At Smackdown 1000, all four members of Evolution reunited for the first time in 10 years as they made their first ever appearance as a group on the blue brand. Randy Orton was his same old cocky self, Ric Flair was just happy to be there and Triple H stood as he did all those years ago, as the group’s proud leader. And then there was Batista.
Given the mic for the bulk of the segment, Batista, who was making his return to a WWE ring for the first time since 2014, talked about the four reasons why he wanted to be a part of Smackdown 1000. The first was the occasion, 1000 episodes of a brand that he helped to build. The second, the location as Smackdown 1000 was in his home town of Washington, DC. The third was for the fans, and finally, the last reason was for Evolution.
"There is nothing that this man hasn't done in this business…except beat me!" @DaveBautista just went there… #SD1000 pic.twitter.com/E7atsmfIL0
— WWE (@WWE) October 17, 2018
Batista stood in the ring and one-by-one lauded his former stablemates. He talked about their accomplishments, he talked about their championships, he talked about the impact they left on the business. And in the case of Triple H, Batista talked about the one thing – the only thing – the Game hasn’t done in his career.
In Batista’s words, Triple H has done everything in the business,”except beat me.”
As Randy Orton reacted in the corner and Ric Flair tried to keep the two from coming to blows, Batista and Triple H stood face-to-face. Nothing happened and the two hugged to end the segment, but as the commentators noted, there was tension that suggests all is not right in the world of Evolution.
WrestleMania 35: Batista vs Triple H
This got REAL tense REAL quick.
Evolution has reunited on #SD1000, but @DaveBautista has a little reminder for @TripleH… pic.twitter.com/aEJHWQAt5R
— WWE (@WWE) October 17, 2018
In 2017, Batista was a guest on Talk is Jericho, where he revealed that he asked WWE about returning on several occasions but every time was shut down or met with a lukewarm response. Batista said he wanted something specific and that was the only way he was interested in returning.
“I’ve asked, I’ve asked for what I want,” Batista said on the podcast. “I’ve talked to Hunter about it and I’ve talked to Vince about it. I said I would come back and run a whole program with Hunter. That’s the only thing I’m interested in and they’re just not interested in it…It would be like my retirement thing. It’d be what I go out on. I’d come back and I’d do it. I would do a whole program and I’d be done. But that’s how I’d want to go out because we have such a history together and there’s so much history built in. There’s an easy story to be told and I think people would get into it and they’d like it. And Hunter, he’s just awesome to work with.”
They were planting all the seeds for that Batista/Triple H match we'll probably be getting at #Wrestlemania pic.twitter.com/9ceNDSlbHv
— Just Talk Wrestling (@JustTalkWrestle) October 17, 2018
As the podcast continued, Batista expressed his frustration and resignation of that match ever actually happening saying that he was “at a point where I’m tired of asking.”
About a year later, Batista dropped a huge bombshell saying that regardless of whether he got his final match with Triple H, he was going to retire in 2019. Batista turns 50 next year and expressed that he didn’t want to wrestle past that age. As he said in an interview with The Fan, “I just want to end my career the right way and next year will be the last opportunity, so if we can’t make something happen by next year, then I’m just gonna officially hang it up.”
Batista, who reportedly turned down induction in the 2018 Hall of Fame in order to hopefully get a retirement angle, continued to push for his match with Triple H. When it was announced that he would be at Smackdown 1000, the expectation was that this was going to be more than a one-off. And if the face-off between the two is any indication, Batista is going to get the WrestleMania match and moment he’s spent the last two years lobbying for.
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Having been allies since 2003, Triple H and Batista didn’t have reason to face each other until WrestleMania 21 in 2005. The infamous “thumbs up, thumbs down” angle led to Batista’s first world title. Triple H used his rematch clause to challenge for the belt at Backlash 2005 but once again lost to his protege. The two faced off a third time in June of that year on an episode of Monday Night Raw, again with the victory going to Batista. The feud between the two culminated in their epic Hell in a Cell match at Vengeance where for the fourth time in a row, Batista defeated Triple H.
Following the match at Vengeance, Batista took the title with him to Smackdown, where he was drafted just a few days later. On the blue brand, the Animal became a focal point of the company for the next several years, helping build Smackdown into what it is today.
It’s only fitting then, that Batista’s return to the blue brand was the place where seeds were planted for his return to the ring. It’s also fitting that he’s going to end his career against Triple H, the man who not only mentored him but through that first title feud, helped to elevate him into a WWE superstar worthy of the 2019 Hall of Fame headlining introduction he is likely to receive.
