WWE News: Batista Unlikely To Appear At ‘WrestleMania 32,’ Still Angry Over Titus O’Neil Situation
Back in January, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Batista met with WWE chairman Vince McMahon to discuss a role in this spring’s WrestleMania 32 event. McMahon was interested in making Batista the special guest referee for the show’s main event.
Long story short, Batista turned down the role. But, at the time, he was open to doing something else on the show. That is until WWE decided to fine and suspend his good friend Titus O’Neil following Daniel Bryan’s retirement party on February 8.
After the suspension became public knowledge, Batista wasn’t shy about his feelings on the situation, saying that Titus should ask for his release immediately. As of this writing, Titus hasn’t taken “The Animal’s” advice.
I did something better! I called @TitusONeilWWE and told him to ask to be released. #onelife https://t.co/ileACzeB8j
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) February 11, 2016
On Tuesday, TMZ Sports caught up with Batista, and then asked him about the Titus O’Neil situation. The former WWE Champ reiterated that Titus should ask for his release, saying that O’Neil got screwed over, not only because he got fined, but because he’ll miss out on getting a WrestleMania pay day due to the 60-day suspension he was hit with.
Dave Bautista — Calls Out Vince McMahon … 'You F**ked Titus O'Neil' (VIDEO) https://t.co/87fExKAe5N
— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) February 23, 2016
“He [O’Neil] got shafted. That’s bull****. That should have been a man-to-man conversation, not a suspension.”
“He was being playful with Vince, which we all are, because Vince is a very physical, playful guy. You know, granted, even if it was at the wrong time, again… it’s a one-on-one conversation… all of sudden, don’t turn into somebody’s boss because you didn’t like the way they touched you.”
“So, not only did he **** him with the suspension and the fine, but he just double ****ed him by taking WrestleMania away from him. That’s why I said ‘just leave, man.’ It’s bull****.”
The Wrestling Observer noted that it’s unlikely that Batista will be a part of WrestleMania 32 because of the Titus O’Neil situation. Of course, at this point in his life, Batista doesn’t really need to do anything with WWE because of his success in Hollywood.
Prior to the release of Spectre, Batista was interviewed by Chris Van Vliet, and in the interview, “The Animal” said that he would love to wrestle again. He also said that, if he were to go back, he’d prefer to only wrestle on the live events, which is something that Chris Jericho did before his latest return to WWE television.
If WWE does have another role in mind for Batista at WrestleMania 32, no one really knows what it is. Also, Batista isn’t scheduled to meet with WWE again, and because of the Titus O’Neil situation, it’s unlikely that he’d even be willing to discuss anything with them.
Back in November, WWE made it clear that they were trying to get Batista involved in something at WrestleMania 32, as they went out of their way to congratulate him on the success of Spectre. At the time, many believed that they were trying to get him back for a match against Triple H.
In the past, Batista has said that if he were to do a retirement match, he’d want it to be against Triple H, who was his mentor early on in his wrestling career.
It does seem unlikely that Batista will involved in anything at this year’s WrestleMania. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, WWE still wants there to be a special referee in the main event, and that referee could end up being Shawn Michaels.
(Featured image via WWE)
