When Batista returned on January 20, 2014, he was greeted with plentiful cheers by fans in the arena. However, unlike other returning stars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, this warm welcome and crowd support would quickly fade when Batista won the Royal Rumble match to become the number one contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 30. Rather than celebrating the success, almost the entire audience booed Batista loudly. This certainly was unexpected and exactly the opposite of the reaction Batista received upon his return. The booing would resurface again throughout the veteran WWE star’s match with Alberto Del Rio at the Elimination Chamber 2014 pay per view as well as the rematch on the following night of Monday Night RAW.
Given that Randy Orton, the current champion, has been playing the role of a villain, he is supposed to be booed while Batista, the good guy, should be getting positive support from the fans. This is how it usually works in WWE, but both men have been getting booed and this negative reaction will probably continue during their main event match at WrestleMania 30, the biggest WWE event of the year. Several fans have expressed disappointment as they believe the new talent like Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, and Roman Reigns should have won the Royal Rumble to go on to WrestleMania since they are hard workers and deserve it. Randy Orton and Batista are already well-established stars who have accomplished so much in their careers that there isn’t much more for people to see that they haven’t already. Thus, the WWE universe would like to see something new and hope for the torch to be passed on to new stars.
Daniel Bryan was involved in a storyline with Orton ever since losing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to him in a matter of seconds at the SummerSlam 2013 event and has yet to conclude the rivalry by defeating the evil Orton and taking the belts away from him. Bryan is one of the most popular rising stars in the company right now and has major support from the fans as they always show huge excitement during his matches and appearances. His loss at the Elimination Chamber pay per view recently saddened the fans as he was once again cheated out of a victory to become champion. The commentators emphasized that this injustice needs to stop and the cameras pointed at fans in the audience, showing each person with a sad expression.
To rectify the mishaps in Bryan’s quest to the top, the WWE could very well add Daniel Bryan to the WrestleMania 30 main event, turning the match into a triple threat between Bryan, Orton, and Batista. By doing this, there would be at least one person, or hero, that a lot of fans would cheer for and it would be the perfect moment for Bryan to finally defeat his foe and become champion. Bryan’s career would be launched tremendously just as WrestleMania 21 did to John Cena and Batista, solidifying them as the WWE’s newest mega stars of their time.
