Their Greatest Rival: Batista

[TheKingofKings20222]

It's part 3 of Their Greatest Rival and this time, we take a look at the Animal, Batista! Dave began his WWE career on May 9th, 2002 on Smackdown. After a short stint as Deacon Batista, he eventually went to Raw to become on of it's fastest rising stars in Evolution. It didn't take him long before he become the World Heavyweight Champion and then truly, the Animal had been unleashed. In 2011 he left the WWE stating that he did not like the way the company was going and would not be returning anytime soon. Throughout the Animal's career he was involved in many memorable feuds. But the question is, who was his biggest Rival?

IMO I would have to say Triple H

The Game and Batista have a lot of history together. Batista rose to fame under the guidance of the Game through his time with Evolution. Eventually when the time had come, The Game passed the torch to Batista and he became the World Heavyweight Champion. Their rivalry was intense, and personal. It was a true Teacher VS Student match up with the stakes raised high. Their matches were long, brutal, and very intense. Whenever these two are in the ring together, you can practically cut the tension with a knife.

So that's my opinion, what's yours?

 

[Seanjburkey]

I would have to say Taker. I don't think it can be HHH because HHH never beat Batista. I believe a rivalry needs to see both guys trade victories. Batista and Undertaker had many great matches that saw both guys come out on top and neither guy ever looking like he had the advantage in the feud.

 

[xavyer]

I like his rivalry with JBL, because at the time JBL tried everything against Batista and he kept beating the odds, and their matches were great, i think that they brought the best out of eachother, and of course, his rivalry with Triple H is what got him to the big dance......

 

[BearJew13]

Just because the past few posters have been stating my opinion in that Undertaker and Triple H could be Batista's greatest rival, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Booker T is Batista's greatest rival. If you look back on their rivalry a few years ago, you see Booker (at the time King Booker) getting the upper hand in the feud as he used many underhanded tricks (typical heel stuff) to get over Batista. Eventually, Batista captured the WHC (that he really never lost) from Booker and ended the feud.
If we're going by that logic, Edge was also a big rival of Batista's. They had a similar rivalry to the one Batista/Booker had with Edge using heel-ish tactics to retain the WHC. We even saw Batista lose a bout dubbed a Last Chance match by countout at Vengeance.
I am not saying Booker T/King Booker or Edge were exactly Batista's GREATEST rivals, but they should definitely considered for the title.

 

[ccotreau1]

When I think of Batistas greatest rivals, John Cena was the first man to come to mind, maybe because it was the longest feud that Batista had. I personally thought that as often as they faced each other, for whatever reason didn't get old to me.

 

[Pedigree1]

Easy one for me Triple H!! Trips was batistas greatest rival by a far stretch! When the Animal won the 2005 Royal Rumble Triple H tried everything in his power to coach the animal to face JBL instead of himself. Trips knew batista could beat him,that time batista was on fire.

When the animal made his decision via batista bomb on whom he was gonna face that was all the momentum this feud needed to get started. The match at WM21 was a great match i thought both men told a great story in the ring and the animal was just too strong that night. When was the last time Trips put someone over three times in a row? I cant think of anyone.

Their battles were brutal,bloodied,and just a knock down brawl i enjoyed the feud alot. Truly a feud teacher vs student and the student whooped the teachers ass alot.

 

[#heel420]

The Undertaker, their series of matches back in 2007 were awesome. The Undertaker brought the best out of Batista. Close 2nd goes to Triple H, for being the man that made him a main event player.

 

[asiatic7]

...........This is tough, what did Batista contribute to wrestling? Besides being another big lumbering oaf, the kind of lumbering oaf that Vince McMahon gets a hard-on for, what good was he?

Maybe his greatest rival was Booker T. Maybe for the fact that Booker, in reality, beat the shit out of the...ahem, Animal for being a disrespectful, lumbering oaf.

Maybe it was Shawn Michaels during their feud after Mania 24. Michaels was always good at making non-althletic awkward, clumbsy, lumbering oafs look better than they usually are...

Maybe John Cena. To "Bore"tista's credit, his best mic-work and ring work came at the end of his career against Cena. The Cena feud kinda, sorta, eh, maybe brought out the best in that big lovable dufus.

I was never a fan of Batista's if you couldn't tell. Everything about him was just awkward and it's amazing he gets a pass for all his shortcomings from so many people! It's really hard for me to pin point a great rival for him. I just didn't find him that good at all....sorry.

 

[Griezz]

For me, the rivalry I'll remember most for Dave Bautista was the one he had with Eddie Guerrero. Although the rivalry ended with the tragic death of Eddie, I remember that it was a good rivalry because it was a nice blend of opposites. It was a classic David & Goliath story of big vs. small, muscles vs. mind, intimidation vs. psychology. There was also a lot of psychology in that Eddie was obviously trying to psych-out Batista; what was unusual was that Batista seemed to be trying to psych-out Eddie in return. Remember the classic RAW moment where Batista said he just wanted to be friends with Eddie and just wanted a hug? Remember the terrified look on Eddie's face? We weren't sure whether one was going to backstab the other or not. Sadly, before either could turn on the other, Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room.
That memory is why I consider Eddie to be Batista's most significant rivalry.

 

[WRESTLING_GENIUS]

When I think of Batistas greatest rivals, John Cena was the first man to come to mind, maybe because it was the longest feud that Batista had. I personally thought that as often as they faced each other, for whatever reason didn't get old to me.

Good pick and the best one in my book seeing Cena made em quit the company(not lyterally) but they only had 5 mathces Batista won the first two and Cena won the last three, Batista even almost broke Cenas neck at Summerslam one time, but this feud started in the 2005 royal rumble when they were the last two men in the rumble and had the double elimination to only end in a restart and Batista winning the Royal Rumble......

 

[jeritroll94]

I also say John Cena is the best rival for Batista. Both men came to the main event level at Wrestlemania 21 and there is always that possibility of the two having a backstage professional rivalry but I always wanted to the see the two in a one on one match to see who was better. Summerslam 2008 was a great match between the two. I think it was fitting that Cena was Batista's last rival and I did like the mic-work Batista did during that 2010 feud.

Runners Up would be Triple H, Undertaker and Randy Orton.

 

[HBsam31]

For me it has to be Undertaker. They each had victories over each other, and I think this feud brought out the best in Batista. he really wanted to prove he was the better man. One of the times I really thought the streak was in jeapordy. HHH would be a close second for me , but Batista dominated that feud. He and Taker had matches where you never really knew who was going to win, and was very intense all the way through.

 

[MINISTRYrising]

triple h by a landslide and there are two reasons for this. 1. it was the feud that made batista a main eventer and 2. the only feud that batista was involved in that was ever any good.

 

[theBec2101]

his greatest rival is learning to wrestle. and learning won by the way. Im sorry but he was one of the worst top stars ever in the ring. other then that gotta go with HHH