It’s not uncommon for the WWE to call on a former wrestler to headline Wrestlemania. Nor is breaking with tradition to have someone unexpected return at the Royal Rumble and win the chance to face the champion at the WWE’s biggest night of the year. It’s also quite common for the company to take advantage of any current or former superstar’s success outside of the ring in an attempt to draw a bit of that spotlight on the sports entertainment company during it’s big night.
With all that said it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that Dave Batista returned to the WWE given both his upcoming role as Drax the Destroyer in Marvel Entertainment’s Guardians of the Galaxy this summer and his past associations with current heads of the company Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. What is surprising is how thoroughly the WWE has managed to botch every aspect of Batista’s return which leaves the company, only a few weeks removed from the Royal Rumble, in need of serious damage control.
The problems really begin with Triple H, both his real job as the company’s Executive Vice President of Talent and his in-ring character as one-half of The Authority. Choosing a hated heel to re-introduce his friend to the WWE certainly wasn’t a smart move. Randy Orton‘s association with Triple H has been the cornerstone of his current heel turn and championship run. If Triple H is Batista’s buddy too, doesn’t that make him by default a heel as well? Talk about sending mixed messages.
If choosing Triple H to announce Batista’s return was a mistake so was the timing. Since the WWE had already decided to push the returning superstar to headline Wrestlemania why announce his return weeks prior to the Royal Rumble? The effect deflated what could have marked another “surprise” appearance at the event. By announcing his return so early (without having him appear on camera) his return and eventual win at the Rumble were more the story of watching a scripted storyline play out just how The Authority wanted rather than an actual surprise or big win for the superstar returning for the first time in years to a WWE ring.
Not learning their lesson with the announcement, Triple H and Stephanie stubbed their toes again by welcoming and embracing their old friend on the following night’s Monday Night Raw. And the Royal Rumble winner didn’t even warrant his own segment which was hijacked for several minutes by current champ Randy Orton before Batista eventually made his way to the ring without any momentum behind him for a segment that did nothing to reignite the one time rivalry between the two men or separate Batista from The Authority.
Brock Lesnar‘s return, of far more interest to current fans than that of Batista, also hijacked the narrative. Announcing both men’s return to the WWE almost simultaneously, while allowing Lesnar to kick some ass of several of the WWE Superstars while Batista has yet to do much of anything, also stripped away any importance of Batista’s return as an event in and of itself.
Fighting The Authority’s influence of handpicking yet another main event superstar (as they had done with Randy Orton to purposefully brand him the company’s #1 heel) and having his return botched repeatedly, the company also had to fight the memories of fans who remember Batista leaving the WWE unceremoniously back in 2010 in a segment that made the larger-than-life athlete come off like a petulant child in what is far from either the WWE’s or Batista’s finest hour.
After largely ignoring fan support for both Daniel Bryan and CM Punk for months in favor of their “Face of the WWE” Randy Orton, Batista’s return also coincided with Punk apparently leaving the company only weeks before Wrestlemania. For fans it’s going to be nearly impossible to separate Batista’s return with Punk’s absence (should it become permanent) leading to yet another strike against his return in the eyes of fans.
Of course even if Batista’s return had been handled perfectly it’s likely stepping right up to the main event at Wrestlemania after so long an absence would have ruffled feathers inside the looker room and of bruised feelings of fans watching yet another example of the company choosing to hire outside the company rather than reward the hardest working members of its current roster with such a prestigious match. But of course so completely failing to sell his return to fans certainly didn’t help matters, and that is why Batista has bombed.
