His Best Feud: Batista

[The Brain]

I think it’s time to dust off the old best feud series. This time the subject will be Batista. The more time goes by, the more I miss Batista. I know a lot of people didn’t think much of him but I thought Batista was great. He had some great feuds during his time in WWE. I’m going to do my usual and rank his top ten feuds.

10. The Great Khali
9. Edge
8. Booker T
7. Randy Orton
6. JBL
5. Shawn Michaels
4. Rey Mysterio
3. Undertaker
2. Triple H
1. John Cena

I did not come to my conclusion for number one easily. The top three could have been mixed up in any combination but ultimately I decided Batista’s last feud was his best feud. That had the perfect storyline going into WrestleMania 26. I could go on to tell you the story but Batista told it better than I could.

[YOUTUBE]iKyh_yxdB18[/YOUTUBE]

I love that promo. I remember watching it and as soon as I thought something Batista said it. Everything Batista said was true and all those things just happened to take place over the years. The storyline wrote itself. I might have chosen the feud with Cena as the best for WM26 alone (they should have main evented by the way), but it continued beyond that with a Last Man Standing match and an I Quit match that ended up being Batista’s last. While I’m pretty satisfied with John Cena as my choice for Batista’s best feud I recognize there are other reasonable choices. With whom do you feel Batista had his best feud?

By the way, one name that is unfortunately absent from the list is Kurt Angle. Their paths just never happened to cross. Too bad. They could have had a good feud.

 

[harrythem]

The Batista/Cena storyline was strong and seemed, to me, to be the character Batista had the most confidence playing...His promos were real superstar level during this programme for, to me, the only time in his career. At lot of that, from what I can understand, is because, shock horror, Batista was pretty much being himself with the volume turned up a tiny bit.. Still, probably one of the best last runs in wrestling history (from a character perspective). He also seemed more than happy to make others look good (especially in his tidy little match against Daniel Bryan on Raw).

His best matches were in his feud against Undertaker. It seems Taker got the best out of Batista and, from an in-ring perspective, nothing can even come remotely close to touching the matches between those two (in Batista's career at least).

I still pick his Triple H feud though....That was proper long-term episodic booking from WWE. Triple H still deserves most of the credit here because he, and WWE, showed that, with the right backing and planning, they can take someone from the mid-card and turn them into a true money player...It was enthralling watching the relationship between the two fall apart and seeing someone who seemed to have no charisma at all managing to convey all he needed to say with a stare that could bore a hole through concrete.

 

[Born To Fly]

I had to go with Undertaker.

Their match at Wrestlemania was great, for a Batista match. Undertaker, like the previous poster said, brought the best out of him. Not only was the WM match great, UT and Batista held a good one at Cyber Sunday. How can I forget HIAC?

They each took some amazing bumps in those matches and each told a different story.

 

[Peoples_Champ]

The Cena feud was the best for the reason that the OP listed: Batista did amazing promos. I don't remember too well, but there was a couple that he did where he was like a raving lunatic and it was incredible.

I was never a Batista fan, but the Cena feud was well done by both men.

 

[xBANEx]

Yeah, I went with Cena as well.

Though I was never fond of Batista pratically his entire career, the guy had talent, though against some opponents it showed more; for example, his matches with Undertaker was probably his best stuff in-ring wise. Likewise, the very end of his career was probably his best mic game.

The feud he had with Cena actually had me entertained. He played the character to a flaw, in my opinion, which leads me to believe he was doing it "old school." Play an over amped up version of yourself. It really didn't hurt that the promo in question pretty much was the truth. Somewhat of a prequel to what CM Punk was saying not too long ago. Batista's comfortableness with what he was saying helped a whole lot too.

Was actually pretty sad to see the guy go once he started this.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The John Cena feud was Batista's best because not only was it the two top guys of WWE facing each other at Wrestlemania 26 (followed by two rematches!) but Batista also really stepped it up here. He made you think in his promos that he really hated how Cena got the push to be the #1 guy over him. I also really liked his feuds with Trips after Evolution split up, the Undertaker feud going into Wrestlemania 23, and his feud with Edge in late 2007. These are his best. The Cena feud was definitely the best and Batista went out the best way he possibly could.

 

[GodCompleX]

His Breakout out fued with HHH was great. Long buildup that set him up as a true MEP. And his Matches with Taker were a terrific series as well. However, his last WWE fued w/John Cena was his best. It was the 2 top guys going at it, it was laced with the truth and was far and beyond his best mic work ever. I always preferred Batista to Cena so I felt his frustration of being passed over as the #1 guy. This fued also proved that Batista should've been a heel 90% of his career(minus the time he turned on HHH). He's naturally suited to play the Badass Asshole (not to be confused with the annoying asshole ie Misterrrrrr Anderson...Anderson). This fued was money and since his MMA career is DOA he can return and take out his frustration on an unsuspecting Cena and I'd be happy.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

I guess a lot of people will be picking Undertaker and Triple H.

But I also want to give a shout out to his rivalry with Shawn Michaels (2008). If given another month it would have been a really great feud. The way it was about Ric Flair was actually some pretty good and creative way to start the feud. I also like the Extreme Rules match, it made Batista look like a total beast and HBK had no answer to Batista. Shawn Michaels always looks great but the match made Batista even more indimidating.

 

[Ferbian]

I'd like to take a different approach to the idea of what made something a specific better feud than the others for Batista. Which is why, despite really liking the John Cena / Batista feud, I'm gonna go with the one he had with Triple H, lets look at exactly why.

Storyline​

The entire build up, with Triple H insisting on remaining in the spot light, and doing anything he possibly could to make Batista turn his focus away from what could possibly become Batista vs Triple H, the promos cut, the entire mentor vs apprentice is something that I've always kinda found to click when it came to feuds and enemy storylines. We've had it with Triple H and Randy Orton, we've had it with The Miz and Daniel Bryan, The Miz and Alex Riley etc. There's a lot of them, and for a long period of time, they've worked, and have worked well with creating stars and creating a good feud. Which brings me to my next point.

I mean hell, this very video should be more than enough to show the awesome build-up that this storyline slowly had.

[YOUTUBE]xAl_6HUBDDQ[/YOUTUBE]

The aftermath​

Not only did the build give Batista a period of time for him to be massively over, and to seem like the true dominant force of the WWE, mostly due to finally knocking Triple H off the throne that he had been seated on for so long. But it also gave Batista one hell of a long reign that build him into being the believable powerhouse that he carried the rest of his career upon. Hell without this feud, we wouldn't even have had the ground work for John Cena vs Batista, which laid its basics in the fact that both rose to fame at the same time, Batista vs Triple H, and John Cena vs JBL.

And not only did it give a long reign for Batista, but it also put him on the top as one of the main faces of the company, quite simply Evolution's ground core had always been about "being the man", Triple H, Ric Flair, Batista, all of them talked about it during the time of Evolution, and trust me, this feud made Batista the man. On top of that, Batista also became rather legit after having wooped Triple H's ass 3 times in a row. Again, another video that could easily speak more words than I could.

[YOUTUBE]95JvcgBb1zE&[/YOUTUBE]

Overall Quality / Impact​

Quite simply the feud was great, it had 3 great matches, including an awesome Hell in a Cell match at Vengeance. It created a new main event star that became popular enough to go over to Smackdown that same year, and carry the entire show, as well as it gave WWE a star they could rely on to carry both shows in one way or another if they truly wanted to, because Batista was just that popular during that time. All of which would have a big play once again on the Batista / John Cena feud, because we wouldn't have had these 2 big top stars fighting over who had deserved to be the face of the company, without the Triple H feud, Batista could've possibly have been a simple main eventer, but without the true platform to launch him off that Triple H gave him.

 

[The Future Rises]

I'm gonna have to go with The Undertaker.

I didn't expect much from this feud when it started with Taker chokeslamming Batista and choosing him to face at Wrestlemania. I thought this was gonna be all about "respect" between those two but thankfully it wasn't. It was a real intense feud with great storytelling.


Batista and Undertaker always pulled a great match out of each other. I wasn't big on their 2009 feud though. I think they were both not in very good shape and couldn't really work together like they did back in 2007. Their Wrestlemania match was fantastic. And that's saying a lot considering they're both big men.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

10.) Umaga
9.) Booker T
8.) Chris Jericho
7.) Edge
6.) Randy Orton
5.) Shawn Michaels
4.) Rey Mysterio
3.) The Undertaker
2.) John Cena
1.) Triple H

I think all of my top five were amazing feuds and I really liked the "bad guy" character Batista went out on against the likes of Mysterio and Cena. But I feel like there was only two times prior that he ever had a simular "bad-ass" character and gave off that sense, while still remainging face/or somewhat face. and those times were vs. Taker and Triple H! He was the champion when taker won the rumble and was face, but as soon as he was set to face Taker, Taker automatically becomes the face cause it's the frikin' Undertaker and he could probably get cheered eating a new born baby. But not only did Batista remain somewhat face he grew more aggresive and somewhat of a "bad-ass". Sam thing when he faced Triple H, but in reverse. He was heel but got wise to Triple H, and instead of turning straight face and "kissing babies and fat girls"(greatest line of batista ever) he putd HHH through a table and becomes "The Animal" getting more fierce and aggressive and kinda saying "screw you its all about me now!" And thats why that was my favorite Batista character/storyline, also with great great classic long, kinda poetic build.

on another note never understand why Cena did become the "face of the company". Batista was the main event that year at mania, had better matches/feuds, and a WAY better character. Did it really all come down to Batista getting injured and having to surrender his title before mania 22??? I wonder what the world title match wouldve been otherwise???

 

[byrnside]

I certainly preferred Batista in his final days in the WWE. He was much more realistic and believable as a character. He was able to draw on his strengths and cover his weaknesses to improve his mic skills and the promo Brain showed us certainly proved it. However, I'm begrudgingly going to go with my personal favorite, "The Game" Triple H.

Begrudgingly because I never wanted to see Triple H lose to Batista, let alone 3 times one of which being in the Hell in a Cell.

Much like John Cena, I always had a hard time accepting Batista as a top player. Over the years I've grown to appreciate both of these wrestlers for who they were, though. In my eyes Triple H is the epitome of what a great wrestler should be. Someone who can work on the mic and back it up in the ring. As the pompous, blue-blood he managed to run with the ball and proved to have pretty solid matches and lasted as a mainstay as an Intercontinental champion. As a member of DX and the Kliq he made us laugh but still managed to kick-ass in the ring. As "The Game" he evolved into the Ric Flair of my generation. Even though I guess you could technically argue that Ric Flair is the Ric Flair of my generation. If I'm not mistaken he is only second to "The Nature Boy" in number of World title reigns. Argue that how you'd like and I know most of you want to, but the point of this thread is Batista's best feud and I'm getting to that...

From the time that Batista joined Evolution most of us knew where he was headed in terms of success with the WWE. Triple H was grooming Batista to be his own personal successor. Eventually, though Batista began to realize that Triple H was only using "The Animal" in a gradual build-up that led to the Elimination Chamber and Orton pinning Batista.. [This is a big problem I have with the creative process today, where are the planned, long-term build ups?] During the Elimination Chamber match that year Triple H could've saved his young protoge from being eliminated by Randy Orton, but opted to take a breather and capitalize on a tired Orton to regain his coveted championship.

Of course Batista went on to win the Royal Rumble in 2005 and Triple H just assumed that Batista would move to Smackdown and challenge their champion. Until one night in a rage Triple H belittled Batista to Ric Flair behind his back, unbeknownst to the champ that Batista was overhearing everything and this eventually led to his official face turn where he powerbombed Flair and Triple H and signed his RAW contract leading to Wrestlemania.

Their match at Wrestlemania wasn't the disappointment I expected. These two went at it solidly and Triple H threw everything at Batista. Triple H did an amazing job of looking weaker than Batista. This would be one of those moments where I would argue that Triple H didn't/doesn't bury every guy beneath him. In a really unique spot during the match, Batista over powered the Pedigree eventually nailing a Batista bomb to win his first World title.

Their re-match at Backlash picked up where Wrestlemania left off. These two once again threw everything at each other even taking out two referees in the process. Batista survived another low blow and in a cool spot we saw Triple H pick up the title belt nailing Batista in the head with it as Batista was attempting to Batista Bomb him. Of course we all know that Batista went on to win this match as well. The chaos from Backlash of course led to their final rematch at Vengeance inside Hell in a Cell.

In what was typical fashion for a Hell in a Cell match at the time they went on to put on what was a brutal match. One thing that really stands out was the use of the chain and the blood and once again Batista walked away the victor.

So for more than one reason I had a tough time watching Triple H lose every time to Batista. That being said, I think this feud launched Batista into superstardom and solidified him as a top contender which is why I went with it.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

It was a tough decision between Undertaker and HHH but I went with Undertaker. I don't really care that much about the promo side of things because they're two guys that don't say much so I expect their actions to do the talking and they did. They had three great PPV matches with Wrestlemania, Cyber Sunday, and Survivor Series in a decent Last Man Standing at Backlash. I loved it because it was one of those lengthy face vs. face feuds that you rarely see and I expected Batista to be booed at WM because it is the Undertaker. HHH is a close second, though.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I would say Triple H for the reasons already stated. WWE did a good job in slowly creating the idea that Batista had grown as a wrestler and was much more than the muscle of EVolution, in the beginning Batista was kinda the raw talent in the group, Orton was the chosen one, with Trips being "The Man" right now and Flair the leader of course. I always felt they rushed Orton's exit a bit but they played just right with Batista.

Facing Triple H and beating him truly elevated Batista to main event status, legit main eventer, someone people wanted to pay to see. You can book Miz in Main Events, doesnt mean people wil actually spend bank to watch him. Batista became a legit star, and it was the rub from defeating Triple H that did it.

He was very good as heel when he returned from injury for his last brief run vs Cena. I thought he was excellent in his feud with Taker and I agree with an earlier post that Taker probably got the best matches out of him on a consistant basis.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

When I think of a Batista feud, I think of his initial turn on Evolution and hisfeud with Triple H, which led to World Title success at Wrestlemania.

WWE did a great job of building this so that when Batista gave Helmsley the thumbs-down and powerbombed him through the table, the fans were totally 100% behind Batista and regarded him as a legitimate threat to The Game's title.

He did not look out of place in the entire feud, Triple H got him over and Big Dave stepped up. I was glad to see Batista win the title, it was clear for a while that he was outgrowing Evolution, as had been the case with Randy Orton, and it was clear that Triple H was going to do everything to get his friend over, which he did.

 

[djthriller1207]

His feud with Triple H was good and resulted in 3 somewhat good matches. The Hell In A Cell match was great and probably Batista's best match other than his match with Undertaker at WM 23 and his match with Cena from Summerslam 2008. The Mania match was good in my opinion even though it is criticized. Even their Backlash match was good. They had decent to good chemistry, which says a whole lot considering Batista was not the best wrestler in the company. If he were to come back to WWE, his first match back should be against Triple H.