Lets clear this up right away: Dave Bautista is not some awful human being who should be uniformly vilified. Batista is one of the more accomplished WWE superstars of the past decade and someone who took his craft seriously enough to improve greatly in all aspects during his tenure. His turn against Triple H and Evolution in 2005 would not have worked if Batista wasnt a compelling character fans could get behind. His heel run toward the end of his first run was full of spotlight-grabbing scenes for the Animal. Instead of coming back to WWE to work a short-term schedule (ala The Rock), Batista signed a two-year contract to have one long, final run. However, Batistas reemergence in WWE has been a paint-by-numbers example of how NOT to make your return. It has been misstep after misstep, a series of misadventures that have compounded upon themselves and left fans with a bad taste in their mouths. While hes portraying a heel right now, for a large number of fans, the hatred and disdain for Batista is real, not a Boo, youre a heel hatred, but a Go away already sentiment. How did we get to this point? The Rock left for twice as long and was revered upon his return. Plenty of other superstars and legends disappear and are treated as conquering heroes when they step out from the curtain. Even Batista received a thunderous ovation when he returned after a four-year hiatus. How and why did it go south so quickly?
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
