Long before he became a successful actor and a fixture of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Dave Bautista was dishing out spears and winning world titles in WWE as Batista. Although his wrestling career is mostly behind him now, the former WWE Champion has been very vocal about wanting to return to the company for a match against Triple H at a WrestleMania show in order to properly close out his career. Batista has even reportedly turned down offers to join the WWE Hall of Fame because he does not feel like his wrestling career is over yet. While most fans would probably agree that it would certainly be intriguing to see a Batista comeback, WWE apparently disagrees with that sentiment.
According to a recent report from PWInsider, WWE is said to have absolutely no interest in bringing Batista back for another run at the moment. The relationship between WWE and Batista is still said to be a positive one, but whenever the idea of a Batista return has been brought up, WWE officials have responded with very little enthusiasm or support. Batista claimed earlier this year that he was on the shortlist to be Ronda Rousey’s tag team partner against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania this year, but the company supposedly decided to replace him with Kurt Angle without giving him any reason why. Batista has said before that if he were to return, he would want to come back on a full time schedule that includes television date and live events.
Another immensely talented wrestler unfortunately passed away earlier this week. The wrestling world is still mourning the loss of Leon “Big Van Vader” White, and plenty of tributes and kind words from wrestlers, fans, and promotions have been posted online over the past few days. While WWE will likely air a tribute video of their own for Vader during tonight’s episode of Raw, fans can now relive some of the most memorable moments from “The Mastodon’s” long career as part of a new collection video series on the WWE Network. As of right now, the collection mostly focuses on his run in WCW, but PWInsider has noted that more content could be added to the collection after WWE officially announces it.