10 WWE Storylines That Horribly Backfired
2. The Miscalculation Of Bootista
Poor old Big Dave. His horrendous babyface return in 2014 wasnt really his fault. WWEs out-of-touch booking philosophies stated with a rabid certainty that a big star returning from four years out of the industry must come back a babyface: the crowd would pop for him, never mind the fact that hed left at the tail end of the most creatively successful heel run of his career. The crowd did pop, but not as big and bright as expected, and within a few weeks the required babyface reaction had fizzled out which was a problem, given that WWEs plans for the first half of the year revolved around Batista winning the Royal Rumble, defeating Randy Orton for the WWE world heavyweight championship at Wrestlemania, and then carrying the big belt around for his promotional duties as one of the headliners in the biggest Marvel movie of the year, Guardians Of The Galaxy. Batista claims, entirely justifiably, that he was sceptical from the beginning that a babyface run would work for him: moreover, the WWE crowd was so firmly behind Daniel Bryans late 2013 underdog storyline that Eddie Guerrero could have returned from the grave and won the Rumble and people would have been cheesed off. But the company, disinterested in the opinions of their fanbase, went ahead with their booking plans despite the terrible reception Batista had at the Rumble. It was only in the last few weeks leading up to Wrestlemania that plans changed, when they realised exactly how diabolical things would get if the first Wrestlemania after the launch of the Network tanked with the fans. Thats the real reason for the Daniel Bryan feelgood moment: Vince McMahon wanted to soften the WWE universe up. The same wont happen in 2015, no matter how badly the Reigns victory is received.