Batista out until next summer, will miss Wrestlemania

[KingofOldSchool]

PWINSIDER.COM EXCLUSIVE: THE ROAD TO WRESTLEMANIA WILL HAVE TO CHANGE - MAJOR STAR DOWN TO INJURY AND ISN'T EXPECTED BACK IN TIME FOR FLAGSHIP PPV
by Mike Johnson @ 10:57 PM on 12/22/2008

World Wrestling Entertainment's plans for Wrestlemania were thrown out the window with word that Dave Batista, who was in the running for the Raw side of the Mania main event, has gone down to a torn hamstring.

Batista is expected to miss several months and will be undergoing surgery shortly, according to several sources within the company. The Randy Orton punt kick to the head last week was the storyline reason for Batista's disappearance from the company.

There's no word whether the company will acknowledge the legitimate reason for Batista's absence or will just put the heat on Randy Orton.

Batista's hamstring began giving him problems during the most recent European tour and has worsened since. This would be Batista's third major muscle tear, as he's had previous tears to the lat muscles in his back as and his triceps in 2006.

Word within the company is that as of now, they aren't expecting Batista back until June at the earliest, with a worse case scenario being August, so all Wrestlemania plans involving him are out the window for now. That certainly puts momentum towards Cena defending the World title against Randy Orton at the company's flagship PPV.
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Huge news.