Prior to this weekend, there were rumors that former WWE main-eventer Batista, who was one of the rumored attractions for this year’s WrestleMania season, would make a surprise appearance in the 2014 Royal Rumble.
If the plan were for such a surprise return, it was ruined when ads in the Las Vegas market announced Batista for a house show on February 16. Insofar as WWE were obviously not going to bring Batista back to work a single house show, it was clear he was going to play into WWE’s first quarter storylines.
With the cat out of the bag, WWE opted to make the news official during Monday’s RAW. A video clip revealed that “The Animal” will return on the January 20 edition of RAW.
As the Royal Rumble takes place the following weekend (on January 26), it seems certain Batista will have an involvement in the big annual pay-per-view.