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Much to the disappointment of the WWE Universe, Batista did not appear on the 4th March episode of RAW to explain himself. Instead, he posted a video on Instagram addressing Triple H, stating that he didn't have any other obligations, nor was he scared of Triple H - he simply didn't like Philadelphia.
Instead, Triple H came out to address Batista's actions. He would cut an incredible promo, where he talked about Ric Flair and the years he's had with him. He even openly admitted for the first time that when Flair was in a coma over a year ago, Triple H was just waiting for the call to be told that Flair had passed away.
The fact that he didn't, made it all the more incredible, and he wanted Flair to celebrate in the place he loves the most - inside the squared circle in front of all of the fans. He had some real harsh words for Batista.
But why didn't The Animal show up? We reveal a few reasons.
#3. To get heat on Batista
Batista is the heel in the feud and there's naturally going to be a lot of excitement about his return for a match after 5 years. However, since he isn't the babyface in this feud, WWE needed to make sure that they could get heat on him as much as possible.
The best way to do that in this situation was by having him not show up at all. He got booed quite a bit, which this time, is the desired reaction (unlike the WrestleMania 30 feud against Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton). It was easy heat for him because all he had to do was insult the city, which is essentially the easiest thing to do to get booed, apart from insulting the local sports team.
It's safe to say that this objective was successful.
#2. The build will begin after Fastlane
From WWE's point of view, this is completely understandable. Why they have two PPVs between Royal Rumble and WrestleMania itself is a surprise, because it feels like oversaturation, especially now that all PPVs are co-branded.
Either way, with Fastlane approaching this Sunday, WWE might have felt that starting the face-to-face feud after the PPV would be the wise decision, because they didn't want attention taken away from it.
Anyway, Triple H vs Batista is a WrestleMania feud, and it's perfectly fine if the real build to the PPV begins after Fastlane. They still have shy of a month to build it up, and it's going to be easy to do so in that time.
Also, this is going to be one of the big special attraction matches on the card. It wouldn't harm WWE if Batista didn't appear on this RAW, because he wasn't the focal point of the show this week.
#1. Post-Fastlane ratings
This is probably the most obvious reason why WWE held off on having Batista appear on RAW this week. As we mentioned in the last page, there wasn't any particular need to have him appear because he wasn't the focal point - Fastlane was.
Either way, WWE announced that Batista will appear at Pittsburgh for next week's RAW for a heated face-to-face with Triple H. With Batista being a legend and a rising star in Hollywood, there's no doubt that he's going to bring ratings over on the post-Fastlane episode of RAW.
Moreover, it's a good place to begin the feud and renew their heated rivalry from 14 years ago. The fact that the roles are reversed makes it even more fascinating.
What do you expect to happen when the old partners-turned bitter rivals have a face-to-face on Monday Night RAW? Voice your opinions in the comments section below!
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