Dave Bautista reacts as WWE fans roast ‘insulting’ zombie movie crossover at WrestleMania Backlash

Dave Bautista has responded after fans roasted WWE’s zombie movie crossover at WrestleMania Backlash.

To promote the former world champion’s new film Army of the Dead, the wrestling company had a hoard of the undead surrounding the ring for Damian Priest’s Lumberjack Match against The Miz.

The ThunderDome arena was transformed into a post-apocalyptic wasteland as the zombies got involved in the match, but fans – who are used to the supernatural with The Fiend and Alexa Bliss – felt it was a step too far.

After one viewer called out Bautista directly and called the publicity stunt ‘insulting’, the actor replied: ‘Wtf you telling me?!! You think I booked a bunch of fucking zombies. I’m on a damn plane! Shouldn’t you be tweeting Vince?! (sic)’

The man has a point, although fans could perhaps be forgiven for thinking he was involved after he made a return of sorts to narrate the pay-per-view’s opening video package.

Later in the night, John Morrison discovered there was a horror twist to proceedings for Miz and Priest’s match.

As the clash was ready to get underway, the lights dropped and the Thunderdome screens changed to show a post-apocalyptic city scape with smoke filling the arena.

A swarm of zombies surrounding the ring providing an unnecessary distraction from the in-ring action in one of WWE’s most bizarre movie tie-ins.

The visuals actually looked pretty good, but this didn’t make much sense even in the whacky world of professional wrestling.

At least commentary sold how silly it all was, with Corey Graves giving a knowing nod and a wink to the ill-fated 2006 ECW relaunch on SyFy which featured a zombie getting caned by The Sandman on the first night.

John Morrison came down only to get overwhelmed by the swam, and Priest got a big singles win in the silliest of circumstances.

The clues were all there before Backlash got underway too, as Batista – who has made it clear he has no interest in an in-ring return – dropped a big hint earlier in the day.

He tweeted: ‘Wishing good luck to all the WWE Superstars competing tonight at #WMBacklash. Sorry I couldn’t make it … but some of my friends will. #ArmyOfTheDead @WWE (sic)’

*WrestleMania Backlash is available to watch on demand on the WWE Network.

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