Dave Bautista is universally adored as Drax in theGuardians of the Galaxy movie franchise, but his days of banging heads first began in the world of professional wrestling, where his patented Batista Bomb laid waste to many an opponent. Appropriately nicknamed “The Animal,” Batista is a shoo-in to be entered into the WWE Hall of Fame.
WWE history was made in January of 2003 when a relatively inexperienced Batista joined forces with Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and Triple H to form the notorious stable known as Evolution. The group quickly dominated WWE by capturing the World, Intercontinental and Tag-Team Championships.
Batista’s interaction with Evolution, both as part of the team, and later as the group bitterly disbanded, provided the Animal with some epic confrontations and a route to his first WWE World Championship at WrestleMania 21.
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Batista Breaks Goldberg’s Ankle
Intent on proving his mettle to the rest of his Evolution stable mates, Batista attacked Goldberg on the October 20, 2003, episode of Monday Night RAW. It would be a vicious beatdown that established the Animal as a major threat and a top-level star.
During the ambush, Big Dave rocked Goldberg with a Batista Bomb and used a ringside chair to shatter his ankle. Following the interference, Triple H awarded Batista with $100,000. Not a bad day’s work for the future champion.
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Good Friends, Better Enemies
The Animal challenged Randy Orton for the WWE championship at Extreme Rules 2009 where the former Evolution pals battled it out in one of the most brutal matches in all of WWE.
Batista sent Orton sailing into the steel walls and punished him with his high impact offence. With no escape, the Viper was forced to withstand the Animal’s ferocity, eventually succumbing to a patented Batista Bomb. In winning the gold, Batista became the first superstar to win the WWE Championship in a steel cage.
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Batista Overthrows King Booker
In one of Batista’s most personal WWE rivalries, he challenged King Booker at Survivor Series 2006 for a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. Batista had vacated the title early that year due to a triceps injury and had failed to regain the belt during several encounters with King Booker. The Animal was granted once last rematch at Survivor Series, and much to his fans’ pleasure, he made it count.
During the match, Booker tried to nail Batista with the title, but Big Dave countered and used the belt to his own advantage, blasting his foe and picking up the pinfall and the title. Ironically, Batista regained the gold in the same arena in which he’d been forced to vacate it earlier in the year.
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Batista Slays the Giant
Towering at 6’2”, Batista rarely gives away height to an opponent, but in 2007, things were different. The Great Khali was now the kingpin of WWE and dwarfed the entire roster at an incredible 7’1”. The feud between Batista and the Great Khali was a true battle of the big men, but Batista would ultimately prevail.
The Animal finally relieved Khali of the World Heavyweight Championship after no less than eight attempts, scoring his third reign with the title at the Unforgiven PPV. The two behemoths would collide again in a Punjabi prison rules match at No Mercy with Batista once again slaying the giant in the most memorable of their encounters.
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Batista Beats Y2J
In a wild bid to defeat Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship, Batista challenged Y2J at 2008’s Cyber Sunday. An added stipulation to the match proved pivotal, as fans voted for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin as the special guest referee.
Austin made for a great referee and called the back and forth match until he was accidentally taken out after colliding hard with the Animal. With Stone Cold out, Jericho would seek to gain the advantage until the whole match fell apart when both Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton attempted to inject themselves as replacement referees. Eventually, Austin was able to recover and keep the unwanted interference at bay, allowing Batista to get back into the match and pick up his fourth World Heavyweight Championship.
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Batista “Sees” John Cena
At the Elimination Chamber PPV in 2010, John Cena beat Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, Ted Dibiase Jr., Triple H, and Sheamus in a hellacious chamber contest. In a hard-hitting battle that lasted 30 minutes, Cena won the match and the WWE Championship in the process, but the night was not over for “Big Match” John.
As the chamber was raised back to the roof of the arena, WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon, made an unexpected appearance and ordered Cena to defend his newly acquired championship against Batista straight away. It didn’t take long for the Animal to drop his exhausted opponent with a spear, following up with a Batista Bomb and an easy three-count for the gold.
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Batista Wins Second Royal Rumble Contest
The WWE Universe bought their tickets to the Royal Rumble in Pittsburgh fully expecting their hero Daniel Bryan to outlast 29 other opponents and earn his shot at main-eventing WrestleMania. There was just one problem: Batista hadn’t received the memo!
After a WWE absence of almost four years, Batista entered the fray at number 28 and won the 2014 Royal Rumble by eliminating Roman Reigns. As a result, the crowd jeered in disappointment, but Batista laughed all the way to the bank, picking up a title opportunity at the biggest show of the year. It was a stunning return for the Animal who proved that he was still in killer shape after his hiatus.
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Batista Wins 2005 Royal Rumble
They say the first time is always the sweetest, and that was certainly true of the Animal’s first Royal Rumble victory in 2005, earning his first main event at WrestleMania.
Speaking with WWE.com Batista shared his thoughts on the win: “That whole period in my life and period in my career was so hectic and exciting. It came down to John Cena and I. The fans were so emotionally involved and they just wanted to see what would happen next. It was one of the most exciting moments in my career… once of those history making moments. (After winning the match) I looked up at the WrestleMania 21 sign and it all started to seem real, it’s just one of those things that you never forget.”
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Batista Becomes THE Man
Big Dave won his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship on April 1, 2005, in the main event of WrestleMania 21. This Pay-Per-View event, which pitted Batista against his former Evolution stable pal, Triple H, generated one million purchases, setting a PPV record at the time for a non-boxing event.
In the closing moments of the match, Batista catapulted The Game into a ringside post, bloodying the current champion. With Triple H down, Batista showed no mercy in pummeling his former friend and delivering a thunderous spine-buster. But as the Animal went for his Batista Bomb finisher, Triple H scored back with a low blow. The Game’s cheating tactics ultimately failed as he could not apply the Pedigree, allowing Big Dave to lay waste to his opponent with a second attempt of the Batista Bomb—earning him his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship. A title he held for an incredible 282 days.
