The Latest On Batista's WWE Status

As noted earlier, Dave Batista's WWE status was unclear. At one point he was scheduled to lose to Daniel Bryan at the WWE Payback pay-per-view on June 1st, but then it appeared as if he would be leaving the company this week, at least for the short term.

Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline is reporting that Batista "essentially is staying" with the company, but will not be facing Daniel Bryan at the pay-per-view. Meltzer noted that instead of jobbing to Bryan, Batista will compete in a Shield – Evolution rematch at Payback, while Bryan will face Kane in a "Buried Alive" match.

Guardians of the Galaxy releases on August 1st, so it's likely that Batista will leave after the pay-per-view to do promotional work for the movie and return in the late summer or early fall.