Batista's WWE return: Enters with a roar, moves with a whimper

Batista on his way to WrestleMania XXX

The rumors of Batista returning to WWE had been swirling around for quite a while. With Ric Flair returning to WWE after his forgettable run in TNA, the potency of the probability of an Evolution reunion garnered many reports. And in a case where a fervent rumor comes true, WWE announced in December 2013 that Batista will be returning back to this business. But, now that January’s gone, even the interest around The Animal’s return has gone too.

The moment Batista’s entrance theme hit the arena on January 20, there was obvious fanfare that followed but the moment he shook Triple H’s hand and stood face to face with Randy Orton, the energy had dampened even though in its own current way WWE had presented an, although incomplete, Evolution reunion. His promo didn’t do much to elevate the energy and his powerbomb on Del Rio later that night seemed incomplete just like the above mentioned Evolution reunion. Anyway, an actual Batista Bomb, which is a sit-out powerbomb, would have ripped his jeans off.

I would say his attack on Del Rio was infinitely better than his opening promo.

Add a much hated Rumble win and Batista is now another product in the company who’s given a gallant treatment compared to the ones the fans are cheering for.

Batista is now, for the time being, feuding with Alberto Del Rio. While it was great that Del Rio addressed his unfinished business with Batista and his promo had quite a few great elements to it, ultimately it did not click. Del Rio constantly makes promos look like climbing Mount Everest without any gear.

So Batista is not really well admired for his promo work, neither is Del Rio. So it’s a fight of equals, right there. So will wrestling make the difference here. Del Rio is a skilled worker and has given some good matches in the past year and Batista, on the other hand has been off from the WWE for nearly 4 years. He entered the Rumble towards its twilight. So expecting a full throttle wrestling match from him is a big ask.

But still, the Animal will look strong against Del Rio and is expected to post a big win and this is all there is for his time to pass until Wrestlemania. So how does all this sound for a superstar who’s return hasn’t even crossed the one month mark?

- Quite underwhelming.

Again, the WWE has given a person who returned weeks before Wrestlemania an almost sure shot opportunity to be in the main event.

If you’re giving such a huge opportunity to someone, at least make them look strong, if not deserving, to be part of the closing moments of the grandest show of them all. After all, this opportunity comes only once a year or, for some, once in a lifetime.