Batista recently spoke with Digital Spy to promote the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. He commented on CM Punk returning to WWE:
“I know for a fact that he loves professional wrestling. I couldn’t see him taking a step down and wrestling for a lesser organization. Unless he spent some time in Japan, I just don’t see it. I think eventually he’ll come back. I think he belongs there. I think the fans really love him and miss him. I think he loves it and misses it just as much. I’m really not sure why he left. He’ll be back, I would think that he would be back. I think it would be kind of crazy if he didn’t go back.”
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Batista comes across as a fucking genius like.

I don't personally understand why Batista got all that hate. I respect him, he took the loss at Wrestlemania via tap out. Yeah he won the Rumble but he didn't win the title or be a bitch. He took the ball and ran with it imo. At least he showed up gassed or not, made it longer than the Rock...

Batista got all the hate because he got the Rock/Lesnar position even though he was never that caliber of talent. You can say it's Daniel Bryan all you want, had Steve Austin been #30, won the Rumble, and went on to win the Main Event at Wrestlemania, no one would have cared. Batista may have been an "A" backstage in the minds of the creative but he was never a transcendent star and never should have been instantly re-pushed like that.

Meh, fans were just mad he won the Rumble. He shoulda came back as a heel anyways. He has always been great as a heel.

Batista came back fine, he got a reaction and he did what a good part time does:

Does as many house shows as he could
Does Raws and Smackdowns

Unlike Rock and Brock. Showing up randomly having a weak ass limit of "appearances". Rock paid a lot of dues so that doesn't bother me as much. Brock is younger, spent much less time paying dues, and has always been a real life diva about shit. Plus the fact that people WANT to see him probably a bit more in his role than Rock in his -- just makes me wish he was a Batista kind of part timer. Not a Rock-type of part timer.

Ian wrote:

Batista got all the hate because he got the Rock/Lesnar position even though he was never that caliber of talent. You can say it's Daniel Bryan all you want, had Steve Austin been #30, won the Rumble, and went on to win the Main Event at Wrestlemania, no one would have cared. Batista may have been an "A" backstage in the minds of the creative but he was never a transcendent star and never should have been instantly re-pushed like that.

Batista is awesome, stfu   

Pushing someone that fast was silly as hell on their return. I do think people used him as a scapegoat for the whole Bryan thing at the time, but like Ian said, he was never Rock status etc. They kinda' did act like the a mega superstar was returning...when it was just Batista.

Plus, his look was terrible at the time.

I don't see how you can compare him with lesnar/Rock at all. He's an active wrestler, not a part timer.

We mean in terms of star power, not how much he works.

And he is a part-timer...just not as bad as Brock or Rock, is all.

Jericho is a part timer...why isn't he getting this hate? Cause he puts people over?

Batista is 2-3 with his return with his ppv record. He won the rumble yes, but his only other PPV win was with ADR who is pretty much a jobber. Batista did the job to Daniel Bryan, He did the Job for the Shield and he was the first out the following ppv.

I would have disliked Jericho returning and winning the Rumble...

people bitch when he didn't

He wasn't even in it. How the hell can they bitch?

I was talking about 2012. People got pissed when Jericho who just came back lost the rumble and sheamus won.

Oh right.

Well they suck. Only full time guys should win the Rumble. fan faves or not. It has zero benefit for a Batista or Jericho or someone else who's here for a few months at a time to win.

Part timers do have their place in WWE right now since WWE has shoot themselves in the foot with their recent history of pulling the rug out from under people who come close to being big stars for the company. So WWE has to use big name part timers for their big shows because they don't have that many big stars or at least they think they don't have any big stars in their current roster. Just Cena, Orton, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk (at the time), and Maybe Sheamus. Everyone else are just filler guys from them to beat. There is only so many times you can put those 5 guys against each other to get big time matches. So WWE has to get guys like RVD, Jericho, Batista, Brock and Rock to come back because they have pretty much shoot themselves in the foot.

Batista's not as big of a name as Jericho, either. He's just never been as popular, and people weren't interested in seeing him pushed straight to the top. The Daniel Bryan situation just pushed that feeling up to eleven.

I think everything was fine with Batista when they turned him heel. His heat was good, people liked to hate him but didn't give him "go away" heat, either. That and him doing the job at WrestleMania and for the Shield have done a lot to make up for any perceived "transgressions" in fans eyes. After Guardians of the Galaxy is past, I think Batista will be welcomed back a lot more warmly, especially if he continues with his douche-bag heel character.

Bane Lesnar wrote:

people bitch when he didn't

Didn't hear any bitching when Jericho came back & went over Bray right away either . If Batista woulda done that the Internet would have broken...

(& I have no problem w/ Jericho going over, btw)

^ true

Heil Jericho

Batista's no Jericho, it's not really a fair comparison for Dave. Jericho's one of the most beloved wrestlers from the past twenty years, and he's got that Attitude Era stank that makes everyone love him more.

Batman wrote:

I don't see how you can compare him with lesnar/Rock at all. He's an active wrestler, not a part timer.

He sure seems like a full timer.

But the point was... he wasn't a 'full timer' when he won the Rumble. He had just returned, like Lesnar and Rock.

Yeah, but anyone who read about his contract would know that he's not a part timer. He has a contract for 2 years of active wrestling. Not once every PPV or so, but an active wrestler. The only thing that makes him even remotely a "part timer" is the fact that it isn't a sure thing whether or not he will renew his contract after the 2 years have passed. As of right now, he's as much of a full timer as anyone else.

In response to Drachen saying no one bitched about Jericho going over Wyatt, I wasn't on here the night of Battleground but I thought it was incredibly stupid. And I'm a big Jericho fan.

If Wyatt wins two more straight, then I can understand it though.

I was really, really happy that Jericho won.