Shout out to Batista

[Str8Shooter]

The guy gets a lot of crap from people, in the past and now. So I figured I'd give him some kudos where I feel they're deserved.

When he came back I'm sure he was promised a lot of things, a heroes welcome on Raw and at the Rumble, where he'd win and go on to win the title at Mania. Instead, he gets booed out of the building upon his return, then eve more at The Rumble when he wasn't Daniel Bryan.

Then he was forced into a quickie heel turn because of the reaction. He then goes on to lose to Daniel Bryan clean by tapout at Mania, taking the fall instead of Orton. Then he proceeds to lose again to The Shield at Extreme Rules, and then loses again at Payback. All this and he's been working pretty much every Raw... and Smackdown. Now he's gonna leave to promote his movie and his comeback probably hasn't done much to help his "brand".

So yeah, he's been a pretty damn good team player for WWE, especially for a "part timer".

[Everlong]

The entire situation really isn't Batista's fault -- it's a fan reaction to WWE force-feeding them stuff that they really don't want, at all. I'm not entirely sure that Batista would have had a different reaction in a different situation, where it wasn't completely obvious that he was winning the Rumble. But yeah, he does at least deserve some props for dealing with what clearly wasn't the plan for when he returned.

That being said, it's hard for me to believe that he came back for any reason other than to gain some exposure before his movie came out. He's trashed the product many times in the past, came back in poor shape and simply didn't perform well in the ring or on the mic during his time back.

[Str8Shooter]

That being said, it's hard for me to believe that he came back for any reason other than to gain some exposure before his movie came out. He's trashed the product many times in the past, came back in poor shape and simply didn't perform well in the ring or on the mic during his time back.

I'm sure he came back for some exposure for the movie, and the money. But he signed for two years and the movie comes out this summer, so that can't be the only reason. He could easily have signed a 1 year deal. He also is working way more dates than any of the other part timers that they've brought in.

I'm not sure it's fair to say he's out of shape either. He certainly looks in pretty good shape. But there's no replacement for being in the ring and putting on matches. When Rock came back he blew up in his matches time after time too. It's one of those things I don't think you can adequately prepare for until it happens.

[Messiah]

Best heel in the WWE.

[Westcoastvibes]

to bluetista

[Georgerv]

Agreed. People were more pissed with the situation/booking than Batista himself. Hell since turning Heel he's been perfect in the role and done nothing but put over young talent. Fair play to him

[prophet]

I think Evolution in general deserve a ton of credit. They've put both Daniel Bryan and The Shield over huge these past few months and should be commended for it.

[VaderBomb]

It's all worked itself off perfectly,

[SlightlyJames]

[AkydefGoldberg]

He was always more natural as a heel, just disappointing as it seems the spotlight didn't make an entrance this time.

Tim's nailed the reasons about the furore of his return. Not his fault. Rock could have been the one returning at the Rumble and I think he'd have got the same reaction as the fans so clearly wanted Bryan.

[Hanley!]

That being said, it's hard for me to believe that he came back for any reason other than to gain some exposure before his movie came out. He's trashed the product many times in the past, came back in poor shape and simply didn't perform well in the ring or on the mic during his time back.

In fairness though, how much exposure does Batista need this close to the release of Guardian's of the Galaxy? And would returning to Raw really boost it all that much? All he was doing was reintroducing himself to the only people who really knew about him already.

I could be wrong, but it doesn't seem like Batista's return is something that he pushed for. He's about to become a bigger star than he's ever been before and he's not been complimentary about WWE in recent years. It looks to me that WWE were the ones desperate to make this deal and probably threw a lot of money at him to bring him on. They were lacking some of the returning vets they'd often rely upon this year and were probably eager to make some money out of his upcoming Hollywood movie.

I can't really fault Batista in this. He came back, instantly started getting booed so he did the smart thing and turned heel. Fans clearly didn't want him with the title so he didn't win it. He put people over and then he left. His return was fucking atrocious booking and displayed a horrible mentality from WWE, but the guy handled it about as well as he could have considering.

[Racing Guy]

It's just fun to make fun of Batista. With his silly clothes, and not being able to lace his boots without getting winded, it's just too easy. That being said, I do appreciate how many matches he's worked since his return. The Rock never wrestled a non PPV match one time in his return.

[Daz]

It takes balls to wear that particular shade of blue I guess.

[VaderBomb]

It takes balls to wear that particular shade of blue I guess.

Blue balls.

[SKS]

Batista is a shit wrestler but there's no denying he's a great heel personality. If he came back and went straight to Evolution then I'd probably praise the return. It's a shame he had to ruin the Rumble and come back as a face. But since then he did tap to Bryan at 'Mania, lost to Shield twice, and sorta put over Ziggler as a threat, so some things were accomplished. First 3 months = shit, last 3 months were great.

[Dumpy]

I was actually decided to have him back because I knew he'd be a good heel after his last run, things just didn't go his way