With Smackdown 1000 less than a month away, an interesting post went up on WWE‘s official Facebook page recently. Unlike the traditional polls asking fans what matches they would like to see, the post took it upon itself to suggest five matches that WWE would like to see happen, along with match graphics for each one. Included were AJ Styles vs Rey Mysterio, Charlotte Flair vs Michelle McCool, The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro) vs APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq), Kurt Angle vs Daniel Bryan, and most interesting of all, Samoa Joe vs Batista.
Is a Batista Return In The Works for SmackDown 1000?
A Batista return would be unexpected especially as the Animal himself has said that despite Smackdown 1000 being in his hometown and despite having clamored for one last run in WWE on more than one occasion, he was not invited to the event. A few days prior to WWE teasing a match featuring the Animal vs the Samoan Submission Machine, Batista answered a fan’s question on Twitter saying that he didn’t get an invite and at this point, he’s not all that surprised.
Surprise surprise!! I wasn’t invited! And it’s in my hometown.! 😳.. guess by now I shouldn’t be shocked anymore. https://t.co/r1NwUNlRnf
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) September 13, 2018
Under any other circumstance, the tweet could be written off as Batista working the fans so that his appearance at Smackdown 1000 would be the biggest surprise of the night. But given the tumultuous relationship Batista has had with WWE ever since his last run ended unmemorably in 2014, it’s quite possible he wasn’t invited as he says, and that this Facebook post is merely WWE pulling off a work/troll of its own.
Thumbs Up…
In May 2002, Batista made his WWE debut when he moved from Ohio Valley Wrestling to Smackdown, to work the house show circuit. A month later, he made his televised debut for the blue brand as Deacon Batista, the villainous enforcer of Reverend D-Von. The partnership wouldn’t last long however as despite being victorious in their early matches against Randy Orton and a variety of partners, the two split when D-Von accidentally punched Batista leading to the superstar’s first loss and first pinfall on the main roster.
Shortly after that, Batista was moved to Monday Night Raw where he aligned with Ric Flair and soon after, Triple H and Randy Orton in forming Evolution. The stable dominated RAW for two years before Batista turned on Triple H, using his Royal Rumble-winning opportunity to challenge his mentor for the world championship. At Wrestlemania 21, Batista won his first WWE championship, defeating Triple H. He retained the title successfully against Triple H and Edge before being drafted to Smackdown and taking the belt with him.
It was on the blue brand that the majority of Batista’s 282-title reign took place as he successfully defended the title against guys like Christian, Randy Orton, JBL, and Eddie Guerrero. An injury in 2006 forced Batista to vacate the belt in what many believed was a premature end to what had been a dominant reign. When he returned however, Batista reclaimed the championship he had never truly lost and held it for 126 days, dropping it to the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 23. Batista went on to hold the world title two more times. He also won the WWE championship twice and was a three-time world tag team champion (with Ric Flair 2x and John Cena) and one time WWE tag team champion (with Rey Mysterio).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsN89mNogbk
In 2010, Batista left WWE, later saying in an interview that he did not like the direction the company was going in. He returned four years later to take part in the Royal Rumble, which he won, making him the first and only wrestler to win twice from the same entrant number (28). Despite returning as a face, Batista was booed, in part because he wasn’t Daniel Bryan and Bryan had been left out of the rumble entirely. At the time, the Yes! Movement was in full swing and Batista’s return was not received favorably as a result. Batista turned heel prior to Wrestlemania XXX, where he tapped out to Bryan in a triple threat for the championship. Following this, Batista teamed up with Randy Orton and Triple H to reunite Evolution, 10 years after the group had first formed. The trio battled the Shield (Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns) with Evolution losing both times. After this, Batista quit WWE in storyline as Triple H revealed his Plan B, that being Rollins’ turning on the Shield. It was announced shortly after that Batista had quit the company for real, citing creative differences.
…Thumbs Down
A few months ago, following Wrestlemania 34, Batista opened up about recent discussions he had with WWE regarding a return. According to the Animal, he was in talks to wrestle alongside Ronda Rousey in the mixed tag team match before WWE stopped returning his calls. Batista, who pitched that the angle could lead to a Wrestlemania 35 match with him against Triple H, said discussion started off positively and then one day, he just stopped hearing from them. This prompted Batista to text Triple H but once again, there was radio silence.
“They just stopped talking to me about it,” Batista said in his interview with 106.7 The Fan. “Man, I don’t know what else I can do to try to…I want to end my career the right way. I’m faithful and loyal to the WWE. I’m proud of being from there and I want to do good business with them, but they just don’t make it easy. You know, they just don’t.”
This was not the first time that Batista, who has become a mega movie star thanks to his role as Drax the Destroyer in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies as well as Avengers: Infinity War, has openly said he wants to come back for one more run before he hangs up his boots for good.
“I’m doing okay for myself, so I don’t need to be there,” Batista continued in the interview. “I just, I love it there. Even though the fans totally crapped on me the last time I was there, I would still go back in a heartbeat and love to entertain them, and I would have fun doing it, man. I’d be happy to be there. But, I just don’t get it, man. I don’t get that company. I just don’t understand.”
Batista is not alone in failing to understand how or when things turned so sour. A WWE-lifer, at some point, Batista went from being thumbs up to thumbs down with WWE management. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when or why it happened, but it’s clear, at least from seeing his side of things, that Batista and the WWE are just not seeing eye-to-eye.
It doesn’t make much sense that the two sides haven’t been able to patch things up. Batista, since leaving WWE, has been almost the anti-CM Punk. Whereas Punk has gone on record stating his displeasure with the company and wrestling as a whole, Batista has only said positive things about WWE and his time there. It’s clear he’s been angling for a return but for some reason, he seems to be the only one who wants it.
Batista is owed more respect than that but ever since he left, WWE just hasn’t shown it to him. The most notable example of this occurred in 2014, when Batista pitched a Summerslam angle. According to an interview the Animal gave to MLW Radio (VIP subscription required to listen), “I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if I was back and I was also in the No. 1 movie in the world?’ And they kind of had a snicker and said, ‘…We don’t know if the movie’s going to be that good.’ …It was a very uncomfortable moment where I think they were just kind of doubting me and laughing in my face.”
It was Batista however, who had the last laugh, and WWE who had no problem using his success on their platform as a way to talk about the mainstream popularity of its wrestlers. But despite the way the situation was handled, Batista still didn’t burn any bridges. Earlier this year, he even talked about how much he wanted to come back and noted that he declined an offer to be enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame as a result. Still believing he has plenty left in the tank, Batista said he’d “love to go back.”
https://www.facebook.com/wwe/posts/10156090055506443?__xts__[0]=68.ARCe6HaDnKgyH577Dfe80RyiM2VH_dpGuBTmsNFIO4iIMftIlLZLk21PHV2pSgJpTtmBH8lCkqsDTJHlWbw7LYGn4RLPeYPZRh9t2EU8g4dM9wHW7vnnynI10YXelfln-AWfQrEj5pyHhNxBhcbem46AqxSmWV5Xc_Hl477gSKjvr4GEQHbWIvk&__tn__=-R
That’s why WWE’s post teasing a match for the Animal at Smackdown 1000 is so intriguing. It is quite possible that the two sides have patched things up enough for a return, if only for one night. It’s also possible Batista, who has referred to himself as an “old-school kayfabe guy,” is the one behind the work.
His tweet is in line with every interview he has given recently and every remark he has made, which makes it believable. It’s not hard to believe him when he says he hasn’t been invited and that’s the point. Because if it was unbelievable, it wouldn’t be a surprise when he shows up, perhaps for a match with Samoa Joe, perhaps for something else entirely.
