WWE has confirmed that Batista is returning at the upcoming SmackDown 1,000 special. The Animal will be back for a reunion of Evolution, the popular early 2000’s stable that also included Ric flair, Triple H and Randy Orton.
Evolution Faction in WWE
Evolution’s main run in WWE was from 2003 to 2005. This was during the original brand split era. Throughout their run, the faction won the World Heavyweight Championship a total of 5x. The world title of the Raw brand was won 4x by Triple H and once by Randy Orton.
Batista and Ric Flair also held the WWE tag-team Championships twice while members of Evolution. Randy Orton and Ric Flair each won the Intercontinental Championship while part of the faction as well.
The stable reunited briefly in 2014 as well minus Ric Flair. This was spurred on by Daniel Bryan defeating all 3 of them at WrestleMania 30. Following WrestleMania 30, Evolution entered into a feud with the Shield.
Batista’s inclusion in the Smackdown 1000th episode will be good news to him. He has been vocal as of late that he’s wanted to make a WWE return but the company hadn’t seem interested.
He Tweeted out the following regarding the upcoming Smackdown episode recently: “Surprise surprise!! I wasn’t invited! And it’s in my hometown.! .. guess by now I shouldn’t be shocked anymore.”
