Rated-RKO-Franklin

You took out a sentence and ignore the rest. Batista had NO fan appeal before the push. Read the fucking post.

Many of you think Batista was "over" when he had only one noticeable feud. He did not wrestle main eventers often. He was an enforcer for Evolution. He had zero single title reigns. Then out of no where he is in the main event.

Broken Star

...

Because the fans started cheering him. We've already established this. He was over, so WWE pushed him. It's a simple formula, is it not? Push people who manage to get themselves over.

I'm really struggling to see what you find complex about it all.

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Rated-RKO-Franklin

Batista was not over before getting push. He was no near the main event.

Red Devils

Batista looked even looked like a main eventer with his Deacon gimmick. I think he was definitely ready for his push back then because he was the next big thing after Brock Lesnar and his look was right. I'm happy his push was back then because now I reckon he is getting to the back end of his career and struggaling with persistent injuries.

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Broken Star

Being over and being in the main event are completely different things...

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Kizza

You can compare Batista's push to Jeff's push. I know you're too much of a blind hater to appreciate what has happened, as Jeff was slowly built in a program with Triple H to prepare him for the main event, as he was OVER with the fans. OVER = Heat/Popularity, and doesn't always equate to main event. Usually, bookers will look at guys who are most over and push them as one of the main guys.

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horrorfan_1986

Batista's title win can be blamed upon two things happening.

First, Randy Orton's face run wasn't going as expected. As the months went on, Orton's reaction wasn't as strong as it was at the tail end of his heel run. The combination of poor booking and Orton being a bland face really ruined Orton's main event push in 2004. The original plan was to have Randy Orton defeating Triple H for the title at Wrestlemania 21. However, the WWE had the insight to realize that stretching the feud out a few more months would not be a good idea.

Second, right around the time of Survivor Series, Batista got over insanely and quickly. I was a fan of his since late 2002, but it was just something about him in late 2004 that made him so likable even though he was a heel. With the problems that Orton was having and Batista building up his popularity, the WWE called an audible and changed plans to have Batista face Hunter at Wrestlemania. With the WWE now behind pushing him, Batista became the quite possibly the most popular wrestler in the WWE at the time. As I recall, the reaction of Batista finally turning on Evolution during the contract signing was one of the bigger pops of the past five years.

I find it pretty interesting when you exam the two early careers of Randy Orton and Batista. They are truly polar opposites. From the moment Randy Orton debuted on Smackdown, the WWE went out and started grooming him to be a future main eventer. They lucked out and found a role for Orton that got extremely over in early 2004. Once they made changes, that overness decreased. On the other hand, Batista wasn't brought in to be a top guy. He had a good look and I'm sure Vince and company thought he had potential, but even as late as Summer 2004, I doubt McMahon had any idea how far Dave would go. However, in contrast to Orton, Batista's push came as the direct result of the fans desire to see him pushed. Wrestlemania 21 showed that the fans hand picked wrestler could be booked instead of the company's.

2005 was the year of Batista. Even with the IWC, I can't recall hearing anything really bad about him. Up until his Taker series, he put on his best matches and generally looked pretty damn good. (Matches with JBL do not count since you have to be God-like to get something good with JBL). It wasn't until his return in 2006 that things changed for Batista.

The WWE could of easily kept their plan of Randy Orton vs Triple H for Wrestlemania, but they proved to not be the total idiots that they're sometimes made out to be. I would say Batista's road to winning his first WWE World Title will go down with other historic wins such as Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit's.

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