10. Rushed Into Title Picture After A Four-Year Absence
When Batista walked down the ramp on January 20, 2014, he was cheered, his name was chanted and he even went so far as to kiss the ring to show his appreciation for being back in WWE. It turned out that this was the high point of his return. After nearly four years away, Batista announced he would be entering the Royal Rumble and then went on to win it, which meant hed challenge for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXX. Taking the phenomenon that is Daniel Bryan out of the equation, this is a highly unprecedented path. Twice before, superstars were surprise entrants who won the Rumble after hiatuses: Triple H in 2002 (eight-month absence) and John Cena in 2008 (three months). But for Batista to stroll back into the fray and win a title match at the biggest show of the year in your first match in nearly four years, it rubbed many fans the wrong way. Heres a 45-year-old former main eventer whose stated reason for returning is to capture the world title again. Rather than come in, build up some goodwill and re-establish himself, he re-debuts and six days later punches his ticket.
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.
