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I am a regular reader of various wrestling ‘news’ websites and one article I read this week was about Batista potentially not returning to the WWE due to the success of his latest movie. One question came to mind – would it really make any difference if he didn’t return?
During his first run with the WWE Batista was a top star and even though I was never a fan, I could appreciate his work. I personally just never found him entertaining or interesting and I always preferred to watch the undercard when he was in the main event scene.
When he returned at the beginning of this year, everyone knew he was going to get a huge push and probably end up in the main event of Wrestlemania. The WWE seemed to hope he would be a huge fan favourite once again and make Wrestlemania unmissable, but they didn’t realise that the fans love for Daniel Bryan would de-rail their plans.
Who really knows if the WWE had the intention of the Daniel Bryan/Authority storyline ending up as it did or whether they planned on having Batista become champion at Wrestlemania. Whatever they had in mind, the big return of Batista fell flat simply because of his win at the Royal Rumble and the rate of Daniel Bryan’s soaring popularity.
It’s not only Batista who has been set up for a big return only for it to fail. The likes of Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, Sable – all big names in their prime but their returns to WWE weren’t great.
Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan and Scott Hall could have made a huge impact on the WWE at the time as the NWO had been such a huge success for WCW. They weren’t used right by the company and even though Hall had his personal problems at the time, the trio could have been the biggest heels to ever be in the WWE.
Hogan did go on to have a great match with The Rock at Wrestlemania 18 – one that will never be forgotten – and he did once again become WWE Champion but it all fizzled out. Hogan winning the championship seemed more for nostalgic reasons but it was never going to be the best idea.
Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner had big storylines with Triple H and received big pushes by the WWE, however it was all just very dull. Slow, boring and not very agile in the ring, Nash and Steiner should never have been allowed to main event any WWE shows after the year 2000. Nash should always just stick to Royal Rumble appearances if he feels he needs to be in the ring.
From the men to the women, Sable was the biggest diva in the WWE during the Attitude Era and when she returned in 2003 it should have been a big moment. As a huge Sable fan I couldn’t wait to see her back on WWE television, however because it was a storyline which involved Torrie Wilson’s Playboy cover, it wasn’t shown on UK television at the time.
The WWE made a big mistake in having her return on Smackdown. Surely if one of the most popular divas in history is going to return, you would have her come back on the flagship show which is live. Her return only lasted a year and it’s a shame because she could have made much more of an impact than she was allowed to.
WWE does seem to be hit and miss when it comes to superstar’s returning but does it really matter? They have to build towards the future and they can’t do that by promoting older stars above the younger ones.
It could be a good thing if Batista doesn’t return and I don’t think he would be missed by many fans as he would simply be taking the spot of someone more deserving.
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