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Batista Deserves a SmackDown 1000 Appearance, and a Proper Sendoff

By Joe Anthony Myrick

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Source: WWE.com

Batista, for all intents and purposes, has risen to become one of the most successful wrestlers to ever step off WWE soil.

After over a decade in the business, Big Dave leaped onto the Hollywood scene as Drax the Destroyer in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Despite the film’s inclusion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe–the highest grossing movie franchise of all time–the film was considered a surprise hit and spawned two sequels, one currently in development. The Animal also reprised his role in Avengers: Infinity War, which as of now sits as the fourth highest grossing film of all time.

Sitting on a mountaintop alongside The Rock and John Cena, Batista serves as one of the few wrestlers-turned-actors to find some major success in Hollywood. His native stomping grounds of WWE should be proud of him and be clamoring to bring him back to their television screens as often as possible. Yet no, that does not seem to be the case.

As Big Dave let us know recently on Twitter, he has not been invited to the upcoming SmackDown 1000 event, even though it’s being held in his hometown. Worst of all, it appears that the former World Heavyweight Champion has been blackballed from WWE, and really, that is just a darn shame.

It’s easy to see where tensions between Batista and the WWE seem to stem from, no matter how petty the whole situation may be. It really all started during Batista’s 2014 WWE return. Considering the jeers he received for his entire run that forced him into turning heel, and how he was essentially overshadowed at every turn by Daniel Bryan, Batista’s run disappointed everyone involved in making it happen.

He initially left the company after his six month run ended, but according to his MLW Radio interview with Writer’s Room, he had plans on coming back at SummerSlam 2014. He had pitched to Stephanie McMahon and Triple H that it would be a good idea to bring The Animal back at a time when Guardians of the Galaxy was – what Batista was sure was going to be – the No. 1 movie in America. Trips and Steph basically laughed him out of the building, telling him to his face that they didn’t think the movie was going to be “that good.”

Guardians of the Galaxy went on to gross $333.2 million in America with a worldwide total of $773.3 million. It was the No. 1 film in America for its first, fourth, fifth, and sixth weeks at the box office. The film also received overwhelmingly positive reviews. The sequel, Vol. 2, would be even more successful grossing $863.8 million worldwide. Since they parted ways in 2014, Batista has refused to keep his most scathing criticisms about WWE to himself.

Two years after the fact, Batista would be extremely vocal in his criticisms for WWE’s handling of Titus O’Neil, who some of us may remember was suspended for 60 days–nearly fired–for some ill timed horseplay with Vince McMahon on the night of Daniel Bryan’s retirement speech. Batista once admitted to TMZ that he tried to talk Titus into quitting after the incident.

Despite whatever creative differences he’s had with WWE and despite how he’s not a fan of the way Vince McMahon handled the Titus situation, Batista holds no grudge against WWE. He has remained vocal about wanting to return for one last hurrah, or at least another appearance.

Sadly, it seems that WWE continues to hold a grudge on their end, and refuse to let the Guardians star re-enter their pearly gates. In the long run, WWE is only hurting themselves by not mending their fences with the two-time Royal Rumble winner.

Forget the fact that Batista is one of the biggest stars of the biggest movie franchise in the world right now. Forget for a second that he’s a major Hollywood player that any network or company should be dying to have on their airwaves, yet alone the first company that guided him to the bright lights that shined on his star. If for nothing else, WWE needs to bring Batista back not only for SmackDown 1000, but for one last stand as a wrestler because he absolutely deserves it.

Let’s wind the clocks back a decade ago. By now, Batista spent the better part of the late 2000’s as the face of SmackDown. Whether he was squaring off with The Undertaker, JBL, Edge, King Booker, etc., The Animal was always positioned at the top of the main-event food chain. More often than not, he had the World Heavyweight Championship around his waist. It would feel wrong to run a 1000th episode of SmackDown without him.

Now, here’s why Batista deserves one final run with the company to send him off properly:

Let’s not forget that Batista spent much of his main event run in WWE as the #2 face of the entire company, second to only John Cena. While Cena reigned supreme on Raw, Batista roared through SmackDown. It’s also worth noting that while it didn’t take long before Cena drew mixed reactions (mostly negative), fans never really turned on Big Dave the way they did Cena.

There may have been a couple oddball nights when Batista did get some boos, but there was usually a reasonable explanation for it–like when he and Big Show entered enemy territory at ECW’s Hammerstein Ballroom battling for the ECW Championship–and the night would serve as a rare one-off deal. For the most part, fans unabashedly loved Batista and treated him as a happy alternative to the Doctor of Thuganomics.

When they both joined Raw in 2008, both men fluctuated between who was the top babyface of the company for a time. When Cena got injured, Batista gladly–albeit briefly–took over as the #1 guy and headlined pay-per-view after pay-per-view until Cena returned at Survivor Series.

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When Batista turned heel about a year later, he was clearly trying his hardest to find creative ways to get fans to hate him. Whether he was cheered or booed, Batista served as one of the hardest workers in the company. He did his job with style and grace, and often exceeded expectations both in and out the ring.

We would be remiss if we ended this piece without mentioning his final run with the company in 2014. As disappointing as it may have been, the whole reason why many of us booed him is because Batista returned at a time when audiences were tired of seeing so many part time wrestlers fill out main-event spots. We expected the same out of Batista, but to our surprise, he wrestled and appeared every week since his return. He at least deserves some credit for that.

For all that he’s done for that company, our last image of Batista in a WWE ring should not be of him bitterly waving the WWE Universe goodbye and quitting on air.

Guys like Bret Hart, Jeff Jarrett, Ultimate Warrior, and most recently, Hulk Hogan all left WWE on terrible terms, only to eventually return to rebuild broken bridges, in some cases returning for Hall of Fame inductions. They parted ways with WWE on far worse terms than Batista ever did. So you’re telling us that despite seeing worse offenses with other wrestlers, WWE is going to deny giving Batista a worthy swan song because of a few heated tweets and creative differences?

Come on, WWE, grow up.

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Hopefully, long after this article has been published, WWE softened their hearts and decide to bring Batista back for the 1000th episode of SmackDown. While they’re at it, at the very least offer him one last run of matches for a real retirement from the ring. That run may not happen any time soon because of Batista’s commitments as an actor, but WWE should at least lay an offer on the table. It’s time for WWE to let petty grudges go and finally give Batista his due.

Get your act together, WWE.