On WWE Monday Night Raw, fans were preparing to watch Nature Boy Ric Flair come out for his birthday party but when his music started he never showed up.
As Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Sting, Shawn Michels, Kurt Angle and Ricky Steamboat stood in the ring and waited, the cameras focused on the backstage area.
Batista made his WWE return and dragged a cameraman backstage went to Flair’s dressing room door. He then walked inside and dragged an injured Flair into the hallway and looked up at the camera.
“Hey Hunter, do I have your attention now?” Batista said to the camera.
By the time Triple H made his way to the back, Batista was gone and Flair was in a lot of pain on the floor.
The Batista WWE return video
As WWE fans always do, they debated online whether this was good or bad.
While there were many who hated the moment and hated a veteran like Batista returning and “taking time” from younger stars, just as many fans loved every second of it.
At the end of the day, it was a massive success.
In four days, the YouTube video of Batista’s return and attack on Ric Flair had garnered 7.3 million views. Not only that, but it was overwhelmingly positive, with 112,000 likes and only 3,900 thumb’s downs.
Biggest WWE YouTube numbers in months
According to Wrestling Inc, this was the most-watched WWE YouTube video since November 2018.
In comparison, the only videos that even broke one million views since that video were:
- What happened after Raw went off the air (2.2 million)
- Top 10 Raw moments (1.5 million)
- Kevin Owens returns (1.4 million)
- Kevin Owens & Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan & Rowan (1.4 million)
- Top 10 SmackDown moments (1.2 million)
There were 51 videos released on the WWE YouTube channel since the Batista video and only five broke 1 million views. Those five videos added together only got 400,000 more views than Batista’s video alone.
Batista will likely battle Triple H at WrestleMania 35.