Batista's return last night reminded me of Triple H's return at Summerslam 2007: everything felt too forced. When Triple H returned at Summerslam 2007, WWE ran a series of Six Million Dollar Man style promo videos. On the night of his return, WWE gave Triple H a grandiose entrance with pyro, and they ran another video promo. Triple H got a reaction from the live crowd, but it wasn't thunderous.
By the time he got to the ring, Triple H hit all four turnbuckles to do his signature pose, but the crowd didn't explode. When he reached the fourth turnbuckle, you could clearly see the fans really didn't care anymore, and Triple H had to stall and play around with the fans to force a reaction. The whole scenario was kind of awkward, because you could tell WWE wanted a 2002 at MSG moment, but it didn't happen.
Batista got a reaction last night, but he didn't get the earth-shattering reaction WWE was hoping for. When he hit the ring, Batista had to work with all of his posing to pull something out of the crowd. You can't force or manufacture moments like Triple H at MSG in 2002. Those moments have to come naturally for a variety of reasons. Maybe you can make an argument for a surprise Batista return receiving a better reaction with the help of shock value, but I'm not so sure. As far as big time returning stars go, Batista is not on The Rock or Brock Lesnar's level, his routine as the meathead is stale, and it's as simple as that.
So yeah, I don't think we have to worry about Lesnar VS Batista as the main event anymore. I'm sure both men will cross paths at some point (Summerslam), but I'm hoping it doesn't happen at Wrestlemania. Batista should be a front-runner to win the Rumble, because he needs the momentum. Then, WWE can go with Batista VS Orton for the WWE WHC, but that's not a main event worthy match.