Chris King Looks Back: Batista’s Choice For WWE WrestleMania 21

A look back at the night Batista charted his course to greatness, when he picked his opponent for WWE WrestleMania 21.

In 2003, the hottest faction was Evolution, consisting of Randy Orton, Batista, Ric Flair, and then-World Heavyweight Champion Triple H. Evolution was something special, as HHH would play mentor to the young up-and-coming superstars Orton and Batista. 

Batista had watched his mentor destroy all his opponents and even turn on his protégé, Orton, after being the youngest champion in WWE history at the 2004 SummerSlam event. “The Animal” saw HHH’s greed and selfishness when the infamous “thumbs down” segment happened on Raw. Evolution beat the living hell out of Orton. He left Orton a bloody mess while beating him with the world title. 

At the 2005 New Year’s Revolution PLE, Batista was eliminated when HHH intentionally sacrificed him and ultimately cost him his first world championship. The Animal was shown the footage by his former teammate Orton about the lengths HHH would go to become world champion. 

Batista would go on to win the 2005 Royal Rumble and would be trying to decide if he wanted to go to SmackDown and face JBL for the WWE Championship or face his mentor HHH at WrestleMania. For weeks, HHH and Flair would try to manipulate The Animal into making the jump to SmackDown, including staging a hit-and-run attempt on Batista with JBL’s limousine. HHH thought he was so slick and had everything in the bag until the night of Batista’s contract signing for the brands. 

In one of the most watched segments of all time, Batista shocked the WWE universe and even his mentor himself when he did the “thumbs down” signal once again and hit a massive powerbomb through the table. “Hunter, I know what I’m going to do; I’m staying right here on Raw, and I’m taking the world championship from you!” The Animal was unleashed, and he would go on to win the championship at WrestleMania and defeat HHH three times in a row. Batista would then be moved over to SmackDown and continue his dominant championship reign. 

HHH knew what he was doing in the long run; he set Batista up for success throughout his entire WWE career. He would go off to Hollywood years later until he was ready to retire. The two former Evolution members would face off one final time in 2019, where HHH’s career would be on the line at WrestleMania 35. Batista repaid the favor for his mentor by allowing him to defeat him and ‘doing the honors’ to a man he respected. 

Batista was able to finish out his career exactly how he wanted and retire from in-ring action. None of this would have happened if HHH hadn’t used Evolution to catapult Batista into success in WWE.