Did Him Wrong: Batista Was Never Appreciated By Pro Wrestling Fans

At Wrestlemania 21, the WWE created one of the biggest pro wrestling stars in the 21st Century.

A man that goes by the name of Dave Batista or simply Batista.

The 6-foot-6, near 300-pound monster gave up no size in his bout with Triple H at Wrestlemania 21 and FINALLY ended the "era" of "The Game." With one "Batista Bomb" and the pinfall victory, Batista became the symbol of change in WWE.

Change meaning that, no longer were the new faces in the WWE; like the John Cenas and Rey Mysterios, going to become victims to those performers who were with the company for years. Younger, hungrier, faster stars had the same opportunity to win "the big one."

Proving that he was no fluke as World Champion, Dave went on to hold the belt for nine months before an injury forced him to release it.

When he came back from the injury, Batista won an additional five Heavyweight Championships, and continued to put his beaten body on the table, despite a number of injuries.

And for what? So that he could be given the tag as "overrated" by the supposed "IWC". So that he could be given the label as a talentless fool who only made it because he had the "look."

Batista's rise to the top was the example of hard-work and perseverance.

I don't want to go into his personal life, but if you ever read the man's book, you would clearly know that him even making it to age 20 was a miracle. His story isn't some Rocky Balboa sobfest, but as a kid he had plenty of bumps and obstacles in his way.

Run ins' with the law, growing up in poverty, divorce of his parents. witnessing deaths on his yard, and other tough things would keep pushing him back in life and never let him grow.

But, Dave kept pushing back and fought to the position where he is now. You don't have to care, some of the stuff, he brought on himself. 

You do however, have to respect the fact that he never let it put him down and kept battling. This is the type of man he is, a champion in the ring and out.

Now, getting out of his personal life, his rise to the top in the WWE ring was a thing of beauty.

Did you expect a guy who was the bodyguard for "Reverend" D-Von Dudley, to climb the ladder of success, let alone even compete in a Wrestlemania match that wasn't named "The 26 Man Battle Royal"?

No, but he proved everyone wrong once again.

A little group you might have heard of, "Evolution," took him under their wing and molded him into the "Animal."

He spent about three years with "Evolution," and in that time he developed his character, sharpened his skill-set in the ring, and was slowly moving from the low-cards to a upper-mid card level.

His time finally came at the 2005 Royal Rumble, where he eliminated John Cena (ironically enough) and was on the "Road to Wrestlemania", where then he crushed Triple H in the main-event and picked up the World Heavyweight Title.

For those critics who still have the audacity to verbally thrash him, he had to wait four years before he could get a main-event push.

IT WASN'T SOME OVERNIGHT THING LIKE BROCK LESNAR!!

Does working your way through the "food-chain" make you overrated?

What is it IWC, is it his move-set? Is it his style of wrestling?

Is being a actual Heavyweight a crime this day and age of pro wrestling?

Yeah, his body could never pull off what AJ Styles does in the ring, but this man is the example of what a big time wrestler in the "WWF's Golden Age" was like.

A powerhouse and a big man. Sure these type of performers can't fly around the ring, but pro wrestling fans have to learn to except more than one type of wrestling style.

He was a brawler/powerhouse wrestler, when did we stop appreciating these type of performers?!!

If we can't learn love more then just the high-flyers or the techincal wrestlers, then would we give The Undertaker the "overrated tag" if he didn't have the whole "Deadman" persona? No, I don't think so.

As wrestling fans we are COMPLETELY selfish, we always find a fault in EVERYTHING we get from WWE.

After The Rock left WWE, the fans started to create rumors about how Vince McMahon didn't want to give many chances to non-white performers to try and go after the World Championship.

Folks, hello, I don't exactly think Batista is all white. His parents directly come from a Filipino and Greek decent.

I know, shocking right, a non-white performer not named Dwayne Johnson won over 5 Heavyweight Championships in the WWE, and in the 21st Century no less.

From Wrestlemania 21 to January 2006, there's no denying it, Dave was the biggest star the company had to offer not named John Cena, I can only imagine how how much pro wrestling fans would have ridiculed Dave if he ever achieved the same amount of fame as John.

God almighty, I DON'T want to imagine what people would have said to Batista. Maybe it was a good thing he got hurt and let Cena have the spotlight.

You can call this a rant, you can call this a tribute, I don't really care. The point is, despite going through torn bicep injuries, hamstring tears and the whole nine yards, Dave was thrown under the bus after he retired from wrestling by a majority of the Pro Wrestling Community on the Internet.

For no reason, they blasted a guy who worked 300 dates a year to entertain fans.

Was he ever Brock Lesnar or The Undertaker in the ring, no, comparing his wrestling ability to them would be silly.

Does he deserve more then just a snub and a kick in the testicles? Yes.

I just wanna wish Batista good luck in his future with mixed martial arts and hope, that just like Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley have acknowledged the physicality of pro wrestling, Batista can do the same for this form of entertainment. 

PLEASE, VOTE ON THE POLL.