10 WWE Legends Who Came Back And Ruined Everything
3. Batista
You must've known this one was coming.
Back in 2014, everybody under the sun wanted Daniel Bryan to win the Royal Rumble match. He'd been screwed time and time again by The Authority; as 2013 came to an end their stooge Randy Orton held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship too. Everything was lined up for the G.O.A.T. to headline WrestleMania XXX.
Then WWE announced that Batista was coming back.
With his return being just before Royal Rumble 2014, suddenly there was genuine concern that WWE was going for an Evolution showdown instead... and they were.
The Animal won a Royal Rumble match that D-Bry wasn't even involved in. Poor Rey Mysterio took the brunt of the boos for being entry number 30, then Roman Reigns almost turned face purely because he wasn't Batista.
Crowds completely rejected Dave's return and booed his every move. Instead of the triumphant return he was hoping for, Batista was persona non grata with fans, who hijacked Raw and SmackDown until Daniel Bryan was added to the storyline.
On that fateful night in New Orleans, Bryan made Batista tap out and won Orton's WWE title. The right ending happened but it was so close to being a disaster.
Batista is an absolute legend and way more popular than marks will have you believe. It's just a shame that his return was so close to spoiling the organic rise of an unexpected star.