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WrestleMania 35 saw the end of the in-ring career of one of the most decorated superstars in WWE history and arguably the greatest World Heavyweight Champion of all time.
Batista called it a career after losing his No Holds Barred match against Triple H at WrestleMania 35. Triple H was the one instrumental behind the rise of the Animal in the WWE, and it's fitting that Batista got to have his final match against his long-time mentor.
Throughout his career, the Animal has left us with many memories and is one of the most prominent names for the kids who grew up watching the WWE. There will not be a single person who has been watching WWE since early 2000s who'd say Batista is not in their list of favorite superstars.
But history has not been kind enough to the Animal as his stay was often overshadowed by John Cena, who was the poster boy for the WWE and the two often crossed each other's paths with the latter almost always emerging victorious.
Like Cena, Batista too left the WWE to forge a movie career and he slowly climbed the Hollywood ranks to star in some of the top grossing movies of the last few years.
However, focussing on his in-ring exploits alone, Batista has indeed boasted of a decorated career and it is only fitting that we should take a look back into the top 5 moments of his WWE Career, that made him a WWE legend.
#5 The Bounty Hunter
Though Batista was already a part of Evolution since its formation, the Animal had to miss the majority of 2003 after he tore his triceps at a live event in a match against Brock Lesnar.
WWE couldn’t have re-introduced him better as he returned on the October 20th, 2003 episode of Raw. Triple H had announced a $100,000 bounty to anyone who could take then World Champion Goldberg out.
Batista collected the bounty after interfering in Goldberg’s title defense against Shawn Michaels shattering the former’s ankle with a steel chair.
That was the perfect sneak peek into the Animal that Batista would go on to become in the future and is one of the most significant moments in Batista’s career.
The WWE's initial plan was to cast Mark Jindrak instead of Batista as a member of the Evolution faction. But fate had other ideas, the two have had contrasting careers owing to this massive change.
#4 Showdown with the Dead Man
After the Undertaker won the 2007 Royal Rumble match, he began to play mind games with the three world champions. WWE Champion John Cena, ECW Champion Bobby Lashley, and World Heavyweight Batista had the unfortunate opportunity to become the Undertaker's next victim.
On the February 5th,2007 episode of Raw the Undertaker chose to challenge Batista for the World title at WrestleMania.
Undertaker and Batista had a decent feud leading to their match in WrestleMania 23 which saw the Dead Man slaying the Animal to win his first World Heavyweight Championship and extend his streak to 15-0.
Though Batista was on the losing end on the match, being in the ring with the Undertaker at WrestleMania is one of the most significant achievements in a superstar's career, and Batista had achieved it very early in his career, which iterated the trust Vince McMahon had in Batista as the future of the WWE.
Batista also squared off against the deadman on multiple occasions for the world title on Smackdown and other WWE pay-per-views.
#3 The Animal is Born - Royal Rumble 2005
Batista’s singles push started in late 2004 after teasing some tension between him and Triple H in the previous weeks. The Animal began to show remorse for the actions of Evolution and started behaving like a fan favorite in the next few weeks compared to the stable’s tactics.
When 2005 started and the Royal Rumble fast approached, Triple H realized the possibility of Batista becoming a threat for his World Heavyweight Championship.
Triple H tried to persuade Batista into not entering the 2005 Royal Rumble match and asked him to focus on helping to keep the title on the Game.
Batista didn’t take that advice and entered the Royal Rumble and went on to win the match securing his spot to challenge for either the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21.
The 2005 Royal Rumble is where the Animal was born, and from on that point onwards, Batista's road to becoming the World Heavyweight Champion had officially started.
This was one of the few instances where Batista got the better of Cena. However, the pay-per-view will be most remembered for Mr McMahon pulling both his quad muscles and still ensuring that the show went on.
#2 The Animal is Unleashed - Implosion of Evolution
After Batista won the 2005 Royal Rumble match, Triple H tried to persuade him to challenge JBL for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21.
Triple H even orchestrated a fake attack on Batista by trying to run over Batista in a Limo resembling the one used by JBL. However, Batista came to know about Triple H’s ploy after overhearing Ric Flair and Triple H discussing the fake attempt in the locker room.
On the February 21st, 2005 episode of Raw there was a contract signing segment in which Eric Bischoff and Teddy Long, the General Managers of Raw and SmackDown tried to have Batista sign the contract to face the champion of their respective brands.
In one of the most iconic contract-signing segments in WWE history, Batista attacked his Evolution stablemates and chose to stay on Raw and challenge Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21.
Fans in the arena went beserk after Batista's 'thumbs down' and that is a sign he has adapted since to signify it is time to hit the Batista bomb.
#1 The Grand Coronation - WrestleMania 21
The most significant moment in Batista’s WWE career was when he main evented WrestleMania 21 and defeated Triple H to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
That was the moment which defined Batista as the future of WWE and unleashed his full potential as the superstar he would turn out to be.
The WrestleMania 21 showdown against Triple H laid the seeds for more matches between the two superstars which culminated in their last bout at WrestleMania 35.
If you had read the article to its entirety, you would've notice Triple H played the most significant part in transforming Batista into the Animal and Batista was right when he decided to have his final match against his mentor before calling it a career.
Batista will now look to focus more on his Hollywood career as he has already established himself as the most successful WWE superstar after the Rock to make an effective transition to Hollywood.
Thank you, Batista, for all the memories. Here's hoping the Animal to get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame next year.
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