The Contentious Ten 05.31.10: Batista Matches

Posted by Aaron Hubbard on 05.31.2010

From his match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 23 and his HIAC battle with HHH at Vengeance 2005 to his match with Eddie Guerrero at No Mercy 2005 and even his WrestleMania XXVI match with John Cena, 411's Aaron Hubbard counts down his top 10 Batista matches in the latest edition of the Contentious 10!

Batista is apparently done with the WWE, at least for now. With that in mind, let's take a look at the best matches of his career. And since I'm paying tribute already, I'll send a shout-out to Arnold Furious while I'm at it.

Enter The Mighty DAVE~!

And if you don't get that joke, try to picture Batista as The Tick. Yes, the lame superheo with a blue outfit who yells out "Spoon!" as his battle cry and has a video game with a level called "Night of a Million, Zillion Ninjas!"

X
Batista vs. Triple H
World Championship Match, Wrestlemania 21


I consider Batista to be the Lex Luger of the 00's. Lex was a big, powerful guy with a million-dollar look; he was either going to be main event or nothing. He was groomed for success, and while he was never a great in-ring technician, he had his fair share of good matches and, when motivated, was a big part of those match's success. That sums up Batista in a nutshell. And if Batista is a modern day Lex, then he has a major one-up on the Total Package. When Lex broke away from the Four Horsemen and rode a wave of fan support to challenge Ric Flair at Starrcade 88', he came up short. When Batista broke away from Evolution and rode the wave of fun support to challenge Triple H at Wrestlemania 21, he cleanly and decisively beat Triple H to win his first World Title, and was a fixture of the main event scene for the rest of WWE career.

IX
Batista vs. Chris Benoit
Raw January 3, 2005


Batista had the first televised WWE match of 2005, a year where he would be almost uniformly called the superstar of the year. He started it out with a bang in this short but very good match with "Crippler" Chris Benoit. A lot of guys had some of their best matches with Benoit but he isn't solely responsible for the goodness in this match. Batista busts out a freaking Muscle Buster in this one, and using his hand to make Benoit tap is such a great dickish heel move. But it didn't matter to the Long Island crowd, who were vehemently cheering the Animal. The inventive finish is also a highlight for me.

VIII
Batista vs. Edge
Last Chance World Heavyweight Championship Match,
Vengeance: Night of Champions



2007 was the year of the Smackdown! Curse, where it seemed like all plans were going awry. The Undertaker became the World Heavyweight Champion only to go out to an injury. Ken Kennedy was going to use his Money in the Bank opportunity to become the new champion, but he got injured and Edge took his place. And then Edge got injured, and we got The Great Khali: World Heavyweight Champion. The one constant during this time was Batista, who was involved in every PPV World Title Match that year simply because he was the only top star who was able to stay relatively healthy. This rivalry with Edge was a bit thrown together, but by this time they had a nice little chemistry and had a good match here. Some feel the booking hurts it, but I loved watching Edge cheating like that and thought it was a great way to get Dave out of the title picture without hurting his credibility.

VII
Batista vs. Shawn Michaels
Stretcher Match, One Night Stand 2008



This is not a great match in the traditional sense of the word, but if you understand the context surrounding it it was great booking that told a great story. This was the payoff to the feud between Shawn Michaels and Batista that came out of HBK "retiring" Ric Flair. This story was the talk of the net during the short time it existed because of the shades of gray. Both men had understandable motives and neither guy was really a bad guy or a good guy; they just had problems with each other that needed to be solved. Batista solved his problems in this match, decisively crushing Shawn Michaels and summing up the feud by declaring "I'm not sorry and I don't love you." Had it not been for the amazing storyline between Chris Jericho and HBK that outshone anything and everything in wrestling that year, which bled out of this feud, I think this feud would still be talked about fondly.

VI
Batista vs. Eddie Guerrero
World Heavyweight Championship Match, No Mercy 2005




It's a shame these two didn't have more time to work with each other, due to injuries and death, because this story was money. Batista had just moved to the Blue Brand in the draft and pretty easily crushed JBL in a short title feud, and needed a new rival. Enter Eddie Guerrero, who had spent most of the year in a bitter feud with Rey Mysterio, which saw him turn to the dark side before finally getting the monkey off of his back by beating Rey in a steel cage match. Claiming that now that he had sorted out his personal issues, Eddie befriended Batista, who embraced as a friend while staying wary. This was a great first match for these two, and a great story as Eddie struggled with his conscience, always on the verge of cheating but never quite crossing the line. Batista got righteously pissed and ended up beating Eddie, but the two reconciled afterward. This was sort of a spiritual successor to the Hart vs. Piper from Wrestlemania VIII, and was Eddie Guerrero's last major match.

*****
THE BONUS LIST!

Top Ten DVD Sets (More Than 1 Disc)
10. The Legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin
9. Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story
8. Edge: A Decade of Decadence
7. The History of the WWE Championship
6. Viva La Raza: The Legacy of Eddie Guerrero
5. From The Vault: Shawn Michaels
4. Mick Foley's Greatest Hits & Misses
3. The Rise & Fall of ECW
2. Ric Flair: The Ultimate Collection
1. Bret "Hitman" Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be

V
Batista vs. John Cena
Summer Slam 2008


This first time on a major show match-up between the two biggest stars to come along since the Attitude Era was a match I was very interested in seeing. It had the potential to be an epic match or an epic train wreck. Batista's matches are better when he A) is motivated, and B) had chemistry with his opponent. Obviously Batista was going to try his best to deliver in this match, and the two had good chemistry and the match just worked. This was a bullfight; aside from the requisite stare down, this two didn't waste a minute in hitting each other with big move after big move. Batista showed a bit of strategy by going after Cena's legs, but for the most part it was his power offense against Cena's power offense, and the STF-U. The match was dead even until Cena made a tactical error by flying off the top rope, only to be powerbombed into the mat, injuring his neck in the process. Cena would kick out of that, but a second Batista Bomb allowed The Animal to assert his dominance...this time.

IV
Batista vs. The Undertaker
World Heavyweight Championship Match, Cyber Sunday 2007




This match was another in a long-line of good Undertaker vs. Batista matches in 2007, but this one is especially notable because of its finish. Batista defeated The Undertaker clean, in the middle of the ring, by himself, with no interference, no fast counts, no belt shots, no disqualification or count-outs. He hit two Batista Bombs and pinned The Deadman clean as a whistle. THAT is one heck of an accomplishment and something that Batista deserves to be remembered for doing. It speaks magnitudes about Batista's credibility that everyone bought this victory. Some (like myself) prefer the more action-oriented, beat-the-tar out of your opponent to win match from Wrestlemania, but this tells a fine story and was a worthy follow-up.

III
Batista vs. John Cena
WWE Championship Match, Wrestlemania XXVI


Man do I ever love this match. This built off the Summer Slam match, with Batista now a clear heel and an awesome one at that. Batista used a different strategy this time by targeting Cena's neck. The story of the match was that Batista had Cena's number, something that was made very clear when Batista countered the F-U into a sickening DDT or blocked the Five Knuckle Shuffle to hit his spinebuster. Cena would again go to the top rope out of desperation and again be planted, this time with a modified spinebuster, but he wouldn't lose twice. Cena was able to get the STF-U and make Batista tap out. But even in the loss, Batista can take pride in this match, a testament to how awesome a character and a performer he could be.

II
Batista vs. The Undertaker
World Heavyweight Championship Match, Wrestlemania 23


Opinions on this match vary, but I've always stayed consistent with mine. This match rocked my world when it happened, and it is one of those matches I throw in when I want to just have fun for twenty minutes. Batista was super-motivated in this match, feeling somewhat slighted that this was in the middle of the card. While the hype for Cena-Michaels definitely warranted the last spot on the card, this stole the show in my opinion. Batista set the tone for the match with a spear and took the fight to Undertaker. The match never slowed down for a minute, and while Undertaker would win in the end, Batista's effort ensured that he was more than a statistic. The match is one of the highlights of the legendary Streak.

I
Batista vs. Triple H
World Heavyweight Championship Hell in a Cell Match, Vengeance 2005


Bash Triple H all you want, but the one thing you can't take away from him is that he absolutely did the right thing in the feud with Batista. He put him over three times in 2005 in big matches, with Batista getting definitive wins every time. This was the final match in the series, the violent blow-off to the feud, and to WWE's creative, there was never another big one-on-one match between these two. This is one of the best of the Hell in a Cells, and the use of weapons like a steel chain, a sledgehammer, and most notably a steel chair wrapped in barbed wire, this match was exciting and had the sense of finality to it that Hell in a Cell should have. This also cemented Batista as more than a flash in the pan; when Triple H puts you over three times in one program, you are a legit player.

*****

I have had very little in the way of kind words to say about Dave Batista over the years, my main complaint being that he doesn't have great matches. Pay attention to what I said there. I didn't say "can't" have great matches. Batista has shown that when motivated, he knows how to work a smart match and can bust out some impressive power moves. But too often, I felt that Batista never went out of his way to entertain fans: he went to the ring, had the pyrotechnics go off, posed, hit the spear, spinebuster and Batista Bomb and left. I don't expect guys to go all out, all the time, but compare this to John Cena, who faced more and louder criticism than Batista ever has despite obviously being better than him, and decided to bust his rear end to get better. I simply would have liked to have seen Batista TRY. Because when he tried, he was a highlight of the show and one of the most underrated wrestlers in the business. Ten years from now, I'll remember the good memories over the bad memories, and Batista has given me some great memories.

Next week should be a fun topic: Top Ten Should-Be WWE Hall of Famers!