Dave Bautista Reportedly Backstage for WWE Raw

Dave Bautista is backstage at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia for Monday's episode of Monday Night Raw, according to the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer.

"Meltzer is told Bautista is backstage at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA, but is being kept hidden," Figure Four Online's Josh Nason wrote.

Bautista, known in his WWE days as simply Batista, has not been seen on WWE television since the SmackDown 1000 event in October where he teased a match with Triple H during an Evolution reunion.

PWInsider's Mike Johnson confirmed that Batista was in Atlanta for a film project, but was not backstage as of the middle of the afternoon.

While Bautista hasn't been seen or mentioned much on WWE television since his rocky stint with the company in 2014, he has consistently campaigned for a return even as his career in Hollywood took off with roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a villainous role in the James Bond film Spectre and a small role in Blade Runner 2049, among others.

"I hope so, yeah. It's always an ongoing conversation with myself and WWE. I never burnt that bridge, intentionally because I never had any reason to. I left for certain reasons. But I love professional wrestling and I love that company," Bautista said in an interview back in August.

In a radio interview from back in April 2018, Bautista said he was originally slotted in to team with Ronda Rousey in her debut mixed-tag match against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. History would later show Kurt Angle to be Rousey's partner, and the decision was made without anyone telling Bautista.

"But they reached out to me earlier this year to possibly come back and do that thing with Ronda [Rousey]," he told 106.7 The Fan. "And I said that I would be willing to do it only if we teased something for me and Hunter to go to Mania next year. And they said, 'Yeah, that would be great. I love that idea.' And I said, 'Well, that's great. I'll come back a few times during the year, and we'll tease it, and we'll work it and we'll milk it. And we'll go to Mania, me and Hunter, next year.' Oh, I love that idea. Let's do it!

"I sent a text to Hunter. I was like, 'Hey man, I don't know if you put any more thought into what's going on. I'm really excited about the possibilities.' And I literally never heard back from them," he continued. "They just stopped talking to me about it. Man, I don't know what else I can do to try to ... I want to end my career the right way. I'm faithful and loyal to the WWE. I'm proud of being from there and I want to do good business with them, but they just don't make it easy. You know, they just don't."