Character work is one of the most important aspects of pro-wrestling. Some would say that if a superstar is believable enough in terms of his character and good enough on the microphone to get his gimmick across to the fans, the in-ring deficiencies are excused. Therefore, when a wrestler goes through a character shift, such as a heel turning into a face and vice versa, said wrestler has to be at the right place, at the ring time, and working alongside the right people. Otherwise, you become the Big Show and a meme is born.
A face turn, if done right and with the proper thought put into the booking can launch the wrestler into another sphere of stardom. Nowadays, a single promo is all that is needed for wrestlers to switch alignment but to the credit of the WWE, some turns have been booked incredibly well, from start to finish. Stone Cold at WrestleMania 13, Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 18, John Cena in 2003, and finally, Batista in 2005. Stone Cold, Hulk Hogan, and John Cena are some of the biggest stars in history and therefore, these specific character switches overshadow the turn of Batista but looking back, the face turn of the enforcer of Evolution was actually one of the best character arcs in the history of the business.
A History Of Evolution In WWE
For a quick trip down memory lane, Evolution was formed in 2003 and for the next two years, the stable came to dominate RAW. Triple H was the leader and the top heel in WWE Ric Flair was the superstar of the past while Orton and Batista were the future. Triple H had stated that the stable was built for the future as after he was done, Orton and Batista would carry the torch into the future. In kayfabe reality, the group was assembled for the purpose of keeping the title on the leader. Randy Orton was the first one to turn against Triple H but after a short title reign, the youngest world champion lost his title and consistently jobbed to the Game throughout his stay on RAW.
With Flair and Batista having his back, Triple H become one of the biggest heels in recent memory and fans wanted nothing more than to see Triple H get what was coming to him. The Cerebral Assassin had decimated hero after hero and even his protégé, Randy Orton, could not take the belt off him. The one constant around Triple H was Batista, nicknamed the Animal and as the muscle of the stable, Batista was consistently built up as an unstoppable force. After the failure of Orton, Batista was given a steady push and he mauled whoever came in his way.
The big moment for Batista came during Royal Rumble 2005 and after winning the match, fans started cheering for the second biggest heel on RAW, hoping that Batista would finally end the reign of terror of Triple H. Even before his rumble victory, differences and conflicts were teased and when Batista won the rumble, Triple H did everything he could to make sure that Batista challenged then WWE Champion, JBL of Smackdown. This included Triple H manufacturing a feud between Batista and JBL but the moment of truth came during an episode of RAW where Batista had to decide upon which champion to face at WrestleMania 21.
The crowd was red-hot during the contract signing, loudly booing the mere mention of Batista moving to SmackDown and allowing Triple to continue his reign. After teasing Flair and Triple H, Batista twisted his smile to a look of hatred and gave a gesture of thumbs down at the last second, causing the crowd to erupt into cheers. The night ended with Triple H being put through the table and Batista singing the contract for the match at WrestleMania.
Batista Was The Man To End The Reign Of Terror
The slow burn of his turn was pulled off to near perfection. Batista was pushed as the hero that was needed to finally get rid of this Triple and the Animal filled the role perfectly. The moment the muscle of the group turned against Triple H, the fans knew that that Game was over. Triple H tried everything in his power to retain his title and on one episode of RAW, The King of Kings grabbed his trusted sledgehammer to bust open the head of his nemesis just a few weeks before the match.
However, as Batista had stated, he was stronger and bigger and as Triple H swung the hammer, Batista blocked the attempt and then broke the hammer on his leg, to the horrifying surprise of Triple H. Aside from putting over Batista as a legit monster in matches, Triple H was far from confident as he usually was, and occasionally showed concern and even fear at the sight of Batista. As stated before, Batista was at the right place and time and worked alongside the right person, Triple H, who for all his prior faults, played his role extremely well.
Batista crushing the hammer was symbolic as it signaled the end of Triple H’s domination of RAW.