15 pro wrestling bookings that went horribly wrong
3. Batista returns to WWE, wins the Royal Rumble match; 2014
The 2014 Royal Rumble pay-per-view will be famous for a couple of different reasons:
- It was the final show CM Punk appeared on in WWE, as he left the company before RAW the next night.
- No one in the building wanted to see anyone other than Daniel Bryan win the Royal Rumble match, so of course, the returning Batista won it in one of the most predictable finishes of the match’s long and illustrious history.
Batista returned to WWE before the 2014 Royal Rumble match as a face; something that Batista and many others around the situation knew would be a bad idea. He just didn’t have that same vibe to him as when he and John Cena were taking over WWE as the company’s top stars on each brand. Being a heel would’ve made much more sense for the former world champion.
Plus, nobody was more beloved than Daniel Bryan. The Authority (remember them?) vs. Daniel Bryan was the feud during that time frame and nobody other than Bryan winning the Royal Rumble match would’ve made fans happy.
Of course, Vince McMahon didn’t listen, Batista was booed throughout his celebration and the fans tried to basically take over the show after Bryan was eliminated rather early in the match.
To be fair, they would go on to fix the situation and put the title on Bryan at WrestleMania XXX in one of the greatest nights for any star in history, as he defeated Triple H in the opening match and then closed the show by making Batista tap out in the main event.
Still, this was a missed opportunity for WWE to make a magical moment happen with Bryan even before fans basically boycotted everything via chants and boos to see that Bryan would become champion.
What did you think was really going to happen?