After WWE WrestleMania 35 went off the air, Batista officially announced his retirement and that his match with Triple H will be his last professional wrestling match.
Batista leaves behind a legacy in the wrestling business that dates all the way back to 1999. He signed with WWE in 2002 and debuted on television as a bodyguard for Reverend D-Von – who, ironically wrestled Triple H in Batista’s debut – under the name of Deacon Batista. As it turned out, Batista wound up doing far more in his career than anyone would have expected from seeing him carry around a collection plate.
Less than a year later, Batista would rebrand himself as The Animal and align himself with Triple H, Ric Flair and Randy Orton. Together, they were Evolution and the success of this powerhouse stable did a lot to progress the evolution of Dave Bautista. After a couple years of building him up as a credible challenger, he won the Royal Rumble and then dethroned his Evolution mentor to win the coveted World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21.
In the later years, The Animal went on to win five more World Titles, another Royal Rumble and headlined one more Mania event. As if the wrestling side of his life was not impressive enough, he went on to conquer everyone as the star of the multi-million dollar Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, which in turn is part of Hollywood’s highest grossing franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
All things considered after 20 years in this business, Big Dave did good for himself. Now is as good a time as ever to take a look at his illustrious career by breaking down 20 years into just 10 incredible and unforgettable moments.
10. His Final WWE Promo
2019 served as Batista’s farewell tour from the world of wrestling. Despite the fact that he was on his last legs as a professional wrestler, the Marvel star still had it in him to give us a few lasting moments to remember him by on the road to WrestleMania.
While his unexpected attack on Ric Flair during his Raw birthday celebration was met with confusion – but intrigue – and his preceding “GIVE ME WHAT I WANT” segment with Triple H the following week was meme’d to death, his proceeding live feed promos on the titantron were legitimately exhilarating to witness. They went a long ways to show us how vastly Dave’s acting chops improved compared to his last run thanks to his newfound training as a Hollywood actor.
However, his zenith hour – promo-wise – came on the final Raw before WrestleMania 35 where the voice behind Drax the Destroyer had one final message for Triple H. He didn’t say much of anything, but it was wholly effective. All he did was point to tron, showed a video package of him whupping Triple H like a scolded dog over the years, looked down the barrel of a camera and said “Kiss my ass.” Then left.
In proving that sometimes, less is more when it comes to character and promo work, Batista delivered one of the best promos we’ve seen on television in a long time.
9. “I Quit”
2010 was the last year we saw Batista serve as a full time WWE Superstar following the previous eight years he dominated on our television screens. For that final year, he was a heel, but not just any heel. Apparently, Dave took notice to whatever controversies Kanye West was stirring up at the time – i.e. the Taylor Swift incident – and decided to emulate the man into his character. After all, people hated Kanye West. Batista wanted fans to hate him in the same way and that, they did.
It worked like a charm. Before we knew it, Big Dave was acting like a pompous big mainstream celebrity, even parodying the Kanye/TSwift moment by interrupting someone at the Slammys. It was a glorious time for Batista, but he truly achieved his final moment in his final hour.
After losing an I Quit match for the WWE Championship at Over the Limit, he stormed in – well, rolled in is more like it as he was in a wheelchair – to Monday Night Raw to complain and just like a sniveling heel, he quit on television. Batista always played this heel character perfectly and this remains his most memorable moment. He even tried to recreate his live resignation to end his 2014 run. While that moment was just as memorable, nothing compares to the original that started it all.
8. “I’m not sorry” at One Night Stand 2008
Shawn Michaels retiring Ric Flair in front of 74,635 Floridians in attendance at WrestleMania XXIV remains one of the most painstakingly emotional moments in Mania history. The now famous “I’m sorry, I love you” moment especially pulls at the heartstrings. While HBK’s line to The Nature Boy truly did signal the end, we were never truly ready to see him strut into retirement.
His former protege Batista particularly took a gripe with Michaels forcing Flair to stop doing the one thing he knew best. This turned into the basis of a spring feud between the two. The Heartbreak Kid would get the first win at Backlash after faking an injury to catch The Animal off guard with a Superkick. A couple months later, Batista was looking for payback at One Night Stand in a Stretcher match. While he won the rematch, it was the manner he won in that got us talking.
In a moment replicating the iconic finish of Flair vs. Michaels at Mania, Batista pounded into the Texan for several minutes before he grabbed him by his face, pulled him in close, hollered “I’m not sorry. I don’t love you,” and clobbered Michaels with one of the most thunderous Batista Bombs ever caught on camera. Not the most subtle way to end a match or a feud, but by God, was it affective.
7. Batista drafted to SmackDown
For much of his WWE career, Batista served as one of the key faces of SmackDown and, at one point, the top babyface on the blue brand. His first appearance since his initial debut in 2002 was the start of a new era for Tuesday night tapings and it all kicked off in a bang.
Days earlier, SmackDown had lost its WWE Champion when John Cena got drafted to Raw. A Six Man Elimination Match was booked for the June 30 episode of SmackDown where the winner was under the assumption they would become the new and first ever SmackDown Champion. JBL would win that match, but afterwards, SmackDown General Manager Teddy Long would tell Bradshaw that there isn’t a need for a SmackDown Championship after all thanks to a last minute signing to the blue brand.
That last minute signing was World Heavyweight Champion Batista who entered the arena to a roaring reaction. He then proceeded to feud with JBL in the coming months. Overall, Batista run as the face of SmackDown – especially during his first record setting 282-day reign with the title – was a success and kicking things off nicely with this buzz worthy, electric moment helped steer it into that direction.
6. Batista’s 2009 return from injury
At the top of the summer in 2009, Randy Orton put Batista on the shelf with a debilitating punt kick to his arm. The Animal required surgery and that was the last we saw him for another three months.
Three months after the incident on the Sept. 14 episode of Monday Night Raw, Batista would return with his arm in a sling to update the WWE Universe on his condition. That is when The Viper met The Animal in the ring to goad the one armed man in his time of weakness. That is when something odd happened: the more that Orton continued to goad Batista, the more Batista started to laugh; almost like rage was slowly building in The Animal’s heart and it was waiting to burst out.
Orton asked Big Dave what was so funny. That’s when Batista removed his arm sling and told Orton “I know something you don’t know” before wailing on his assailant. The crowd popped huge for this moment. It’s not often you get to praise wrestlers for their actual acting more so than their in-ring work, but this was so well acted from both parties involved. Batista’s slowly built fuming accompanying by the show on Orton’s face upon the sling removal made for one incredible moment.
5. The “Spearbuster”
It’s not fair, man. On top of having one of the best spears in the game and one of the best spinebusters in the game, Batista innovated a combination of both moves: the spearbuster. A move that was never seen beforehand and never seen since. No one man should have all that power. Yes, that was a Kanye West reference. It’s a call back to the earlier Kanye/Batista comparison. Just roll with me.
Batista only did the Spearbuster twice. The first – and most memorable – time was in a match against Elijah Burke, then again in a match against Cody Rhodes shortly afterwards. It is not only amazing to think that Batista did such an eye popping, crowd popping move a small handful of times, it is just as shocking to think nobody ever tried to duplicate it.
In a business where just about every single move in existence gets recycled by every competitor in the world, no one ever attempted a Spearbuster, which Batista seems to have innovated, just for the record. Maybe Batista is just so damn good that everybody knows for a fact that executing such a move would be impossible unless your name is Batista. That’s sound logic, quite frankly.
4. Turning on Rey Mysterio
Batista and Rey Mysterio had been the closest of friends pretty much since the death of Eddie Guerrero. One could say their bond – both fictional and in real life – grew in light of Eddie’s passing. On the fictional account, their relationship took a drastic turn for the first time on the night of Bragging Rights 2009.
On that night, The Undertaker defended his World Heavyweight Championship in a Fatal Four Way match against CM Punk, Rey Mysterio and Big Dave himself. At one point, Batista was seconds away from winning the title after hitting a Batista Bomb on The Undertaker. That is when The Leader of the 619 broke up the pin. Of course, a Fatal Four Way means every man for himself so there should be no hard feelings between the two buds, right? Maybe that would have been the case if Batista wasn’t pinned with a Tombstone moments later for the loss.
Post match, Josh Matthews interviewed Mysterio and Batista on the lost. That’s when the future Hollywood star uttered “You were supposed to be my friend” to Rey before nailing him and turning heel for the first time since his Evolution days. The execution, the acting, the story … all superb.
3. Stealing the Mania show with Undertaker
It would be a disservice to Batista and his Hall of Fame career to say that he was always a master of the ring since he first stepped into it. There are some perfect examples as far back as 2006 even when his in-ring work was far from stellar. He botched often, he was clunky and his matches against guys like King Booker and JBL were boring; didn’t help that he wrestled these guys A LOT at this time.
Maybe he was that bad or maybe he just never had the right opponent, but his matches weren’t exactly blowing anybody away. That may have been why WWE opted to not have him and Undertaker close out WrestleMania 23, despite the fact the World Title was on the line and despite the fact Taker won the Rumble ensuring him a main event spot.
Batista has admitted in the past – including in a Jim Ross interview – that he carried a chip on his shoulder after that and was pissed the two didn’t go on last. It seems as though both men set out to steal the show and that they did. Taker and Dave tore the roof off the place and had what many would call the match of the night. Both matches still hold up as one of the best of either man’s career. The match went a long way to proving to everyone – maybe even those in WWE – that Batista vastly improved as a bell to bell wrestler.
2. Beating John Cena at SummerSlam
For several years, Batista and John Cena reigned supreme as the top dogs of the WWE. One ruled defiantly over SmackDown while the other ruled over Raw with an iron Five Knuckle Shuffle fist. They ascended to the mountain top at the exact same time with two respective World Title wins at WrestleMania 21.
At the height of their careers, they never went toe to toe with each other. Sure, they often tagged together and once were the final two of the 2005 Royal Rumble, but they never went one on one in an official match. Often times at the zenith of their popularity, it was never clear which one out of these two was the top face of the entire company. At SummerSlam 2008, it was finally time to settle that question once and for all.
In their match, no titles were on the line and the two babyfaces did not even necessarily hate each other. It was just time for them to decide which one of them was the best. On that night, Batista stood tall with his arm raised after the bell. Granted, Cena would get the upper hand in a more personal feud in 2010, it was big to see Batista finally establish himself as the better man against John Cena when that hypothesis was widely disputed among fans for so many years.
1. Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down
Every big WWE Superstar has one career defining moment that made them a star and a main eventer for life. For Stone Cold Steve Austin, it was passing out to the Sharpshooter. For Seth Rollins, it was slamming a chair into the backs of his Shield brothers. For Batista, it was simply giving a thumbs up followed by a climactic thumbs down.
For a little bit of context, Batista won the Royal Rumble in 2005. He had the choice to either stay on Raw and challenge his mentor Triple H for his World Heavyweight Championship or face WWE Champion JBL and John Cena in a Triple Threat for the title. Behind his back, Dave’s Evolution buddies conspired to make Batista decide to go to SmackDown. They even went as far as to hire someone to try to run Batista over with JBL’s limo to make it look like the WWE Champion had a vendetta.
Eventually, their plot failed right before the contract signing, where Batista teased going to SmackDown with a thumbs up, but ultimately put frowns on Evolution’s faces with a thumbs down.
The timing of everything – the facial expressions, the slow thumbs down, the calm before the storm – was executed to perfection. Batista could not have asked for a better, bigger moment before hitting the big time at WrestleMania 21.