5 Superstars Who Could Retire Batista

Batista has finally returned to the WWE after four and a half years. In the meantime, he became a successful and acclaimed actor most notably known for the Role of Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avenger movies. The Animal himself acknowledged in a recent interview that he is an actor who was a professional wrestler. On top of that, he is fifty years old. Therefore, his return to the WWE would most likely be a short and sweet one, rather more of a farewell run to maybe formally end the in-ring career of one of the greatest wrestlers of the ruthless aggression era.

With that said, the return of Dave is sure a huge positive for WWE. His mainstream presence would bring a lot of eyeballs to their product and his marquee match with Triple H would give most hardcore fans what they have been desperately wanting. Also, he is more than deserving of an excellent last run in wrestling. However, is this match a good way of ending his career? Or, more appropriately, would either of Triple H and Batista, both of whom have been at the very top gain anything at this stage of their careers?

I do not intend to discourage this match, it would literally be a dream match which has been incredibly built up to so far. However, the only thing I insist on is that this should not be Dave's last match. He with all his credibility can incredibly benefit an up and coming star in the company by sharing the ring with him. Let's check out 5 ways this could happen:-

#5 Braun Strowman

The Monster Among Men

The monster among men has not had a great rivalry in quite some time now. He is always protected but is not being pushed any further. It seems the WWE creative are not sure about what they want to give Strowman in the near future.

As of now, a match against either McIntyre or Corbin seems to be on the card for him on WrestleMania, both of which will be pointless. Corbin and Strowman have already had poor, uninteresting matches in the past and a match with McIntyre, albeit potentially good would most likely necessitate a loss for one of two men who should not be losing.

Therefore, Braun requires a big win post WrestleMania to gain back his momentum and come into the core main event picture once again. A rivalry with Batista can come in handy. This can be booked in many ways. One can be Batista wanting to have his last match at Summerslam irrespective of the outcome of his match with Triple H and Braun stepping up to face him.

After a grueling contest, Braun can emerge victorious in what would be a career-making moment for him. To build to the matchup, Batista could first win a transitional feud in between against Lashley or Corbin so as to gain momentum for himself before losing to Braun.

#4 Seth Rollins

The Architect

Seth Rollins can also benefit a lot by retiring one of the all-time greats in Batista. One way to book this could be, Rollins loses to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. A fatal four-way between him, Lesnar, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar is then booked for the championship at the next pay-per-view in which Batista wins by pinning Reigns after Roman and Brock obliterate each other.

Having the belt on Batista during the release time of Avengers: Endgame would lead to a lot of cross-promotion. Due to Brock's refusal to work a match on Raw(in kayfabe), a number one contender's match is booked between Rollins and Reigns.

Brock, however, shows up during the match and instead of taking out both men, takes out Reigns, allowing Rollins to pick up the win as a way to seek revenge against Roman. Brock and Roman then feud till Summerslam at which Roman defeats Brock.

Meanwhile, Rollins beats Batista at the next pay per view. He agrees to give him a rematch at Summerslam, provided Dave puts his career on the line. Dave agrees and the match is made. At Summerslam, after a hard-fought match, Rollins beats Batista and respectfully retires him. He shows respect to Dave who thanks the fans and officially hangs up his boots.

#3 Roman Reigns

The Big Dog

People like Roman Reigns, John Cena and Charlotte Flair can accomplish anything and everything in kayfabe. If Batista needs a retirement match, Roman might be one of the first people that WWE creative would think about to get the job done. To be fair, this would be a nice idea. Roman Reigns needs a major kayfabe win after missing months of action when he bravely defeated Leukemia in real life for the second time.

This could be booked in multiple ways. One way could be similar to the one described in the previous slide. Batista gets the belt in a fatal four-way at the pay-per-view succeeding WrestleMania. A number-one-contender match between Roman, Seth, and Brock is then booked for the next pay-per-view which Roman wins by pinning Rollins.

Roman then beats Batista at Extreme Rules. He grants Batista a rematch at Summerslam with the latter's career on the line and defeats him yet again after a hard-fought match. He shows respect to Dave who thanks the fans and officially hangs up his boots.

#2 AJ Styles

The Phenomenal One

The phenomenal one is too talented to be kept out of the main event picture. However, as he spent almost all of 2018 as WWE Champion, having him go for it immediately after WrestleMania may not be the best option. Therefore, retiring Batista might be appropriate. One way to book this can be:-

After WrestleMania, Batista gets drafted to Smackdown. He claims, how this is his show and how he is ecstatic about returning home. He also says that he would, therefore, like to wind up his wrestling career on Smackdown.

AJ Styles comes out and says times have changed and Smackdown is where it is today because he carried it on his shoulders and rebuilt it into a house of opportunity brick by brick while Batista was busy acting in movies. He also claims that he is ready to gladly prove his point by retiring Batista.

This does not go well with Dave who hits back at AJ for not being able to defeat Randy Orton at WrestleMania( In this version, AJ loses to Randy at WrestleMania). He says, he shall agree only if AJ is able to beat Randy at the next pay-per-view.

AJ beats Randy and gets the match. This is patiently built up to Summerslam where AJ and Batista finally clash. After a long and finisher-heavy match, AJ pins Batista to retire him. Batista raises his opponent's hand and AJ reciprocates by showing respect to Dave for his stellar career.

#1 Adam Cole

Bay! Bay!

Adam Cole has all the tools in his arsenal to be the next big thing in WWE. He is the leader of the best stable in WWE today and is one of the most charismatic wrestlers of this generation. Retiring Batista would strike gold for him. One way to do this could be:

After a very closely fought match, Triple H defeats Batista at WrestleMania. Batista, however, beats him up after the match, setting a cash grab rematch at WWE's next Saudi Arabia show. In that match, Batista is about to beat Triple H after a second or third (preferably second) Batista Bomb when out of nowhere, 'Shock the System' hits. The Undisputed era comes out and brutally assault Batista. They also beat up Triple H and leave after the match result is declared no contest.

The next night on Raw, Triple H calls out the Undisputed Era after a speech about him being the one who gave them the opportunity to get to where they were and they dare not rub him the wrong way. The Undisputed Era comes out as Triple H takes out his sledgehammer, ready to battle four men. He takes out Bobby Fish with a hammer shot, but the rest gang up on him and turn the tables.

To everyone's surprise, Batista comes out and helps The Game fight Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, and Roderick Strong as they retaliate. Batista then helps Triple H get to his feet and turns face in the process. The next week, Triple H claims that Undisputed Era wanted to be the second coming of Evolution, but they should rather go on and strive for uniqueness as Evolution was a cult stable which shall remain the greatest.

This does not go well with the Undisputed Era, and they set up a 6 Man Elimination Tag Match at Extreme Rules. Three members of the Undisputed Era against Triple H, Batista and Randy Orton who is forced by Triple H to compete by his side.

On the Raw before Extreme Rules, Triple H and Batista take out Kyle O'Reilly in a way he is not able to compete at Extreme Rules so as to ensure there is no interference in their Match. At Extreme Rules, the match goes on for fifteen minutes without any elimination. An exhausted Randy Orton is tagged in who is set to face the other legal man in Roderick Strong.

Randy thinks the better of it and walks out of the match, thus, remaining heel. Faced with a three to two disadvantage, Triple H and Batista get eliminated one after the other without being able to eliminate any of their opponents. The three Undisputed Era members on Adam Cole's insistence then obliterate Hunter, thus, writing him out of the storyline.

Batista is furious and demands a match against Cole who says he will agree only if Batista puts his career on the line. Batista accepts and the match is set for Summerslam. In the build to the match, Batista individually defeats every other member of Cole's stable on the condition that if they lose, they will be barred from ringside at Summerslam. Cole also gains some momentum meanwhile by getting a clean win over Finn Balor and pinning Roman in a match after help from members of his stable.

At Summerslam. it is Cole all alone against the Animal. He, however, manages to beat Batista after a very hard-fought match. He leaves as Batista thanks the fans and officially hangs up his boots.