Vince McMahon knows that WrestleMania 32 is supposed to be the biggest event ever. Well, that’s what he hopes it will be, and he’s planning on it being that way, even though numerous injuries have taken plenty of top stars out. It seems as if McMahon is pulling out all the stops, though, and doing whatever he can to get big names there, and that’s why he recently met with Batista at this weekend’s Royal Rumble .
Rumors were already flying around before the rumble match this weekend that Batista would be a surprise entrant in it. He added some fuel to the fire by also tweeting out a picture of him working out and getting all pumped up.
#Draxmode pic.twitter.com/gsOX0OEwze
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) January 23, 2016
It appears that #Draxmode was simply him preparing to reprise his role of Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which should begin filming soon. Some took it as a hint that he could appear in the Royal Rumble match.
He didn’t, but he was there.
Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting that Batista (Dave Bautista) was backstage at the Royal Rumble in Orlando this weekend. He actually traveled to Orlando to show up there and hear the pitch from Vince McMahon about WrestleMania 32 .
Well, it appears as if McMahon does want Batista to appear at the event in Texas in early April, but it isn’t to wrestle. McMahon just wants him to appear at the event, and it seems as if it is unlikely to happen at this time.
Vinnie-Mac wants Batista to just do a one-off appearance at WrestleMania 32 to build up the star power. Word is that Batista has passed on the offer at this time and won’t be doing it, but the door has been left open for details to be ironed out.
As Cinema Blend reported, writer/director James Gunn had a table read this past week for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and filming is set to begin next month. There’s no way that Batista could return to WWE in a wrestling capacity right now, as he’s caught up with movies and also doesn’t want to risk an injury.
A one-off appearance is possible, though, and it could generate a lot of interest.
Batistahas already said that he doesn’t feel as if he is done in WWE and wants to return again some day for one more run. He’s in great shape and hopes that his next run will be better than his last one, which was not met with a great reception.
So far, The Rock is heading to WrestleMania 32 , and reportedly won’t be wrestling, either. Still, his mere presence boosts ratings, as it did for this week’s Monday Night RAW, and he always brings in more eyes on the product.
It’s not totally confirmed that The Rock won’t be wrestling, but his movie commitments may work against that too. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months as it is revealed just how involved he will be at the big event.
Legendary announcer Jim Ross has gone on record as saying he believes WWE needs to bring back both Bill Goldberg and Batista. Both of them would certainly add even more star power to the promotion, but some hurdles would need to be overcome first.
Batista has a lot of things going on right now and his movie career is taking off, but he is not forgetting where he got his big start. Vince McMahon does want Batista back for WrestleMania 32 , but only time will tell when “The Animal” heads back to the ring.
[Image via WWE]