Paul versus Dave at The Showcase of the Immortals
Quietly, Batista and Triple H have put together a very good reality era feud in 2019.
The story so far
The last time Batista competed on the grandest stage of them all, he was headlining WrestleMania 30 with Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan. This was the peak of the Boo-tista movement. Sure there was a Blue-tista spin-off, but overall Batista’s return in 2014 was a gigantic flop.
Now 50-years old, Batista had to wait five years to redeem himself. At SmackDown 1000 during the reunion of Evolution, The Animal planted the seeds for a future match with Triple H. After years of behind the scenes negotiations, it felt like WWE and Batista would never work together again.
Then on the Feb. 25 edition of Raw, Batista destroyed Ric Flair and finally got the attention of Triple H.
The build to WrestleMania 35
Since Batista bodied a 70-year-old man, the build to WrestleMania 35 has pretty much been on cruise control for both men. Maybe due to their age, maybe due to scheduling, or maybe due to both, Triple H versus Batista has taken a ‘less is more’ approach to selling their match.
In early March, both men agreed to a No Holds Barred rule set would best fit their rivalry. Two weeks later, Triple H would up the stakes and put his career on the line at WrestleMania 35.
The go-home show
In reality this feud can be traced all the way back to the original break-up of Evolution and the build to the main event of WrestleMania 21 back in 2005. On that night, Batista toppled Triple H and took away The Game’s World Heavyweight Championship.
Batista would run up the score on Triple H again in the fallout from their WrestleMania match, beating The Game at the Backlash and Vengeance pay-per-views.
14 years later, how can this feud between two of the biggest names of the last 20 years still be so one-sided? Isn’t Triple H due for at least one win over The Animal at some point? Coming off a torn pectoral muscle and subsequent surgery, maybe this really will be the 49-year-old’s last match.
Maybe, Triple H was never meant to get the best of Batista.