Batista Wishes The Crowd Would Have Been More Supportive During His 2014 WWE Royal Rumble Appearance
Batista laments the fact that some fans forget everything he went through over the course of his career.
The latest episode of WWE The Day Of chronicles Batista’s return to the ring at the 2014 Royal Rumble event after a four-year absence. In the special, The Animal talks about the Philadelphia crowd booing him and how it breaks his heart when people say that he didn’t deserve the victory. Here is what he said:
“I was super relieved. I was happy and excited. To tell you the truth, I wish the crowd would have been a little more supportive. I mean, they were booing Rey Mysterio. Who boo’s Rey Mysterio? Yeah, it kind of breaks my heart when I get fans and they’ll say I don’t deserve it. It hurts a little, it stings a little because it’s like, they forget, you know, all the hardships I went through for the 10, 12 years that I was with the company.”
Although the reaction of the crowd bothered him, Batista says that every town has its favorites and that just because you aren’t over in one city, doesn’t mean you’re not connecting with someone on the other side of the world. He adds that although he is his own worst critic, and that there are 500 things he would have done differently, he was happy with the outcome and that everything went down as perfectly as it could under the circumstances.
Batista won the 2014 Royal Rumble match, eliminating Roman Reigns last. He would go on to the main event WrestleMania XXX where Daniel Bryan famously took the World Heavyweight Championship off of Randy Orton in their triple-threat match.
The Guardians of the Galaxy star is poised for a big 2021. Not only will he officially be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, but he will star in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, both of which are currently in post-production.
Fightful will have live coverage of WWE Royal Rumble beginning at 6 p.m. ET on January 31.
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