Dave Bautista Officially Irritated By WWE

Dave Bautista has been clear about his hopes to return to WWE. However, those ambitions may not be [...]

By Jeremy Snodgrass

Dave Bautista has been clear about his hopes to return to WWE. However, those ambitions may not be mutual, and the former World Champion has had enough of WWE playing hard to get.

SmackDown 1000 will air on October 23 from Washington D.C. and should have a lengthy guest list that rivals Raw's 25th-anniversary show. Considering Bautista was one of the pillars of the show and SmackDown 1000 will be hosted by his hometown, he has yet to be invited by WWE.

After a fan reached out on Twitter, Bautista confirmed that he and WWE have yet to speak.

"Surprise surprise!! I wasn't invited! And it's in my hometown.! .. guess by now I shouldn't be shocked anymore," wrote Bautista.

Despite public declaring his interest in returning, Bautista has indicated on several occasions that WWE doesn't seem interested. After being contacted to be Ronda Rousey's tag team partner at WrestleMania 34, it appeared Bautista's return to WWE was all but guaranteed. However before a deal could be inked, WWE went cold on Bautista an opted for Kurt Angle instead. Even more, Bautista has yet to hear a word from WWE since those early talks.

So what's going on? That appears to be something only WWE and Bautista can know, and it doesn't even seem like the latter is sure either.

The only thing we do know is that Bautista wants to wrestle again, specifically in 2019.

"I have to say that it's something I think about daily," Bautista told What Culture Wrestling. "I miss it daily. I love it, I have a passion for wrestling. I feel that at the core of me that's just who I am. I'm a physical performer, and I miss it every day."

Bautista went on to outline his ideal circumstances for a WWE comeback.

"I think, one, it would have to be the right time, and two, it would have to be the right opponent. That's pretty much it, and it would have to make sense," Batista said. "Yeah, I think the last time I went back was with really good intentions and I felt like I wasn't delivered what I was promised and that was just creatively. So, that would be it, I'd have to have a strong say of what I did and who I worked with. It would have to make sense as far as time, not only do I have to be free, but I also have to factor in there is a risk that I would be injured. If I got injured I would need some time to rehabilitate myself, so I always kind of factor those things in," he said.

The 49-year knows that he only has a little left to give professional wrestling and he'd like to exhaust his abilities in 2019.

"I told them next year would be my last year," Bautista said. "I'm turning 50 next year, I'd be willing to. I feel great. Physically, I'm in great shape. I've never let up on that. But I just don't want to be the old guy in the ring and I don't want to overstay my welcome. I just want to end my career the right way and next year will be the last opportunity, so if we can't make something happen by next year, then I'm just gonna officially hang it up."

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