Lessons Learned From Batista's Last WWE Run 5 Years Later

On January 20, 2014, Batista made his triumphant return to WWE after several years away, and from the get-go, it was painfully apparent that his run wouldn't go as officials had hoped.

Prior to 2014, Batista hadn't been seen on WWE TV since his humiliating exit in May 2010, when he lost an I Quit match to John Cena and proceeded to leave the company the next night on Raw. He explored other endeavors during his hiatus from the wrestling industry, but a WWE return was only inevitable.

The timing never seemed right until the Road to WrestleMania XXX, and following weeks of rumors, WWE revealed on the December 23, 2013, edition of Raw that he was on his way back. As excited as fans were for his return, there was also a sense of uncertainty regarding what officials had in store for him creatively.

While it wasn't a bad idea to advertise Batista for the 2014 Royal Rumble match, it would have meant more had it been a surprise. With his participation in the bout already announced, it essentially foreshadowed the finish of the bout, with him coming out on top and punching his ticket to the WrestleMania main event.

That wouldn't have been a terrible route to take had Randy Orton—a heated rival of Batista's—not been in possession of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the time. Their interaction the night Batista returned to Raw was underwhelming and did nothing to make viewers want to see them clash on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

Although fans originally rallied behind Batista as the conquering returning hero, he had always been more comfortable in a heel role. His miscasting as a babyface hardly helped matters, especially once he had to share the spotlight with the uber-popular Daniel Bryan.

Credit: WWE.com

Needless to say, the polarizing reaction to Batista's Rumble victory in Philadelphia wasn't part of a plan to turn him heel. Rather, he was rejected by the fans because of WWE's unwillingness to go with fan favorite Bryan as the Rumble winner, and thus the promotion had no choice but to flip the switch with his character soon after.

On the bright side, Batista jumped at the opportunity to portray a villain again and made the most of everything he was involved in. His matches with fresh faces such as Bryan, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler also highlighted his heel run and lent credibility to the roster.

It would have been easy for Orton to eat the pinfall loss to Bryan in the Triple Threat world title match at WrestleMania, but instead The Animal put over The Beard strong by tapping out to the "Yes!" Lock.

Credit: WWE.com

Batista's selfless ways continued when he reunited with Evolution and lost to The Shield on back-to-back pay-per-views. He was adamant about making the talent of tomorrow look as good as possible, sometimes at his own expense.

Just as he started to hit his stride as a heel, Batista left WWE to begin promotion for Guardians of the Galaxy. It's possible he would have been back in time for SummerSlam had Triple H and Stephanie McMahon not doubted his chances of success in Hollywood and refused to be flexible around his schedule.

As a result, the six-time world champion was bitter about his departure, and rightfully so. He even attributed WWE's empty promises to him upon his return as his reason for quitting in storyline, and he was justified in feeling frustrated given how badly the company botched his return.

Positioning him as the top babyface on the brand was the first mistake WWE made with him, so realizing his strengths as a heel and slotting him into that role would have solved that problem from the beginning.

While it would have been unwise to stick with Batista vs. Orton as the WrestleMania main event, the least WWE could have done was reward him for his efforts in some form or fashion. Bringing him back as a glorified stepping stone hurt his star power, whereas more balance with when he won and lost would have been a better use of him.

Finally, WWE could have avoided the debacle with Batista all together by listening to their audience, pushing Bryan ahead of The Animal and deviating from the original plan, something it doesn't do often enough.

Following the failure that was his 2014 stint with WWE, Batista returned to the acting scene and landed several notable roles in Spectre, Hotel Artemis, and Blade Runner 2049. In doing so, he proved the naysayers who believed he would flop hard in Hollywood and that he would only be defined by his accomplishments in the ring wrong.

Nevertheless, he has shown interest in returning to WWE, assuming it lined up with his hectic schedule and the company was not as controlling creatively as it has been in the past.

His one-off appearance at SmackDown 1000 in October sparked speculation that a WrestleMania match against Triple H could be in the works; if so, it would be a fitting way for him to close out his career with WWE considering their storied history together.

Whether it's Batista, an up-and-comer from NXT or anyone on the active roster, WWE can learn a thing or two about how it has handled certain Superstars in the past to avoid making those same mistakes in the future.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.