7. The Return Of Batista
OK. So, yeah. In 2005, when Dave Batista was 36 years old, he was THE MAN and had just won the WWE Championship from Triple H at Wrestlemania 21. Four WWE Championship runs, seven feature films, one MMA match and a retirement from pro wrestling later, how does any of this equate into Batista being a credible Royal Rumble winner? It doesn't. Batista's return had everything to do with things other than his wrestling. Be that skinny jeans, wearing fresh Air Jordans, semi-matching blue gear, a heel turn based around not understanding millennial wrestling tastes, et. al., it was a largely terrible run. Did the rub Batista got from WWE prior to his starring role in "Guardians of the Galaxy" even actually matter? No. Batista's acting job was great at a level larger than anything a WWE rub could've done to draw people to the theater. In retrospect, "Bluetista" was kinda great, though...
Marcus K. Dowling
Contributor
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
See more from
Marcus