10 Genius Ways WWE Wrestlers Survived “Go Away” Heat
9. Batista
During his 2014 run, Batista was one of the most hated men in the WWE. It’s not that he was doing anything wrong, he just simply wasn’t Daniel Bryan.
Bryan had captured the hearts and minds of the WWE audience and fans were hungry to see him rise to the WrestleMania XXX main event, despite the company’s aversion to the idea. As such, Batista’s return fell apart fast when he came out at number 28 at the Royal Rumble and won the whole thing to a chorus of boos.
With Batista’s eventual WrestleMania main event looming, everything he did gained ire whether Bryan was involved or not. The era of “Bootista” was in full swing.
It hadn’t helped that when he had won the Rumble, the pissed off fans in attendance had shocked Dave into reacting in kind, throwing middle fingers and swearing at the audience. Thankfully, this made it more believable when he took to SmackDown in February to tell the WWE Universe that he wasn’t here for them and he had simply returned to win the belt.
Whilst it was a booking decision that Batista may not have had much control over, he seemed much more suited to the position of playing a villain and putting over a younger star. Audiences tended to agree, and the heel Batista not only went on to be a part of Bryan’s win but also a duo of great matches as part of Evolution against a babyface turn for The Shield.