Batista spent over a decade in pro wrestling, but is now a big-shot Hollywood actor entertaining fans in the No. 1 movie in the country. He even goes by the stage name of “Dave Bautista.” What a sellout.
While the front half of Batista’s WWE career was pretty polarizing, most wrestling fans were fully on board with his elitist heel character by the time he made his first departure from the company. His most recent return was a mixed bag, but in retrospect (after he tapped out to Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania XXX), pretty much everyone agrees it was a tremendous success.
And especially after his turn as Drax the Destroyer in the two Guardians of the Galaxy films, wrestling fans are wondering when (if ever) Batista will return to WWE again. During an appearance on the Talk is Jericho podcast, Batista told Chris Jericho that he’s actually talked to WWE about one last comeback, and knows exactly what storyline he wants if he returns. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon. (Transcript via Wrestling Inc.)
“I’ve asked [to come back]. I’ve asked. I’ve asked for what I want. … I’ve talked to Hunter about it and I’ve talked to Vince about it. I said I would come back and run a whole program with Hunter. That’s the only thing I’m interested in and they’re just not interested in it.
“I guess [WWE is] not [interested]. And I’ve run it by them a few different times. They just say, ‘Meh, we’ll think about it.’ Vince, every time I ask him, ‘Meh, I’ll think about it.’
“At this point, [I’m not interested in doing long programs with up-and-comers], because it would be like my retirement thing. It’d be what I go out on. I’d come back and I’d do it. I would do a whole program and I’d be done. But that’s how I’d want to go out because we have such a history together and there’s so much history built in. There’s an easy story to be told and I think people would get into it and they’d like it. And Hunter, he’s just awesome to work with.
“I’ve asked, but now it’s at a point where I’m tired of asking.” Batista continued, “the last time I talked to Vince about it was a while ago and I said, ‘if we say we’re going to do it, I can put it in my calendar’ but now my calendar fills up pretty [quickly]. Like, I’m already booked up for the next year and a half, so my window is getting [smaller]. I’m not getting any younger. But see, I don’t know if it’ll ever happen. That’d be the way I want to go out.”
At least it’s nice to know that he does want to come back for one final run, and it’s hard to imagine WWE won’t eventually want this massive, massive film star around for a few months to get some serious publicity.
