The long-rumored and heavily anticipated final showdown between former Evolution running mates Batista and Triple H seems to be back on the table, as “The Animal” crashed Ric Flair‘s 70th Birthday Celebration on Monday Night Raw in the closing moments of the episode. With veterans in the ring awaiting “The Nature Boy” to come down and join the party, cameras backstage caught Batista dragging an unconscious Ric Flair from his dressing room backstage, who then stared into the camera and muttered the words, “Hunter, do I have your attention now?”
WHAT THE?? Batista has appeared and attacked @RicFlairNatrBoy in a demand for @TripleH's attention on #Raw! @DaveBautista pic.twitter.com/NKzISy4fJ3
— WWE (@WWE) February 26, 2019
Back in October, Batista made a return to the WWE Universe for the 1000th episode of SmackDown LIVE, reuniting with the other members of Evolution – Triple H, Ric Flair and Randy Orton – and teased one more chance for Triple H to do something he had yet to do in his career – beat Batista in singles competition. Batista was 3-0 against Triple H on PPVs (WrestleMania 21, Backlash ’05 and in a Hell in a Cell at Vengeance ’05), as well as 1-0 on Monday Night Raw.
But shortly after the segment, Triple H tore his pectoral muscle and was shelved and it was reported that he wouldn’t be back in time for WrestleMania 35, the speculated venue for the grudge match, to face the blossoming Hollywood actor. The chances grew even slimmer when Dave Bautista was announced as joining the cast of the Dune remake, which would be filming during and around WrestleMania season. But as they say in pro wrestling, “never say never”, and based on the actions in Raw’s closing moments – on a night where Roman Reigns returned and declared his cancer was in remission and he was returning, only to reunite with Seth Rollins to help save Dean Ambrose from a beatdown – it looks like that potential final showdown between “The Animal” vs. “The Game” was still very much on.
