Batista Says He Wanted Daniel Bryan In The Mania Main Event

WWE.com has an interview with Batista, who was discussing his upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie. During the interview, Batista noted that he’s not leaving WWE and is fulfilling obligations to Marvel for the movie.

Batista also talked about his return in January and said that the response was weird because it seemed like fans felt that he didn’t deserve his spot. He noted that fans “forgot about my 10 years of pain and suffering and sacrifice,” and said that when he left the company, he left the right way. He talked about breaking his back in his last match before his return, and said that he “literally broke his back for the fans.”

He also said that he was happy when Daniel Bryan was added to the main event of WrestleMania XXX.

“I was super excited, because, you know, we needed that element,” Batista said. “Even speaking from a fan’s standpoint, for me, it’s hard to get sucked into a [bad guy vs. bad guy] match. We needed a hero, man, and Daniel Bryan was the biggest hero in the company. I knew this was gonna be good. It’s so much better when the fans have an emotional investment. And they were so emotionally invested in Daniel Bryan, and they were so absorbed in their hatred for me that I knew it was gonna be good stuff.”