WWE Sport Batista

According to Batista’s WWE published book “Batista Unleashed” he had a very difficult and poor upbringing and felt the repercussions of his mother being an open lesbian. He was born in Arlington, Virginia although he spent most of his childhood in a rough part of Washington DC, where he claims to have witnessed several murders on his doorstep and began stealing cars by the age of 13. He gets his unique name from being half Filipino as his father was from the Philippines. He is also part Greek as his mother is from Greece. Batista is a grandfather, has three daughters and was divorced twice, most recently from his wife Angie after he committed several affairs.

From a young age, due to his naturally impressive physique Batista worked as a bouncer at local Washington clubs, but was known for his bad attitude and violent behavior. He was fired from one club after severely beating two men and had to leave the bouncing industry after being sentenced to one years probation. He briefly worked as a lifeguard before taking up his dream of bodybuilding, which ultimately led to Pro Wrestling.

- Whilst working the bodybuilding circuit he was approached by wrestlers Road Warrior animal and the late “Mr Perfect” Curt Hennig, who saw potential in his monster size. They said he’d make a good wrestler and pointed him towards the WCW Powerplant, the official WCW training school. At this time WCW was well in to its dieing days and the Powerplant was just as political as backstage at Monday Nitro. Due to this fact and the possible opinion that they didn’t want to hire yet another “bodybuilder type,” Batista was told that he’d never make it in Pro Wrestling.

- Still willing to give wrestling a shot he went to WCW’s rival, the then WWF and they immediately saw potential in his size, as is often the case for big men and the WWE. He was sent to the famous Wild Samoan Wrestling School, ran by former tag team champion Afa Anoa’i. It was here that he learned the fundamentals and got his first live appearances for the Samoan’s World Xtreme Wrestling Indy show, going by the name of Kahn. Now he had the basics covered a spot opened up for him at Ohio Valley Wrestling, one of WWE’s development territories at the time and in the Summer of 2000 he officially signed a WWE development contract, beginning the long journey to super stardom. Here he’d learn the “WWE Style” of wrestling, understand psychology and get experience working TV tapings.

He was given the gimmick and name of Leviathan (which is a biblical sea monster), and his debut saw him rising out of the Mississippi river. He was a lot bigger back then and wore colored contact lenses to give him an evil appearance. Here he is filming an early vignette:

Tell me More about Batista

- Under the tutelage of the two veterans Batista, along with Orton were fast tracked to stardom, being a part of many main event storylines thanks to his connection with Triple H. He won his first WWE title during this era with fellow Evolution member Ric Flair at Armageddon 2003, ironically defeating the Dudley Boyz.

- Randy Orton was the first member to leave Evolution, but Batista wouldn’t stay loyal forever. They teased that he was beginning to turn on Triple H for a number of weeks and Hunter became worried that Batista was becoming a threat to his title. A failed attempt at stopping Batista enter the Royal Rumble saw their friendship reach near breaking point, and when he won the 2005 event, Flair and Hunter tried to make him join Smackdown at which point he turned on the Game. He went on to beat him at Wrestlemania 21, cementing him as a top contender. He would go on to continue his main event status feuding with the likes of JBL, Eddie Guerrero, Undertaker and Edge.

- There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Batista’s personal life, with many claiming him to be arrogant, a womanizer and hard to work worth – so much so that many applauded Booker T for punching him out one time backstage. His own book “Batista Unleashed” reveals a lot of dirt on himself including a relationship with Diva Melina.

Batista in the News

- During his early run in WWE both critics and “smart fans” labeled Batista as just another “big man” that couldn’t wrestle or cut a convincing promo. A lot of his early matches with Evolution were deemed poor, squash matches or only good because a team member “carried the match.” He eventually became universally accepted as a solid worker, who could have good matches with other good wrestlers, although isn’t considered a “ring general.” He also found a niche as a laid back and often arrogant character and tailored his promos as such.

- Throughout his career Batista has suffered several legitimate injuries that left him sidelined for extended periods of time. The first occurred on March 1st, 2003 when he pulled his triceps muscle at a house show. He returned in October taking out Goldberg. His second injury happened on the November 11th edition of Smackdown after getting chokeslammed by Kane. He tore one of his back muscles. He was further chokeslammed ultimately on to a car to storyline explain his absence. He was injured again in 2006 during a house show match with Mark Henry, tearing his triceps muscle again. He emotionally vacated his World title.

- There was a lot unstated heat on Batista early on in his career as other wrestlers felt he didn’t deserve his spot. It has often been described as jealousy that he got to learn from Ric Flair and Triple H virtually right off the bat and then was groomed for the main event slot he now holds.

- Around the 2005 period onwards Batista began to get serious heat from other wrestlers for his arrogant attitude and the fame seemed to be going to his head. The jealousy that was felt earlier on was at an all time high and many people felt he didn’t deserve his spot and was abusing it. This attitude came through to the public when he spoke negatively of the Smackdown brand in an interview with the UK Sun Newspaper. He stated “I’ve watched their tapings live and it seems like a lot of the guys couldn’t care less. There’s a lack of passion and pride,” and that it made him “sick.” In a later interview he said “there are guys on both shows who are lazy, couldn’t care less and show no dedication.” This even got him some heat from management who aren’t overly keen on wrestlers doing out of character interviews, especially if it involves talking bad about the product. Still by this time Batista was in an “untouchable” position within the company.

- In the same interview he blasted TNA Wrestling and AJ Styles stating “I’ve also seen clips of their car wreck matches with A.J. Styles doing his stunts. That’s not wrestling. Wrestling is storytelling.” AJ responded by saying “I think it’s funny that a guy who takes a bump and tears his back tells me that I don’t know how to wrestle.”

- In mid 2006 Booker T and Batista got involved in a legitimate backstage fight stemming from Batista’s big ego. Booker got the upper hand and was virtually backed by everyone in the locker room, who saw Batista as immature and arrogant, undeserving of his push. Batista had an attitude like he was the top man in the company and various wrestlers enjoyed the fact that he was brought down a peg or two by Booker.

- At times Batista has been known as a womanizer and his autobiography “Batista Unleashed” brought this to the forefront of media attention, revealing that he committed serial affairs on his ex-wife Angie. One quote sums it up:

“Now, don’t get me wrong, my ex-wife is the love of my life and I would never knowingly hurt her. However, while I was busting my butt on the road like a dog, she would sit around the house and do nothing. I mean, yeah, she had cancer, but she couldn’t vacuum? And since the chemo made her ‘not in the mood’, I had no choice but to have threesomes on the road. I mean, she’s talented and I hated to see her waste her life like that when she could be a dancer, or maybe a nurse. But she’s not a bad person and I take full responsibility for my actions, even though it was her fault.”

- Batista has also been linked to a couple of WWE Divas. Batista claims in his book and several interviews that in 2006 after he divorced his wife he began a strictly physical relationship with Melina, later they began dating. But John Morrison has gone on record as late as November 2007, claiming that he was still going out with Melina. She has yet to comment herself. It was also believed that Batista was actually cheating on his wife with Melina prior to their divorce. Their relationship stems from an on air segment where Melina “warmed up” Batista before his match.

The second Diva he’s been linked to is Shelly Martinez, aka Salinas in TNA and Ariel when she was on ECW. Although no specifics are known it is believed Batista harassed her in some way, but because he is such a star she got released instead. A picture later surfaced where Martinez gave the finger to a Batista action figure in retaliation for her release: