PWInsider.com has confirmed that Batista has suffered a torn bicep and is scheduled to have surgery this coming Tuesday. Batista will still be working the Extreme Rules PPV tonight against WWE champion Randy Orton inside a Steel Cage. As of a few hours ago, he was also written into tomorrow's Raw. Expect the injury will be worked into WWE storylines. There's no word yet on the severity of the tear or how long Batista is expected out of action, but a few people have been wondering if the injury will mean an imminent return for Triple H.

So they give him the world title... go figure.

And yet, he still went over Orton on the PPV.

 

Edit: Will beat me by a nose.

Of course there is the possibility that PWInsider was wrong and/or someone worked them to SWERVE~! the internet.

I kinda doubt it. The match was noticeably quick and featured Orton doing even more of the work than you would expect in a match like this. Finish was very much out of the blue as well.

I think Dylan's right. More likely than the news being false, is that WWE got so upset that word leaked before the PPV that Batista was seriously injured again, that they decided to give him a quickie title run to SWERVE~! the internet.

On WO Radio after the show, Bryan did a Dave-eqsue tease of a blind item where he had heard before last week's Raw that "something was up with Dave" but it wasn't an injury. The way he said it made it seem like he was implying a Wellness issue. I don't know what else would be worth making a coy non-statement about.

Never cared for the guy outside his matches with Benoit. Batista is the poster boy (along with Cena,HHH)of the current stale WWE product. I hope he takes some time off.

Never cared for the guy outside his matches with Benoit. Batista is the poster boy (along with Cena,HHH)of the current stale WWE product. I hope he takes some time off.

He just took a bunch of time off, from November or so until the day after Mania.

A torn bicep actually sounds like a Wellness issue.

 

 

John

Batista is also a big enough star that if he had a wellness violation, they would disguise it.

I think Batista is the "fragile" one, not Randy Orton.

With Batista suddenly coming down with a "bicep injury", Umaga being fired or quitting, and talk of the creative team being given a list of guys who would be unavailable for TV starting next week, one has to wonder how the drug testing would become more effective all of a sudden. I mean Batista has been a walking Wellness policy violation for years and only now does he get caught. Sounds like some WWE wrestlers are involved in another Signature Pharmacy scandal.

Given that Dave Meltzer hinted "more to come" in the item about Umaga leaving, you have to wonder who is on the chopping block. Although Kennedy's release was for more than just wellness issues, the fact he was one of those Signature Pharmacy guys (along with Umaga) makes you raise your eyebrow.

 

If guys like William Regal, Charlie Hass and Shane Helms end up on the latest round of releases (with Helms, is he even still with the company?), then draw your own conclusions.

 

Then again, Chris Masters is supposedly on his way back to WWE, so who knows.

At this rate, I can't imagine Batista's in-ring career lasting too much longer. I don't think he'll be endeavored unless he seriously fucks up, but I can see them greatly downsizing his role.

Helms has been hurt, he's still on payroll.

 

WWE is so desperate for talent they'll have a tryout in Japan in a couple weeks. Good luck finding Wellness-ready heavyweights *there*, guys.

The only time I have ever liked Batista was when he powerbombed Shawn Michaels for beating Ric Flair at WM24. I wish they would use him like 911 was used in ECW because at least he would be something more than unintentional comedy for me to watch.

So some top guys may not be available for a while as some guys failed testing this go around.

 

Now it makes sense why they decided to give punk the belt on Sunday and hold the other one up, make sure your champ doesn't get wellnessed, one's straightedge and the other is vacant

It would be hilarious if Punk got the belt because he's the one guy you wouldn't have to worry about Wellness issues with, considering Stephanie was basically making fun of his look in the Waxman hearings.

Makes it less surprising as well that they gave Dreamer the ECW belt. I'm sure nobody really cares about that one, but they might've figured it was safer to have it over the shoulder of a guy who's probably addicted to nothing stronger than the catering buffet.

Major shakeups all around. All these titles changing hands can't be coincidence. Everyone knows Mysterio is on the juice, is he going to be the next one to take a brief hiatus. He did get his mask taken off...nice way to write him out of storyline UNTIL SUMMERSLAM if he is on anything.

I figured Rey losing the title seemed like the next progression of the storyline. This way Jericho has something to put up for Rey's mask. For me that was the one result that was predictable at the PPV. But who knows.

A newsbit buried in the new WON, between the Raw and SD reports:

 

Mysterio was not at TV. At Raw, there was word going around among the wrestlers that he gave notice, but we can’t confirm that story. Mysterio is still on the lineups for the weekend house shows.

In the WON, Dave seems to think that Batista getting surgery proves that it's not a covered-up wellness suspension, because you don't get surgery to cover up a drug suspension. Yes, it may not be, but it's also possible he was going to work through the injury, failed the drug test, and it became the perfect opportunity to do surgery he would have just put off anyway. It's possible that he's both injured and suspended.

I stand by my theory that Punk will win MITB every year from now on. That way, when the wellness stuff pops up, they can just shoot the belt onto thier straight-edge guy, and that's that.