10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Batista

6. He Was Supposed To Be A Face Right Now (And Probably WWE Champion)

This could be a point that would make more sense years down the road because we're currently at a time where Daniel Bryan is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, but it's important to realize that it wasn't the plan. If WWE had their way, Batista would likely be the WWE WHC right now.

When they announced Batista would be back at the Royal Rumble, which was something that got leaked out by an arena website, WWE figured that he would receive a huge babyface pop. To them, he was this top guy that had been gone for four years and as soon as the fans saw him again they would explode for him the way they would for Shawn Michaels or Undertaker. That didn't happen. Fans didn't cheer Batista much at the Royal Rumble. They wanted Daniel Bryan in that match and they didn't get him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aQsMbTZFpk

The babyface push for Batista continued over the next month as they matched him up against Alberto Del Rio, a heel, at Elimination Chamber. The boos were even louder this time as fans chanted "Boo-tista" at him and they had a very boring match. It still appeared as though WWE was going to go along with the plan of having an Orton vs. Batista match at WrestleMania while Bryan would be somewhere else. Remember that CM Punk was originally matched up against Triple H at WrestleMania and Bryan was set to face Sheamus, who would have been a heel by that point.

Once they had Batista cut his heel promo on Smackdown a few days after Elimination Chamber that set the wheels in motion for Bryan to get pushed into the main event slot.

Batista is better in the heel role. It took WWE over a month to realize it, but we shouldn't forget that the reason plans changed was because of the fans, not because of their own booking.