WWE is hoping to eventually induct Batista into the Hall of Fame at some point this year. Batista was already announced to have the ultimate honor after accomplishing many great things in wrestling. Despite entering the industry later than most, Batista made up for lost time by getting over and becoming a top star in a short time.
Quite a few backstage stories have come out about Batista from his time in Evolution to the singles run to his returns. Batista became an even bigger star when branching out in Hollywood with a huge role in the Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers franchises. Find out just more about his life behind the scenes in WWE. The following backstage stories about Batista are hard to believe.
10 Almost replaced with Mark Jindrak in Evolution
The recent Evolution episode of the WWE Network Ruthless Aggression series saw a longstanding rumor confirmed. WWE wanted to have Mark Jindrak as the fourth member of Evolution even though Batista was the original plan.
Triple H revealed he couldn’t stand the immaturity of Jindrak and Randy Orton together. This saw plans end after vignettes with Jindrak were filmed to join the group. WWE instead waited for Batista to get healthy to officially become the fourth man.
9 WWE thought GOTG was going to fail
Batista’s 2014 run was a disaster until he turned heel. The end of the run saw Batista still wanting to work with WWE for a better stint in the summer. WWE turned him down despite the timing of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie coming out.
Marvel saw the movie became a smash hit as WWE missed out on priceless press coverage. Batista revealed that he believes the company thought his movie career would fail and didn’t want to risk booking him at the time of GOTG.
8 Tried to convince Titus O’Neil to quit WWE
The right connections can sometimes get the right person hired in WWE. Batista became a close friend of Titus O’Neil as the two lived close to each other in Florida. WWE eventually hired O’Neil after Batista suggested him to receive a tryout.
However, Batista also wanted Titus to quit when things grew ugly during a controversial moment. WWE suspended O’Neil for play wrestling with Vince McMahon on the stage with it running through WrestleMania 32. Batista was livid at how poorly WWE treated Titus in his eyes.
7 The botched finish of the 2005 Rumble
The 2005 Royal Rumble is remembered for the wild ending of John Cena and Batista both getting elimination and Vince McMahon tearing his quads power walking into the ring. McMahon’s legitimate rage stemmed from a botch.
Batista was meant to stay in the ring, with Cena hitting the mat to get eliminated. The match restarted with Batista still getting the win and setting up his story to challenge Triple H for the World Championship.
6 Warned WWE of fans booing him winning Rumble
The second Royal Rumble win for Batista came nine years later in 2014 and ended even worse. Batista won without much confusion, but fans were still livid at Daniel Bryan being snubbed from even entering the match.
WWE expected Batista to receive a hero’s welcome for his first run back in quite a few years. Batista warned WWE of fans resenting him coming right in to win the Rumble and wanted to play a heel. The turn finally happened, but it would have benefited them all to listen to him sooner.
5 Was livid at not getting to main event WM 23
Batista admitted he and The Undertaker were both upset heading into their World Championship match at WrestleMania 23. Despite having a great story of the title vs. Undertaker’s undefeated WM streak, Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena received the main event spot.
Undertaker and Batista went into their match with the intention of stealing the show. The story was magnificent, with Undertaker winning the title to extend the streak. Michaels vs. Cena was well-received to make it a tough answer for which was the better match.
4 Believes Bubba Ray intentionally tried to injure him
WWE always had huge plans for Evolution when the faction started. Randy Orton and Batista were handpicked to become the future of WWE, but that upset quite a few wrestlers in the company.
Batista believed Bubba Ray Dudley attempted to injure both young members of Evolution. The infamous match saw Batista, Orton, and Bubba all getting injured. Batista revealed Bubba was a jerk during the match, yelling at both young wrestlers.
3 Love triangle with Melina and John Morrison
WWE wrestlers always want to avoid getting into a backstage love triangle since it usually hurts everyone involved. Batista was the only one to not suffer for his role in the drama with John Morrison and Melina.
Various wrestlers from the era revealed Melina was cheating on Morrison with Batista. The autobiography from Batista even saw him admitting he fell in love with her. Morrison suffered the most with Vince McMahon reportedly thinking little of him afterward.
2 Was moved to Smackdown after burying show while on Raw
The Raw vs. Smackdown rivalry was quite real during the early years of the brand split. Batista enjoyed the perks of being part of Raw during his rise from 2004 to 2005. Interviews would see quotes of Batista mocking Smackdown for having lower numbers, and he questioned their passion.
WWE decided to react to this news by sending him to the blue brand. John Cena moved to Raw with the WWE Championship in the draft, and Batista took the World Championship to Smackdown. Batista ended up taking great pride in leading Smackdown, but it was started as a punishment.
1 Booker T destroyed him in real fight
Batista had a poor reputation for having a big ego during his peak from 2004 to 2007. Smackdown saw Booker T growing resentment towards Batista since he was viewed as the locker room leader at the time.
The tension boiled over during the filming of a Summerslam commercial. Booker went toe to toe with Batista, with fists being thrown in a real fight. All accounts of the story claimed that Booker destroyed Batista with ease to humble him for the better of his career.