Batista headlines Wrestlemania again...whether you like it or not

For the second time in his career, Dave Batista will appear in the main event of Wrestlemania on Sunday (Monday PH time), but this time under less celebrated circumstances

REALITY ERA LASHBACK. Former six-time world champion Dave Batista will headline Wrestlemania once more, much to the fans' chagrin. Photo from Batista's Facebook

Since its inception in 1988, World Wrestling Entertainment’s Royal Rumble has become one of the industry’s premier events, catapulting numerous promising grapplers into the main event picture, including “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and Chris Benoit.

Initially, winning the 30-man Rumble earned the victor bragging rights alone, but the stakes became even greater when Ric Flair won the free-for-all elimination match in 1992 to become the WWE Champion. A year later, the WWE changed the prize to a title shot at Wrestlemania, widely recognized as the Super Bowl of pro wrestling.

At this past year’s Rumble, former six-time world champion Dave Batista, who had returned the previous week from a four year ring absence, was the marquee entrant. The Filipino-Greek behemoth’s advantage was in full throttle as he entered at No. 28. Batista would go on to eliminate four men – including runner-up Roman Reigns – to claim his place on the top bill of “The Grandest Stage of Them All” on April 6 (April 7 in the Philippines) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana against WWE World Heavyweight champion Randy Orton.

The victory marked Batista’s second Royal Rumble triumph, earning him entry into an elite cast of multiple-time winners comprised of Austin, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels and John Cena.

Yet, despite the win of a returning favorite, Batista’s victory wasn’t met by cheers but rather boos, making it one of the most disappointing returns the company has ever experienced.

It was a surprising turn of events for Batista, who was greeted with “Ba-ti-sta!” chants on his return to Monday Night Raw on January 20. After winning the Rumble, those chants turned to “Bootista.”

The WWE Universe’s bitterness is rooted in the fact that his Royal Rumble conquest came at the expense of persevering talents, like CM Punk, Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan, who wasn’t even an entrant in the Rumble.

It aroused more anger from avid followers when CM Punk left WWE, with much speculation circulating around Batista’s immediate main event push as being the catalyst.

The people’s disgust pushed the WWE creative team to alter Batista’s image from superhero to full-blown heel. The turn gave Batista a chance to cut loose and air his grievances for the world to hear.

The backlash forced WWE’s hand in another manner as well: A match between Bryan and real life WWE COO Triple H was added to the card, with the stipulation being that the winner joins the Batista vs. Orton main event as the third competitor in a Triple Threat match. The possibility of Bryan crashing the main event has quelled the outrage...for now. -- Rappler.com

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