Dave Batista

The following is information and pictures of WWE wrestler Dave Batista. Dave Batista Smackdown is one of the biggest starts in the WWE
(Credit to Slam Sports/Wikipedia)


REAL NAME: Dave Bautista
BORN: January 18, 1969 in Washington, D.C.
6' 6", 325 pounds
ALIASES/NICKNAMES: Kahn, Leviathan, Demon of the Deep, Deacon Batista

In a relatively short period of time, Batista has gone from simply being the fourth member of Evolution to being one of the biggest stars in the WWE and, with his victory at Wrestlemania, the WWE Champion.

Dave Bautista grew up in Washington, D.C. and worked as a bouncer in local bars and clubs. A meeting with Road Warrior Animal and Curt Hennig at a bodybuilding show in Minneapolis turned Batista towards a career in wrestling.

In early 1999, he began training at the Wild Samoans Training Camp in Allentown, Pennsylvania, led by Samoan Afa. A few months later, on October 30, 1999, Bautista debuted in Afa's WXW as Kahn, defeating Southtown Joe. He quickly rose to the top of the organization. At some point in his early career, Bautista was given a try out by World Championship Wrestling but WCW chose not to sign him.

Instead, Bautista headed to Ohio Valley Wrestling in July 2000 where he was dubbed the Demon of the Deep Leviathan (or just Leviathan for short) and became a member of the Disciples of Synn, which would also include the future Mordecai and Tyson Tomko.

After defeating WWE stars such as Kane, Val Venis and the Big Show, Leviathan won the OVW Heavyweight Championship from Doug Basham on November 28, 2001 in Jefferson, Indiana. After several months of defending the title, Bautista lost the championship to the Prototype (John Cena). Bautista demanded a rematch, but was soon on his way to the WWE.

He initially wrestled in the WWE during a dark match in February 2002. Wrestling as Leviathan, Batista (the WWE losing the "U" in his name) teamed with Brock Lesnar and the pair defeated Randy Orton and Shelton Benjamin. His first on-screen appearance in the WWE came in May 2002 as Deacon Batista, the bodyguard to D-Von Dudley who was working with the Reverend D-Von gimmick. Batista remained with D-Von for much of the spring and summer of 2002, before turning against the Reverend and striking out on his own.

The break from Dudley also meant his departure from Smackdown. After several weeks of vignettes heralding a "Genetic Revolution", Dave Batista appeared on Raw, defeating Justin Credible. Batista soon earned the attention of legendary Ric Flair, who helped Batista in his battles with Kane, including a victory at Armageddon 2002.

Evolution was formed in early 2003 when Batiste joined Flair, Randy Orton and Triple H in a new super group that many people compared to the Four Horsemen. Evolution quickly made a name for themselves when they beat down Scott Steiner and later ripped off Kane's mask.

However, Batista was soon sidelined with a torn bicep in March 2003 during a house show match against the Dudley Boyz. Two months later, he re-tore his tricep muscle when he fell while jogging. It would be October before Batista returned to action, attacking Bill Goldberg to earn Triple H's bounty on the then-World Champion.

In addition to aiding Triple H in his feud with Goldberg, Batista also had earned the ire of Shawn Michaels. Batista lost to Michaels at Armageddon 2003 but at the end of the night, he and Flair had won the WWE Tagteam Championship, as a last-minute entry into the Tagteam Turmoil match.

After losing the tagteam titles to Rob Van Dam and Booker T, Batista and Flair turned their attention to helping Randy Orton in his feud against Mick Foley. The three members of Evolution joined forces to take on Foley and The Rock in a victorious effort at Wrestlemania XX.

Batista and Flair regained the Tagteam titles the night after Wrestlemania but the title reign lasted only a couple of weeks before a loss to Chris Benoit and Edge cost Evolution the belts. After the loss, Batista began feuding with Chris Jericho, defeating Y2J at Vengeance. Jericho and Batista would also clash again, in a Triple Threat match involving Edge at SummerSlam, with the Intercontinental Championship in the balance. Despite Batista's best efforts, it was Edge who walked out with the title.

With Randy Orton ejected from Evolution the next night, Batista was now seen as the future of the group. Meanwhile, he and Flair would battle Chris Benoit and William Regal in tagteam action. As a solid member of Evolution, Batista defeated Randy Orton on a September 2004 edition of Raw to cost Orton his chance at becoming WWE World Champion while Triple H held the title.

As the Survivor Series approached, Batista began to look towards a possible shot at the WWE title if his team were to win the main event. However, the team of Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, Maven and Chris Benoit won, which was the beginning of tension between Batista and Triple H.

That tension escalated on a weekly basis, with Batista accidentally eliminating Ric Flair during a battle royale and Triple H's mistimed chair shot knocking out Batista during a tagteam match against Benoit and Jericho. When the combatants were announced for the Elimination Chamber with the vacant World title on the line, both Triple H and Batista were included and things began to escalate, especially when Batista defeated Rhyno during a "Beat the Clock Match" and earned the right to enter the match last, rather than Triple H.

At New Year's Revolution, Batista lost when he was eliminated by Randy Orton, although it appeared that Triple H could have helped save Batista from elimination, but chose not to. Triple H also did little to endear himself to his fellow Evolution member when he interfered in a Number One contender's match between Batista and Orton, causing Batista to be defeated.

No matter, Batista defeated WWE Tagteam Champions La Resistance to earn a spot in the Royal Rumble. On January 23, 2005 at the Rumble, Batista eliminated John Cena and won the right to compete in the main event at Wrestlemania 21. After several weeks of uncertainty, Batista decided to stay on Raw and face Triple H, leaving Evolution behind.

Batista would walk into the main event at Wrestlemania the challenger, and walk out the World Champion. A month later, Batista defeated Triple H in a rematch at Backlash and then followed it up with a victory over the Game in a Hell in a Cell match at Vengeance. It appeared that Batista would rule the roost on Raw for some time to come.

Instead, he would be the very last draft pick to move from Raw to Smackdown, suprising everyone, most notably JBL, by appearing at the end of the June 30th, 2005 edition of Smackdown. JBL, upset at not being named the new champion after John Cena left for Raw, immediately targetted Batista.Batista was more than up for the challenge, defeated JBL at the Great American Bash, SummerSlam and in a bullrope match on the September 9th edition of Smackdown.

With JBL dealt with, Eddie Guerrero was named the new number one contender. However, Guerrero has feigned friendship with the World Champion even after a loss to Batista at No Mercy although few expect the unlikely partnership to last.


Soon after retaining the title in a feud with Eddie Guerrero, WWE.com reported that Batista suffered a muscle tear in his back at the taping for the November 11, 2005 edition of SmackDown! due to a double chokeslam from The Big Show and Kane, which may force him to have surgery. [1]. Plans had been made for Batista to defend the title in a triple threat match with Eddie Guererro and Randy Orton on the November 18 episode, but the match didn't take place due to the unexpected death of Eddie Guerrero on November 13. Many internet wrestling sites speculated that Batista would lose the title to Guerrero in that match.

Despite his injury, Batista paid tribute to Eddie Guerrero during the SmackDown! tribute show dedicated to Guerrero's memory. Batista would say that Guerrero was not only one of his best and close friends, but he was also a large inspiration to him and helped him carry the burden of becoming a World Heavyweight Champion.

Batista would lead Team SmackDown! against Team RAW in an interbrand feud before 2005's Survivor Series. The feud would see The Big Show and Kane chokeslamming Batista several more times in the weeks leading up to Survivor Series, in an on-camera explanation for Batista's injury. Batista would help his team win the Survivor Series main event.

On the December 2 edition of Friday Night SmackDown!, Batista saved Rey Mysterio from a double team attack by RAW's reigning World Tag Team Champions, The Big Show and Kane. It was later announced that Mysterio would team with Batista to face Big Show and Kane at Armageddon 2005, a SmackDown! exclusive pay-per-view.

On the December 16, 2005 edition of SmackDown!, Batista and Mysterio got a title shot at the WWE Tag Team Champions, MNM. The two defeated MNM, to become champions in a match they dedicated to the late Eddie Guerrero. With Batista and Mysterio becoming the WWE Tag Team Champions it turned the clash with The Big Show and Kane at Armageddon into a Champions vs. Champions encounter. At Armageddon on December 18, Batista and Mysterio lost to Kane and Big Show when Kane pinned Mysterio after a chokeslam.

On the December 30, 2005 edition of SmackDown!, MNM defeated Batista and Mysterio after help from the returning Mark Henry to regain the WWE Tag-Team Championships. During the interference, Henry attacked Batista lifted him up and gave him the World's Strongest Slam. This was a set up by MNM's manager Melina who earlier that night said that she was going to sue Batista for "sexually harassing" her a week ago. The following week, Batista and Mysterio had their title rematch against MNM in a Steel Cage Match. Batista and Mysterio dominated the match but lost due to interference from Mark Henry again. Mark Henry demolished the door, and entered the cage, only to slam the door into Batista and Mysterio, which led to MNM winning the match, and retaining the WWE Tag Team Championship.


Injury and title surrender

On January 9, 2006, WWE.com announced that Batista had torn his right tricep following a match with Mark Henry at a live event on January 8, 2006 in Verona, New York. The following day, WWE.com announced that due to his injury, Batista was forced to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship at the SmackDown! tapings in Philadelphia on January 10, 2006.

In an emotional speech, Batista acknowledged his injury and said that "as a great champion, I must do the right thing. I have no choice but to surrender the World Heavyweight Championship." Many fans in the audience were noticeably disappointed and distraught by this annnouncement. Later that night, Kurt Angle, a RAW superstar, became the new World Heavyweight Champion after winning a grueling battle royal. These events were aired on the January 13, 2006 edition of SmackDown! Batista had successful surgery on his tricep on January 12, 2006, and it is expected he will be sidelined until WrestleMania 22 at the earliest.


My Comments on WWE Smackdown Batista.
I first was introduced to Batiste when he was part of the Evolution and my first impression that he was huge. I though his only issues were the number of tattoos and that he didnt interview well. I think he was a good champion and his Batista Bomb is pretty cool