Dark Pegasus Video Review: Batista: I Walk Alone (Disc One)

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 10.12.2009

Portrait of an Animal.

Batista: I Walk Alone (Disc One)

by J.D. Dunn
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This is one where I'm looking forward to the documentary more than the matches, and that's not necessarily a knock on the matches. I just find Batista to be an interesting guy. Outside of the Divas, he'd probably be the one wrestler I'd like to hang out with.

Batista grew up in Washington D.C. slums, which are only slightly more corrupt than the nice parts of D.C.. We get to meet his mom, who looks like a really cool lady. She raised him as a single mom in a really bad neighborhood until she realized it was in his best interests to let his father take over.

Batista picked up amateur wrestling late in high school and was physically dominating but lacked experience. He let his studies lapse and was academically ineligible for his senior year. His school pics reveal an A.C. Slater lookalike. Kind of disturbing.

From high school he went to being a bouncer at a club. Whoa! Check out the Diesel hair on Batista! He was working out all the time then and bodybuilding. He had a babymama but fell in love with another woman. His wife said she thought he was attractive but always looked sad so she said to herself she was going to put a smile on that face. Awwhhhh! Batista admits to handling it quite horribly by dating his now-wife behind his then-girlfiend's back. His proposal sounds lackluster, but it seems to have worked.

WCW was having open tryouts at the Power Plant, so he went. Batista claims "Sarge" (the WCW trainer) had a Napoleon complex. It was clear WCW was going under, so his friend called the WWF. They recommended Afa the Wild Samoan's training camp, so he went. They eventually sent him to Ohio Valley with no-names like Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton and Shelton Benjamin.

Jim Cornette gave him the name "Leviathan" (a demon-looking guy). Dave came up with the idea of wearing a chain around his neck, which everyone hated because they'd punch it and hurt their hands.

The WWE called him up in 2002 as Reverend D-Von's bodyguard. That didn't last long, but Dave credits D-Von with giving him career guidance. They wanted him to get better in the ring, so they had him wrestle Fit Finlay.

Triple H and Ric Flair were putting a team together, and HHH handpicked Batista. HHH says Orton was supposed to be the heir apparent while Batista was just supposed to be the muscle. HHH says he knew Batista would be the star all along. Uh huh. He also totally called the lotto numbers but forgot to buy a ticket.

The Royal Rumble in 2005 came down to Batista and John Cena. Batista won and went on to face HHH. He said his rise to the top was so quick (and it was – basically from Survivor Series to the Royal Rumble) that he really didn't have time to react. He won his first World Title at WrestleMania.

Hunter told him to go out and be the name and face of the company. He warned him not to let anyone down. Being a big wrestling star took away from time with his family, though. The marriage started to fall apart. We see an emotional moment where he talks about his daughter's boyfriend (father of his grandson, which is odd to think about) dying in an auto accident.

The WWE sent him over to Smackdown, separating him from his comrades and forcing him to be "the man." Everyone there resented him, according to Michael Hayes. Eddy Guerrero finally rallied for him and became Batista's main cheerleader. Batista says he doesn't know if Eddy felt sorry for him or actually liked him. Chavo Guerrero says Eddy called Batista the night before Eddy died and told him how much he loved working with him. Chavo says Batista was probably hit the hardest by it (besides the guy we don't talk about). Rey Mysterio, another of Eddy's best friends, teamed with Batista as a regular tag team in tribute to Eddy.

Talk turns to happier things, including world tours. Dave says he's part Filipino, which Hunter jokes about. Batista also meets with a lot of kids with cancer.

Batista came back from injury and was put in a program with King Booker, a guy he had a lot of backstage heat with anyway. We quickly go through many of his recently feuds with guys like Edge and Undertaker. Real life bled into storylines and feuds with Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho over the retirement of Ric Flair. Hayes says Batista finally started trusting his opponents and realized what it took to be a star.

Special Features

More personal stuff, including Dave's upbringing, his suit, the Leviathan, Eddy's Biblical influence on him, and his… lunchbox collection? I'd make fun of him, but I'm pretty sure there's a collection of M.U.S.C.L.E.s in a box in my basement. Terribull FTW!

The 411: Most of this stuff we already knew or mirrors the lives of other superstars. Fortunately, Big Dave is the kind of guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve, so when they let him talk about his own life, it's raw (no pun intended) and honest conversation.

Next up: matches

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]