WWE News: Update On What Role Vince McMahon Offered Batista For ‘WrestleMania 32’
There has been a lot of news about Batista since he traded in his wrestling tights for co-starring roles in major motion pictures. When he left WWE in 2014, most assumed that he would not come back. The hit Guardians of the Galaxy film catapulted Batista into movie star fame. After his role in the blockbuster Marvel film, he landed the new 007 movie, Spectre. He is also set to reprise his role in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 along with other big roles.
It is good to see Batista succeeding in Hollywood. While it may have appeared during his WWE time that he was there simply for the money, that was not the case at all. Batista loves pro wrestling and left originally years ago because he felt he did not fit the PG mold. Keep in mind too that he was the last one fined for gigging or cutting himself to get blood. He was fined a huge $100,000 and then paid the fines for everyone else involved such as the producers of the match and referees.
When he came back at the beginning of 2014, he was put in a terrible position by WWE as they wanted him to come back, win the Royal Rumble, and main event WrestleMania 30 with Randy Orton where he was set to win the WWE World Heavyweight Title. Batista saw the outraged reaction the fans were not only giving him, but they were also attacking the entire show for WrestleMania because of bad decisions by WWE management.
Eventually, WWE called an audible and went with Daniel Bryan going over at WrestleMania 30. Batista was promised a lot coming back, but he did not get most of the things he was promised. Due to this, Batista left early for his movie promotion duties, and he has yet to be seen in WWE again.
However, like a blast from the fist of Drax, that almost changed recently.
According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, Batista was backstage at the 2016 Royal Rumble PPV in Orlando, Florida. He was there to meet with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to discuss a potential WrestleMania 32 role. Vince really wants to make WrestleMania 32 the biggest event in company history and wants to sell out the AT&T Stadium in Texas.
Now we have an update on what he was offered. Apparently, Vince wanted Batista to be the special guest referee in the main event of the event which is set to be Roman Reigns vs. Triple H. The idea is that Vince will be in the corner of Triple H while The Rock will be in Reigns’ corner. Batista would be a buffer in the middle as it were. Batista, of course, declined the role.
There are rumors that WWE will end up offering this role to Shawn Michaels, who the company wants to land for the event as well. While ideally WWE would want to have him wrestle and has tried to entice Shawn back into the ring every year since he retired, it appears Michaels will not wrestle but could take on another role. Michaels was a ref at WrestleMania before as he notably called the Triple H vs. Undertaker Hell in a Cell match years ago.
Certainly, this might work best for the storyline involving Triple H as he would have his best friend involved in the main event to help decide the winner. This has not always worked out for Triple H, as the last time HBK was the ref for him, he ended up losing. That said, it does add impact to the story. After, all, Batista has no real connection to Triple H personally outside of their Evolution affiliation which Dave left the same night he “quit” the WWE.
At the end of the day, Batista would be a huge get. The issue is, he just didn’t like the role he was offered. Batista has been quoted in saying he would like to have one last run with WWE, so it doesn’t appear this will be the last we will hear of The Animal coming back.
[Image via WWE]
