Batista On Why He Returned To WWE In 2014: ‘I Always Wanted To Be WWE Undisputed Heavyweight Champion’
It’s well-known that Batista’s latest WWE run didn’t exactly go as planned. When “The Animal” returned to WWE in January of 2014, he was supposed to win the Royal Rumble match and go on to defeat Randy Orton at WrestleMania 30 to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. But, that didn’t happen.
In the months leading up to Batista’s return, WWE fans really started to get behind Daniel Bryan, and it got to the point where if Bryan wasn’t in the WWE title picture, the fans would boo whoever was in the WWE Title match, including Batista.
Batista’s return was actually pretty well-received by WWE fans, but the fans turned on him when it became clear that he was going to win the Royal Rumble match instead of Daniel Bryan. Of course, Batista isn’t resentful towards Bryan because of the situation, but it’s quite clear that he was upset that WWE never gave him what they promised they would, which is the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
WWE decided to unify the WWE and the World Heavyweight Championship shortly before Batista returned to the company, and, according to “The Animal” himself, that’s exactly why he wanted to return.
During his first WWE run, Batista had held both the WWE and the World Heavyweight Championships, but he never held both of them simultaneously, and WWE promising him that he’d become the second-ever WWE World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania 30 was what convinced him to come back to the company after being away for several years.
Why did @DaveBautista return to @WWE? He revealed ALL in @WWENetwork's #BeyondTheRing! #WWENetworkhttps://t.co/Ya9TkVTyFI
— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) August 7, 2016
“The biggest reason why I came back [to WWE] is that I’ve always wanted to be the Undisputed Heavyweight Champ. After I became the Heavyweight Champ multiple times I thought ‘where do I go from here? There’s not many places to go.’ But I could take that next step up and become the Undisputed Champ.”
Of course, Batista didn’t end up becoming the WWE Undisputed Champion at WrestleMania 30, as he tapped out to Daniel Bryan in the show’s main-event. From that point on, there really weren’t any plans to put the title on Batista, and he left the company shortly thereafter.
Since then, Batista has found a ton of success in Hollywood thanks to the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. At this point, it doesn’t look like Batista will be coming back to WWE anytime soon, if ever. He’s 47 years-old, and he probably only has a few matches left in him if he ever does decide to return.
In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Batista said that he would love to return to WWE, but work only house shows, much like Chris Jericho was doing prior to his latest return to television, because he wouldn’t have to deal with any of the drama that he has to deal with during the television tapings.
WWE did offer Batista a guest referee spot at this past year’s WrestleMania 32, but he decided to turn it down. He then expressed his displeasure with WWE and Vince McMahon after the Titus O’Neil incident, which caused Titus to miss out on WrestleMania 32, this missing out on his biggest payday of the year.
Batista’s primary focus right now is his acting career, but he’d probably return to the ring if WWE made him the right offer. He has said numerous times in the past that he’d like to have a retirement match against his mentor Triple H. Of course, the two men headlined one of the most successful WrestleManias of all-time together, and a second match between the two men would almost certainly do big business, especially if it was billed as Batista’s retirement match.
[Image via WWE]
