The Road to WrestleMania continues here today at SLTD Wrestling, as I present the first of my three instalments in our WrestleMania In-Depth series that pits Duckman, Gary and myself in the position of analysing the top three matches taking place at the 30th anniversary of WWE’s annual super show. That’s a mouthful, eh?
In this series, Gary’s handling the encounter between Daniel Bryan and Triple H, Duckman’s dealing with Brock Lesnar’s efforts to conquer The Undertaker’s undefeated WrestleMania Streak, and I’ll be discussing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match featuring Batista, Randy Orton and the winner of Triple H vs Daniel Bryan.
I’m aware that this will be a triple-threat match when all’s said and done, but since we won’t know for sure who’ll be competing alongside Orton and Batista until that night, I’m going to put most of my focus on those two men. I’ll be discussing the impact Bryan and Hunter have had on this build-up and the match itself, but just be warned that the bulk of it (especially today’s article) deals with Orton and Batista.
A few weeks ago, we were heading into WrestleMania 30 with the idea that Batista and Randy Orton would be squaring off mano y mano, and while the idea of that happening at the biggest event on the wrestling calendar didn’t appeal to anybody (myself included), a deeper look at the history between these two men makes it seem somewhat poetic.
When looking at the storied careers of Batista and Randy Orton, it’s hard not to see some similarities between the two. In fact, they kickstarted their WWE careers together in Ohio Valley Wrestling, and even crossed paths down there on at least one occasion. Take a look at this video of a dark match at a SmackDown taping in February 2002, where Leviathan (Batista) takes on the young and talented third generation athlete, Randy Orton.
It’s crazy to see how far they’ve comes since their days as rookies in the wrestling business. I’m not saying they’re wrestling Gods at this stage (although one can argue that Orton’s talent today is on par with many of the best wrestlers in WWE history), but it’s fascinating to know that these two students of the game that we saw in the video above are co-main-eventing WrestleMania together 12 years later.
Their story is over a decade long, and while their first encounter may have been as OVW performers, you can’t argue that they officially made their start in the WWE as part of Evolution.
Evolution was a recipe for success from the very second it was founded.
You had Triple H, the most dominant heel in the company at the time, with the World Heavyweight Championship around his waist. Then there was Ric Flair, the veteran – highly regarded as one of, if not the best wrestler of all-time. Batista was the powerhouse of the group with a lot to accomplish and the ability to do so. And then we had Randy Orton, the third generation athlete with bucketloads of talent and charisma to boot.
The faction took WWE by storm, with Hunter reigning triumphant over the main event scene, Randy Orton securing himself an Intercontinental Championship victory and feuding with huge names like Mick Foley, and Batista and Ric Flair were running roughshod over the tag-team division, earning themselves the titles in the process.
Everyone on the roster hated them, but there was absolutely nothing they could do about it.
It wasn’t until Raw the night after SummerSlam in 2004 that Evolution started to implode.
Orton, having just become the youngest World Champion in WWE history after defeating Chris Benoit 24 hours earlier, was on top of the world, and wanted to celebrate with his best friends. Unfortunately for him, jealousy got the better of his buddies, namely Triple H. Big surprise there, huh?
Batista was the first man to draw blood on Orton, slamming him into the canvas, leading to his own personal evisceration by his former friends right there and then. This would start Orton’s biggest feud so far, against Triple H, who ultimately defeated him at the Royal Rumble in 2005. But while Randy Orton seemed to be finished in the title scene (at least for the time being), it was at that very same event that Batista entered it.
The Animal won the Royal Rumble match by beating 29 other men, eliminating John Cena last by throwing him over the top rope. A couple of months later, he did to Triple H and Ric Flair what they did to Randy Orton. He signed the contract to face Hunter at WrestleMania 21, before attacking Flair and powerbombing Triple H through a table to informally resign from his role as Evolution’s “heavy”.
Orton and Batista were in huge matches at WrestleMania 21, against The Undertaker and Triple H respectively. And while only Batista emerged victorious, earning the World Championship and sitting proudly atop the WWE ladder, Randy Orton showed that he was far from a one-trick pony, taking the Deadman to his limit and nearly putting the Streak to rest. And as they say, the rest was history.
I suppose you could say that the next chapter in the story of Batista and Randy Orton came in late-2008, when Orton – with the help of Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase – injured Batista and put him on the shelf for a number of months, while Orton reigned supreme as the WWE Champion.
When Batista returned shortly after WrestleMania 25, that’s when thing really started to heat up.
Triple H had just beaten Randy Orton on the Grandest Stage of Them All, but it wasn’t over. Orton and Legacy still had unfinished business with The Game and the McMahon family, and when Orton and McMahon squared off on Raw, all-out chaos ensued.
Stopping Orton from punting his father in the head, Shane McMahon interfered and tackled The Viper, only to be man-handled himself by DiBiase and Rhodes. Triple H also came out to help, but his efforts were unsuccessful. Then, after months away from action, Batista ran down to the ring and saved the day, clearing the ring of his foes.
This set up the match at Backlash which saw Triple H, Batista and Shane McMahon take on Randy Orton and Legacy, with the added stipulation that if Orton won, he would be awarded the WWE Championship. After a punt to Triple H’s skull, Orton slithered his way to victory, but that wasn’t it for his feud with Batista.
They squared off at Judgement Day, and although he came close, Batista couldn’t win the championship because Orton got himself intentionally disqualified. Legacy soon rushed the ring and they attacked Batista to end the show.
Batista got his rematch at Extreme Rules, and to ensure that there would be no shenanigans, it was made a Steel Cage match. Batista won the title, but had to relinquish it the next night on Raw because of a biceps injury which kept him out of action until September. Batista then personally told Orton that he was moving to SmackDown.
This put an end to their rivalry, with Batista soon turning heel to challenge John Cena at WrestleMania 26, and Orton turning face to take on his former posse, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase at the same event.
A couple of months later, Batista left the WWE – presumably for good at that time – while Orton continued his impressive career, earning more championships and creating more career-defining moments – including his WWE World Heavyweight Championship win at TLC in December of 2013.
Orton will be putting that very same championship on the line against Batista and either Daniel Bryan or Triple H in two weeks at WrestleMania 30. All of that brings us nicely full circle. It’ll all come to a head at WrestleMania 30 when they face each other once again after a 12-year journey from rookies in a SmackDown dark match to modern-day icons main-eventing the Showcase of the Immortals.
But what events of the past three months have led to this match taking place? Well, you’ll have to read my next instalment to find out, when I’ll be discussing the build-up to this match and how I would’ve changed it.
All I’ll say for now is that Batista and Randy Orton are two very successful men in the WWE, and despite the fact that Batista left to do movies and try his hand at MMA, his accomplishments in the WWE are undeniable. They rose to stardom together and have achieved unimaginable levels of success between the ropes, be it as part a faction or as a singles competitors – babyface or heel.
Make sure you’re here next week to read my thoughts on the build-up! It’ll be a bit more no holds barred it’s been today, so it should be good!
If you enjoyed this look at Batista and Randy Orton’s history, make sure you read Gary and Sam’s first WrestleMania In-Depth articles here and here. You can also like/share this article on Facebook, tweet out the link to it and leave your comments below!
If you want to speak to me about wrestling, my writing or anything at all, don’t hesitate to follow me on Twitter @AdamOB_SLTD.
Thanks for reading!
Self-Professed Conversational Wizard.
Admin, Editor and Writer for SLTD Wrestling.
Creator of 'Under the Spotlight'.
Studying Computing in Games Development.
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