Welcome to a special look at Batista. Or is it a special look at Dave Bautista, the actor? I'll let you decide as I present the first UnWrest Focus, a blog post where I will look at the career of a wrestler and offer an opinion based on their work. For the pilot of this type of post, I am focusing on Dave Bautista, the former wrestler turned Hollywood actor. As we know, Bautista has been a mainstay of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2014. But before then, he was The Animal, Batista. But which is larger than the other? Is Batista still his claim to fame? Or has Dave Bautista, through his work primarily as Drax The Destroyer, overshadowed his former persona? Let's take a dive in to this guy's career, shall we?
_ _ _
A History of Batista in WWE
Batista is a name familiar to any WWE fan. From 2002-2010, Batista was the resident big man in the WWE locker room. When first introduced to the mainstream WWE fan, Batista was a deacon cohort of Reverend D-Von on Smackdown. But eventually Batista's impressive physique landed him on Raw where he soon joined up with Ric Flair. Then, Evolution happened. The stable paired Batista with legend Ric Flair, main event superstar Triple H, and the blue-chipper Randy Orton as WWE's answer to the Four Horsemen. Despite having an early injury that took him out for most of 2003, Batista returned with a vengeance, instantly becoming The Enforcer of the stable and winning multiple tag team championships with Ric Flair. In 2004, Batista was slowly being groomed to be the next World Heavyweight Championship, a destiny he fulfilled at WrestleMania 21 in 2005. Triple H did the unthinkable for Triple H before 2005: he jobbed to Batista in 3 straight matches including a memorable Hell in a Cell match at Vengeance that year. Batista was a made man and was shipped back to Smackdown in 2005 as its star attraction. There, he headlined SmackDown PPVs with JBL and Eddie Guerrero. But injury would again rear its ugly head in his career, forcing Batista to surrender the championship in January of 2006. Batista returned to instant main-event status on Smackdown, winning the World Championship eventually against King Booker at Survivor Series that year.
But perhaps Batista's greatest rivalry was coming in 2007. After winning the Royal Rumble in 2007, The Undertaker chose to wrestle The Animal at WrestleMania 23 in front of a reported 80,000 people. There was some question as to whether Batista would be "the guy" to beat The Streak, the name for the fact that Undertaker was previously undefeated at the event. Batista would be unsuccessful in retaining his championship that night, but his match with Undertaker surpassed all expectations and proved to be the beginning of a fun rivalry that would last throughout the year.
Batista and Undertaker would wrestle several more times throughout the Spring, including a Last Man Standing Match at Backlash (which ended in a tie) and a Steel Cage Match on Smackdown (which Undertaker won in controversial fashion). Batista would continue to feud with the likes of Edge and The Great Khali throughout the summer and fall until once again meeting Undertaker at Cyber Sunday and Survivor Series. Batista would end up beating Undertaker at both events, with Cyber Sunday being a clean victory and the Survivor Series Hell in a Cell match ending with interference from a returning Edge. Batista would pursue the World Championship after losing it at Armageddon 2007, but he'd lose both the Rumble and the Elimination Chamber matches in 2008.
After a feud with Shawn Michaels, Batista was drafted to Raw and would end up winning the World Heavyweight Championship on that brand against Chris Jericho at Cyber Sunday that year, which ended up being a short lived World Championship run. Batista would end up being put out of action by Randy Orton's Legacy at the end of that year, and he would end up winning the WWE Championship one night at Extreme Rules 2009. But he was injured (again) and was forced out for a few months. When he returned, he was sent to SmackDown and began teaming with Rey Mysterio. But after losing a Fatal Four Way with Mysterio, Punk, and Undertaker, Batista would turn heel for the first time in 5 years and begin destroying his former friend Mysterio. Batista became a narcissistic villain focused on himself, feuding with Mysterio and Undertaker before beating John Cena for the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber 2010. Batista would lose by submission to Cena at WrestleMania 26, and after a couple month program with Cena, Batista would leave the WWE by the end of May 2010. (It should be noted that heel Batista was an awesome Batista who demanded the spotlight be put on him literally during his entrance and had gold moments like this with the fans.)
Batista would not return to WWE programming until the build for Royal Rumble 2014 when it was announced he was coming back. Batista's return did NOT go according to plan. He would win the 2014 Royal Rumble to a thunderous Boo-Vation from the Pittsburgh crowd who wanted to see Daniel Bryan in (let alone win) the annual event. Batista would then suffer from constant rattling by the fans who would chant for Bryan and boo Batista. Nothing WWE did would change this mindset. So, WWE had to call an audible, turn Batista heel, and give Bryan a spot in the main event story at WrestleMania. Batista went from star to supporting player in the storyline, and it was not pleasant. Batista would join up with Randy Orton and Triple H to reform Evolution in a 2 month feud with The Shield, and after losing both, Batista literally waved goodbye to the WWE on Monday Night Raw and left for good. (At least for good up to this point.) It should be noted that during this whole time period, Batista did little to nothing to promote his new movie: a Marvel film focused on a team of misfits in space trying to save the galaxy from certain damnation. It was called Guardians of the Galaxy, based on the Marvel Comics of the same name. Success was not certain, but it ended up changing Dave Bautista's life forever.
_ _
Drax The Destroyer- The Evolution of Dave Bautista
When Batista left WWE in 2010, he went for Hollywood to seek out a bit of the success that others such as Dwayne Johnson or John Cena had achieved. Like Johnson, Bautista had gotten an acting gig guest-starring on a TV show while still employed by WWE (2006's appearance in Smallville). He also appeared in movies such as The Scoprion King 3: Battle for Redemption, The Man with the Iron Fists, and Riddick. But it was 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy that would prove to be Bautista's greatest test. After all, he was still raw (pardon the pun) in Hollywood. And while some comic book fans would say Batista looked the part, there was doubt as to whether he could carry the part. Indeed, there was doubt that a movie with a talking tree and a anthropomorphic raccoon could be a hit with audiences to begin with. Well, as we all know, those doubts were laid asunder when Guardians of the Galaxy hit theaters in the summer of 2014. The movie ended up being a sleeper hit for the studio, and many critics and fans heaved applause and praise to Bautista for his performance as the literal "muscle-bound whack job." (Hey. If Bautista ever reads this, those are Star-Lord's words. Not mine. Lol.) Bautista would reap the benefits of his performance with return gigs as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Avengers: Infinity War. In fact, many audience members would say Drax stole a couple scenes in the newest Avengers film with his classic dialogue. (Note: The "WHY IS GAMORA" line was reportedly ad-libbed by Bautista on set.) Bautista would roll with his newfound fame with roles in movies such as Spectre, Blade Runner 2049, and Hotel Artemis.
Today, Bautista is looking at more starring roles in his direction. Recently, a movie with Sylvester Stallone, Escape Plan 2, came out with a 3rd one being reportedly on its way. Bautista is still scheduled for another Avengers movie and a third Guardians of the Galaxy film as well. In fact, it's that third Guardians movie that brings up another factoid on how much Bautista's fame has grown since 2014 in Hollywood. Recently, Guardians director/mastermind James Gunn was fired from Disney in response to years-old Tweets that Gunn had made that the studio deemed to be morally reprehensible. While the other actors in Guardians have come in defense of Gunn, none have done so with as much fervor or fire as Bautista has on Twitter. His barbs at Disney have been nothing but sharp with no regard for any sort of repercussions that the studio may have to him. No one five years ago would have given Bautista the time of day regardless of what his tweets were. But now, with his stardom continuing to rise in Hollywood, Bautista's words have become more noteworthy to those in the media and social media.
It's a reversal of fate for a man who 17 years prior was known as Leviathan in OVW. Indeed, even when he was in WWE, Batista was still not seen on the level of other acts around him by WWE audiences. He still had others around him like Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, John Cena, Guerrero, and Mysterio who had more fan adulation and attention than he did, even as world champion. While I'm not comparing Bautista's stardom to that of other Marvel actors (like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johannson, or Chadwick Boseman), I am saying that his stardom has risen to the point where he can offer his opinion and people will consider it.
_ _ _ _
So this all leads to my major thesis: Bautista will be remembered more for being Drax the Destroyer than he ever will for being Batista. While Batista was a solid World Champion in WWE and main evented several shows (including a couple WrestleManias), it was in Drax the Destroyer that Dave Bautista was able to produce his greatest, longest lasting work. I know it sounds silly to compare a 9-10 year career to something that an actor does over a period of several months at a time for a 2 hour output. But it's the truth. Wrestling fans will never accept Batista as one of their own the same way the mass audiences have accepted Dave Bautista as Drax. He was always "the guy in the way" for many fans of someone else that was "more deserving," "didn't get the push," or "wasn't Vince's or Triple H's boy." In other words, he was the 2000's Roman Reigns. But Dave Bautista is beloved and adored as Drax by the masses who chuckle at his lines about catching things over his head or being so still and quiet that he can be rendered invisible.
Also, consider this: Years from now when WWE inducts Batista into the WWE Hall of Fame, which you know they will, what will be the key thing that people say about him? They'll say "decent enough wrestler, but he found himself in Hollywood." And you know why? Because it's the truth. Again, he had a hell of a wrestling career, but his movie career is what will get him the nod in Titan Towers in Stamford. They'll induct him to get the press for having Bautista/Drax The Destroyer/whatever other role he hopefully gets into much more so than they will for actually being the wrestler Batista. I know that's a jaded perspective to have on the wrestling industry, but can you explain to me how some of the people are in the Hall of Fame other than the free press it gets?
_ _ _ _
In conclusion, allow me to give you my own personal take on Batista/Dave Bautista. In telling this story of Batista, I will tell you my live event experiences seeing The Animal. I was a fan of Batista coming up through the ranks in WWE through 2002-2004. I remember being in the crowd for Badd Blood 2004 in Columbus when he beat up Maven on Sunday Night Heat. I looked over to my friend and said "That's going to be the next big thing in wrestling." He had that something about him that screamed main eventer. I was right, although I will be the first to admit that it took longer than I thought it would. But I was happy to see him get the gold at WrestleMania on PPV and thought he was going to be bigger than John Cena in the long run (again, I was wrong).
Fast Forward a couple years later. It's Armageddon 2007 in Pittsburgh at the old Mellon Arena. The main event was Undertaker vs. Edge vs. World Champion Batista in a Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship. I'm in the crowd watching the match unfold. And I found myself forgetting that Batista was in the match for the moment. And even when he was in the match, I was rooting for the other two men to win the belt that night. It wasn't that Batista had really done anything to garner me not cheering for him. I just liked the other two wrestlers better that night. But that really summarizes Batista's run in WWE: for the most part, whenever he was in there with another wrestler with any respect or credibility with the audience, he was always going to be that OTHER guy in the match.
Meanwhile, I will tell you that my favorite Marvel movie is Guardians of the Galaxy. And one of the biggest reasons for that is the chemistry between the main cast in the movie. I forget that it's Dave Batista, The Animal, when I'm watching Bautista's performance. I think it's actually Drax because his performance is so spot on. And I have a similar feeling whenever I see him laughing with Mantis in Guardians 2 or telling Peter Quill that he's just a dude compared to the man that is Thor. Dave Bautista as Drax supercedes anything that he achieved before as The Animal, and that's not a bad thing either. There aren't many wrestlers who can claim to have that level of success in Hollywood after WWE. John Cena is trying to get to Bautista's level now as far as being involved in a successful movie franchise (we'll see how Bumblebee does). And Dwayne Johnson is just as much a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon on the big screen as he was in the ring.
Regardless, Batista is gone. Long Live Dave Bautista.
_ _ _ _
Comment below with any thoughts or ideas you have for this or future looks at wrestlers down the line. Until next time, take care of yourselves and spread some awesomeness.
Comments
Post a Comment