Guardians of the Galaxy’s Dave Bautista has teased a potential return to WWE for a match against Triple H. The actor originally made his name wrestling under the name Batista and after a successful run that included six world championship reigns, he followed the likes of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena into Hollywood. Bautista has appeared in movies such as Spectre, Blade Runner 2049 and Final Score but is perhaps best known for his appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the expert of standing really still, Drax the Destroyer.
Despite working towards a career on the big screen, Bautista returned to WWE in 2014 prior to the release of the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, going on to win that year’s Royal Rumble match and headline Wrestlemania XXX in a triple threat with Randy Orton and eventual winner, Daniel Bryan. Batista left the company again shortly after and hasn’t appeared in a WWE ring since. That was, until this week’s Smackdown Live 1000th episode celebration. Despite initially claiming that he hadn’t been invited to Smackdown 1000, Bautista appeared as part of the Evolution reunion that brought together the stable of Triple H, Randy Orton, Ric Flair and Batista.
The promo segment started innocently enough, with each man getting misty-eyed about the old days and celebrating the history of WWE Smackdown. Bautista in particular seemed to be having a great time, praising each of his old stablemates and even referencing Flair’s infamous promiscuity. However, as he turned to address Triple H, Bautista finished his speech with the cutting line “There is nothing this man has not done in this business. Except beat me.” The duo immediately stared each other down before reluctantly embracing and then engaging in one final stare down while fans went nuts at the prospect of a match between the two.
Although the line was only brief, such a statement in the land of WWE is tantamount to an outright challenge. Only recently, a similarly teasing line from The Undertaker resulted in Shawn Michaels coming out of retirement. It’s also worth noting that while this week’s Smackdown Live episode was a celebration of the show’s history, Evolution actually have very little connection to the brand and were more widely featured on Monday Night RAW. This would seem to indicate an ulterior motive for getting the four men back in the ring together. To set up a future match between Batista and Triple H, perhaps?
This tease of a potential return to WWE for Bautista comes at a very interesting time for the actor. In the wake of Disney’s firing of James Gunn as director of Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Bautista made it known that he would be hesitant to continue being a part of the film without Gunn’s involvement. With the status of GOTG3, and Bautista’s involvement in it, currently up in the air, it would seem that if the actor was interested in a return to WWE for a spell, now would be the perfect time.
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Source: WWE
