Whatever you may think of Triple H I think you have to give him credit for that. Yes Batista was mega over. But none of that happens without him being involved in Evolution with Triple H, and them laying the seeds for that turn. It was a simple story, that we have seen plenty of times, executed to perfection. And it had to be Triple H. It had to be someone the fans hated in kayfabe, real-life, the internet. For me, all three matches they had were perfect for different reasons. First one was main-event worthy match but you felt like the book wasn't closed. Backlash rematch gave H enough of an out to set up the third and final match. And then you had the HIAC which is simply one of the greatest cage matches ever, in my opinion. Yes Batista had all the tools to be a massive star and would have become one eventually. But without Triple H I doubt if any of it would have been as good.
I will give him credit for putting Batista over and being part of what was arguably the most memorable storyline during the RA era, but he had no choice and Vince was probably dying to strap a rocket to his back. A few things that gets overlooked is that in 2004/2005, there are two critical factors which get overlooked in his rise:
1. H completely botched Orton’s face run.
2. Batista was always grinding, you watch his matches in Q1 of 2004 & compare to Q4 of 2004 and he was a completely different performer.
Starting with the first point, this is very important in Batista getting his push, Batista was looked at in the same vein as LA Knight is today, a guy who looks fantastic, has presence and can work with top guys, but H never saw him in that light and his age went against him. If we’re looking at who they wanted to get over through Evolution, make no mistake, Orton was the first name on the sheet and Batista was not seen as a guy who could break into the main-event; this is supported by how Batista was booked between 2003 to about mid 2004 when they pulled the plug on Orton. If they did not botch Orton, Batista does not touch the main-event even with a barge pole. And a bonus point which supplements 1), is that after H had run riot and his creative ran out of ideas and their original plans failed, they were forced into a corner.
2. Batista kept getting better and better, his improvement so late in his career was pretty unreal when you consider he didn’t come from a wrestling background, it wasn’t until his stint in OVW that he got to train consistently and when they eventually called him up, he was basically learning on the job, it can’t hurt to be able to ride with the greatest pro-wrestler in history either but Batista was such a hard worker man, he is the best example of what a great work ethic can do for you and with a bit of luck, you can really do well. Batista deserves a lot of credit for getting himself ready to the point that when he was pushed to the top, Batista over-delivered and exceeding every expectation on him. There might be some observer reports detailing his rise throughout 2004 which would be good to dig out, weirdly I recall Meltzer being very positive towards Batista, I think he was shocked by the improvement, and the fans recognised this to.
After Batista got over, they shipped him straight to SD because H’s ego got dented and they wouldn’t have been able to prevent the urge of him getting his W’s back from another hot baby face from needlessly being buried. The reign of terror yielded Batista but it was a series of unexpected events which lead them to that, but even after all that, they ship Batista to SD in the number 2 role. I don’t think we should be praising H at all - just putting Batista over was not enough and I don’t give him credit at all now, you’ve taken me back again now and my blood is boiling again, all those buried bacharas, next level unnecessary dominance despite the sh!t TV ratings and politicking for a guy who we would genuinely regard in the 5th spot for heat good heat levels.
Lets not forget how badly they treated Orton as well after the botch-mania with his run, I think you mentioned you watched the 05 RR, and if my memory serves me correctly, H worked with Orton on that PPV? H almost always needed Evolution to help him in his matches but Randy was basically squashed like a bug? It’s like they didn’t even try and sugar coat their failure or try and look after Orton a bit; lets just say we should give H 100% credit for Batista, that was all cancelled out by how Orton was made to look like a sissy after feuding with H; thankfully, there were some guys left who despite being personified greats and genuinely gifted didn’t have so much akar, lucky for Orton, that Taker to him under his wing and helped him recover his mojo and confidence when they feuded I think on the way to WM 21; actually, I will say that is my favourite Orton match ever at WM other then the one against Punk, it took a proper legend to get Orton back on track, or else his career was done.
I need a cup of tea now to calm myself.
what an idiot h is
And everything about him is so fake, there’s more fake in him the the prime Bella Twins.
