,6 +1592,28 @@ def _record_event_failed_pull_attempt_upsert_txn(
 
         txn.execute(sql, (room_id, event_id, 1, self._clock.time_msec(), cause))
 
+    @trace
+    async def get_event_failed_pull_attempt_info(
+        self,
+        room_id: str,
+        event_id: str,
+    ) -> Optional[EventFailedPullAttemptInfo]:
+        res = await self.db_pool.simple_select_one(
+            table="event_failed_pull_attempts",
+            keyvalues={"room_id": room_id, "event_id": event_id},
+            retcols=["num_attempts", "last_attempt_ts", "last_cause"],
+            allow_none=True,
+            desc="get_event_failed_pull_attempt_info",
+        )
+
+        return EventFailedPullAttemptInfo(
+            event_id=event_id,
+            room_id=room_id,
+            num_attempts=res["num_attempts"],
+            last_attempt_ts=res["last_attempt_ts"],
+            last_cause=res["last_cause"],
+        )
+
     @trace
     async def get_event_ids_to_not_pull_from_backoff(
         self,