Although there are a staggering 13 matches already announced for WrestleMania 34 on Sunday evening, all eyes are understandably going to be on Ronda Rousey.

There’s probably nobody on the card who is feeling the pressure quite like Rousey, and rightfully so. She’s the biggest star on the card and she’s been thrown into the deep end right away as she makes her official in-ring debut at WrestleMania, something not many have done.

WRESTLEMANIA 34

She draws mainstream attention so it’s clear that someone of her stature is going to have the world watching. Luckily for her, she has some huge names around her in Kurt Angle, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a mixed tag team match.

As it was revealed this week, Angle wasn’t the original choice to feature in the match. Although it had been widely claimed that The Rock was the first choice to fill that slot following on from the infamous WrestleMania 31 segment, Batista had emerged as a star the WWE had approached.

As we now know, Batista isn’t going to be at the event as the company didn’t continue with their pursuit of The Animal, with him claiming that he only found out that he wasn’t going to be in that spot when it was announced on Monday Night RAW by Angle himself that he was going to be teaming up with Rousey.

However, it seems like we now have the answer as to why the company originally considered and called Batista to take up that spot.

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According to Ringside News, the thinking at the time was to set up a singles match between Batista and The Game for WrestleMania 35 in New Jersey, and this mixed tag team match would eventually lead up to that.

Batista has been vocal about wanting one final WWE run, and he wants it to culminate at WrestleMania in a retirement match against Triple H. He even revealed that he rejected a Hall of Fame nomination to keep those hopes alive.

However, now that WWE decided against Batista at WrestleMania 34, it remains to be seen whether the company has any interest or plans in following up with a potential match between the former Evolution members at the Grandest Stage of Them All.

What do you make of WWE’s thought process behind bringing in Batista and then changing their mind? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.

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