WWE News: Batista Talks About His 2014 WWE Run, And Possibly Returning To WWE
In January of 2014, after being away from the company for nearly four years, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Batista made his return to WWE. Initially, his return was well-received by the fans. However, that quickly changed six days after his return after he won the 2014 Royal Rumble match, which guaranteed him a spot in the main event of WrestleMania 30, against the then WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton.
Much like with Roman Reigns, who was the winner of this year’s Royal Rumble, WWE fans turned on Batista for seemingly taking what they wanted to be Daniel Bryan’s spot in the main-event of WrestleMania.
The original plan upon Batista’s return was to have “The Animal” win the Royal Rumble, which he did, and then go on to WrestleMania 30 where he would defeat Randy Orton, and become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. But due to the fans being outraged that Daniel Bryan wasn’t going to be involved in the main-event, WWE changed their plan, and Bryan ended up defeating both Orton and Batista in a triple-threat match, and he became the new WWE Champ.
While promoting the new movie Spectre, which hits theaters this coming Friday, Batista spoke with Chris Van Vliet about his 2014 WWE run, saying that it was a frustrating time, because he was promised things that weren’t delivered and because he was constantly butting heads with the WWE creative team. He also added that he wanted to come back as a heel, but WWE wouldn’t let him, which caused even more frustration.
“I was just constantly butting heads with the creative team, which is something we talked about well beforehand. I was promised things that weren’t delivered to me, because, for one, I didn’t want to go back as a babyface. I said, ‘it’s not going to work, because nobody wants to see Batista as a babyface.’ I’m the worst babyface ever, but I’m a good heel. I’m comfortable being a heel. But [WWE] tried to shove me down everybody’s throats.”
Batista also added that when he finally found his niche with the fans nearly four months after returning to the company, he had to leave, and fulfill his obligations with Marvel, as he was promoting the Guardians of the Galaxy film, which ended up being a big success, and Batista, who played the character Drax, was one of the highlights of the movie.
In previous interviews, Batista has said that WWE can, at times, be hard to deal with because of how controlling they are. He also has said that WWE’s family friendly, PG direction can get in the way of some of the things he wants to do on their television shows.
Since leaving, Batista has expressed interest in returning, and having one more match, possibly against his friend and mentor, Triple H. But, in the interview with Van Vliet, the ex-WWE Champ said that he would love to return to the ring on his terms, but, right now, his passion is acting.
“Oh yeah [I would love to go back to WWE on my own terms]. I love WWE. I wouldn’t wrestle anywhere else. I feel like wrestling anywhere else is a step down. I love the company, and I’ll always be appreciative for what they’ve done for me. I would love to go back, it’s just that they’re really hard to deal with, and also, right now, my passion is acting.”
At the end of the interview, Batista said something interesting that fellow ex-WWE Champ Chris Jericho has been saying for a while, which is that, if he did return to WWE, he would much rather just do house shows instead of television because then, he doesn’t have to deal with the WWE creative team, and he’ll pretty much be free to do whatever he wants when he’s in the ring.
[Image via WWE]
