WWE News: Batista Comments on Nearly Being in a WrestleMania Match This Year; Why it Didn’t Happen

Dave Bautista aka Batista is a former six-time WWE World Champion that was a main event player in WWE from 2005 until he left in 2010 to pursue acting, which has turned out great for him in films like Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers franchise. Batista has become a mainstream Hollywood star that is doing very well for himself.

Batista returned to WWE in 2014 for about five months, headlined WrestleMania 30 with Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton, then he left again and since then, he has talked about wanting to wrestle again in WWE. We have had comments on him wanting to wrestle several times in the last few years including in 2015 and in 2016. I remember listening to him on the Ross Report podcast with Jim Ross where he talked about wanting to wrestle again. He specifically talked about wanting to do a retirement program with Triple H, who was his main rival in WWE in 2005 when Batista won his first World Title at WrestleMania 21.

Batista recently appeared on the Chad Dukes Show talking about how close he actually was to returning to WWE this year as a tag team partner with Ronda Rousey against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. The spot was given to current Raw General Manager Kurt Angle.

“This is all insider stuff, and I usually don’t share. I’m really an old-school kayfabe guy. But they reached out to me earlier this year to possibly come back and do that thing with Ronda [Rousey]. And I said that I would be willing to do it only if we teased something for me and Hunter to go to Mania next year. And they said, ‘Yeah, that would be great. I love that idea.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s great. I’ll come back a few times during the year, and we’ll tease it, and we’ll work it and we’ll milk it. And we’ll go to Mania, me and Hunter, next year.’ Oh, I love that idea. Let’s do it!”

“So, we literally talked for about like three weeks and then they just stopped calling me. I sent a text to Hunter. I was like, ‘Hey man, I don’t know if you put any more thought into what’s going on. I’m really excited about the possibilities.’ And I literally never heard back from them. They just stopped talking to me about it. 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.”

That’s a shame. It sounds brutal that they would stop talking to the guy after they reached out to him and exchanged messages with him. It may have been a cause of WWE feeling like Kurt Angle was a bitter fit for it since he’s active in WWE storylines as the Raw GM.

Batista added that due to his age, there isn’t that much more time for him to wrestle again.

“I told them next year would be my last year. I’m turning 50 next year. I’d be willing to … I feel great. Physically, I’m in great shape. I’ve never let up on that. But I just don’t want to be the old guy in the ring and I don’t want to overstay my welcome. 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.”

“I’m doing okay for myself, so I don’t need to be there. I just, I love it there. Even thought 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.”

He sounds frustrated and that’s understandable considering the discussions they had earlier this year that just went away for whatever reason. Batista is a bigger star today than he was when he left WWE, so you would think WWE might want to bring him back for a WrestleMania. Instead, he’s still waiting for them to set something up with him.

The Rock recently commented that he also talked with WWE about teaming with Rousey, but they couldn’t make the plans work because he was promoting a movie.

You can listen to Batista’s interview with Chad Dukes on 106.7 The Fan right here.