Defining The Moment: Batista

[AK2V8]

I know there are alot of Batista haters (not as much Cena haters), but Batista accomplished a good amount in his career with the WWE from 2002-2010. He is a 4-time World Heavyweight Champion, 2-time WWE Champion, 3-time World Tag Team Champion, 1-time WWE Tag Team Champion and a Royal Rumble winner. Many say Batista was too predictable but regardless: Batista has still put on great matches with the likes of Triple H, Chris Jericho, Undertaker etc.

My defining moment for Batista was when he returned to the WWE to save the McMahons and Triple H from the Legacy. He got a huge hop when his music hit out of NOWHERE. I was stocked and out of my seat.

What was your defining moment for "The Animal" Batista?

 

[Xemmy]

My defining moment with Batista was when he turned his back on Evolution. Winning the Royal Rumble, Batista has a choice to make. He can either go to Smackdown, or he can face Triple H for his World Heavyweight Championship. Batista is getting ready to sign the contract, Ric Flair and Triple H all smiles and thumbs up. He returns the thumbs up, smiling. And then his face goes slack, and he turns his thumb down- Like Caesar. Triple H and Flair are in shock for a moment. Then Triple mouths "Mother Fucker" and charges him. Batista smacks both of them down, and throws Nat'ch out of the ring, and powerbombs Triple H through the table. It was a hell of a moment, and the crowd was on fire. He picked up the Raw Contract, signed it, and stood over him and proclaimed that he was going to take the World Title.

 

[ThUnDeRpHoEnIx]

I would like to say what the OP said and when he returned and beat the shit out of legacy adn saved HHH and the McMahons but im gonna go with when he beat HHH at Vengeance 2005 in a Hell in a Cell.It was at this moment I started looking at him differently and thought he could actually be a credible champion.

 

[Spuddogg]

I have to say his Feud with Taker it will go down as his best maybe 2nd to his one with HHH and is Cena one.....but the Batista v Taker had the best matches

 

[Ferbian]

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Batista returning from injury in 2003, only to take on the bounty that Triple H and Evolution had put on Goldberg. This very moment was the first that I really think opened a lot of eyes on Batista, he showed that he was truly a beast of a man in the ring.

Not only did he seem to absolutely destroy his opponent, but the big deal was that his opponent was none other than Goldberg.

Batista had always been known as a power house, especially after his return from injury and this event. However, it was this event that truly pointed out how dominant Batista could be, and had the potential to become in the future.

 

[ccotreau1]

I am going to have to say the Royal Rumble win in 2005 would be his defining moment. Prior to that moment, he was still a new relatively face in the WWE and after that Rumble win, that is when he started becoming a Main Event Player in the singles world. He broke free from Evolution right after that and went on his merry way as a singles star in the WWE.

 

[AntiChristDeicide]

I have two moments that defined the career of Batista.

1. The time when he rejoined Evolution after his injured and attacked Goldberg. This one was really impressing for me, because it showed his power as nobody was able to dominate Goldberg that well.

2. The HHH/Bastista Hell in a Cell. I chose this one because both men gave it their all in the ring, and showed me that Batista could be a Main Event player.

 

[AK2V8]

I know there are alot of Batista haters. But you still have to respect his accomplishments. He was the virtually the face of Smackdown from 05-08 along with Taker. He still put on some great matches and feuds (Triple H, Taker, Jericho).

I was a huge Batista mark back in 2004. My defining moment was when he retained the WHC inside Hell in a Cell 05 against The Game HHH. No one had ever beat HHH inside the demonic structure. Watching this match 6 years ago on PPV live after this match I was amazed. Batista was over as HELL. Batista had done this after retaining aganist The Cerebral Assassin at Mania 25 and Backlash.

What was your "Defining Moment" for The Animal Batista!

 

[Richard]

I would have to go with Batista's announcement of which championship he would compete for at WrestleMania 21.

Him doing the thumbs up and then thumbs down and Batista bombing Triple H through the table was pretty awesome and still is to watch today. While he's had a lot of botches and a lot of negative stuff in his career, I think that was an awesome moment and showed the side of Batista where Batista will do what he damn well wants to do, not that he didn't have that side before but even more so when he turned against his stable friends. The crowd was really into it and it really set Batista up for his main event run.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I would have to go with Batista's announcement of which championship he would compete for at WrestleMania 21.

Him doing the thumbs up and then thumbs down and Batista bombing Triple H through the table was pretty awesome and still is to watch today. While he's had a lot of botches and a lot of negative stuff in his career, I think that was an awesome moment and showed the side of Batista where Batista will do what he damn well wants to do, not that he didn't have that side before but even more so when he turned against his stable friends. The crowd was really into it and it really set Batista up for his main event run.

DAMM! You posted it first.

I agree 100% with this. Batista had overheard Triple H talking with the rest of Evolution about him, which made up his mind over which title to challenge for. It is an extremely memorable moment when Hunter gives Big Dave the thumbs up, and Batista returns it....before slowly turning it downwards with Triple H's face dropping and his eyes opening wide in shock... and then he receives a brutal Batista bomb through the table.

This really got Batista over with the fans even more than he already was, it put him over as the number 1 babyface on Raw, and let everyone know that he would be taking on the number 1 heel in the company on the grandest stage of them all. It let everyone know that Batista had truly arrived on the main event scene.

When I think of Big Dave, this is what jumps to mind first. We all wanted to see it, and when it happened, you knew a new star was born.

 

[freaky107]

I agree with the first two people that replied, but to be original, I'm going to go with that promo he cut on Cena in the build up to Wrestlemania 26.

You all know the one, where he rants and raves about how he should be the headliner of the company, he should be the one with all the fame and that Cena doesn't deserve it.

Although this moment wasn't a cause for a complete 'Mark out' like when Batista powerbombed HHH through the table and challenged him for the title, it really made me think. I wondered if perhaps all of this might be an actual beef with Cena, and whether or not he truly believed that he should have been the true star of WWE, and it got me thinking whether or not he had a case.

Getting slightly off topic here, I would just like to mention that Batista, before this heel run, had not really had an over the top heel character before, as he said, it's always been a 'Grey Area' foe him. That being said, his last heel run was great, and it made me wonder that if this character had been implemented earlier in his career, maybe he could have been pushed almost as heavily as Cena, but i guess we will never know...

 

[HBKistheHOF]

I was there when Batista returned against Legacy after mania and that was outta NOWHERE(btw i went nuts when he returned) and that was a great moment. I could also see him attacking goldberg and his rumble/mania victory being his defining moment but im gonna have to say its a tie between two others for me.
1.)Survivor Series 2003 - He came out of nowhere to powerbomb HBK straight to hell and cost Austin his Job! this sparked some of batistas first really good feuds and costing autin his job really made him a threat i my eyes!
2.)Summerslam 2008 - and theres only ONE reason im really picking this moment, cause HE BEAT CENA!!!!I know he beat cena in the rumble 3 years before and they met a couple times but i felt like this one of the first times after cena really became a "breakout star"(like after mania 22/23 when he won multiple wolrd titles by then, no longer really the new young guy) that WWE let a guy get a clean finish over cena, especially at a big ppv.