Happy Boxing Day Blog O'Doomers!
Thought about Mr. T-Roddy Piper from Wrestlemania 2 but said, 'nah, let's stick with wrestling.' And I picked this match to honor the soon-to-be returning Batista. Hopefully he channels the awesome that he brought in 2010, I don't see why he wouldn't since he remains pretty funny and witty. But if not, let him be the ass-kicking machine he's always been.
I decided to pluck this match from 2008 since it was "the first time", like we couldn't see the millions of Levithan vs. Prototype matches from OVW? Anyway, Summerslam 2008, Batista vs. John Cena in a battle of true-blue A+ players. Enjoy!
Thought about Mr. T-Roddy Piper from Wrestlemania 2 but said, 'nah, let's stick with wrestling.' And I picked this match to honor the soon-to-be returning Batista. Hopefully he channels the awesome that he brought in 2010, I don't see why he wouldn't since he remains pretty funny and witty. But if not, let him be the ass-kicking machine he's always been.
I decided to pluck this match from 2008 since it was "the first time", like we couldn't see the millions of Levithan vs. Prototype matches from OVW? Anyway, Summerslam 2008, Batista vs. John Cena in a battle of true-blue A+ players. Enjoy!
This should of been a lot bigger and be remembered like the first Hogan/Warrior match, but the match didn't even close the PPV, but yeah despite that, great match as these two had crazy chemistry with one another.
ReplyDeleteLeviathan and the Prototype were fodder.
ReplyDeleteJohn Cena and Batista became all-time stars.
***SIRENS AND RED LIGHTS SPELLING OUT 'REAL PEOPLE SELL TICKETS'***
A+ JACK!~
ReplyDeleteI had long since forgotten that the FU started out its life as a serviceable Death Valley Driver.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVulM13aY2o#t=5m38s
I was in attendance and loved this bout!
ReplyDeleteI love the finish to this match as Batista just kicked it into that next gear. Shining Wizard, Demon Bomb...good night.
ReplyDeleteMark Callous was an afterthought.
ReplyDeleteUndertaker became one of the biggest legends in the business,
***SIRENS AND RED LIGHTS SPELLING OUT 'GIMMICKS SELL TICKETS TOO'***
How in the hell did they keep those 2 apart for 6 goddamn years??? I know this was in the middle of the brand split era but man talk about patience.
ReplyDeleteA short part of that six years covers the time where they made at least some effort to actually separate the brands but otherwise that is pretty crazy.
ReplyDeleteThe build was lame. Instead of booking an angle they just announced the match
ReplyDeleteThis should have been a classic, but they just kind of put it on the card with two weeks to go.
ReplyDelete"Shining Wizard" is a bit generous.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention how they put the tag titles on them, started a tag partner vs tag partner story, and then just dropped it a week before hand.
ReplyDeleteJust absolutely awful.
ReplyDeleteThat was when Mike Adamle was announced as the Raw GM. His first order of business was basically going "I'm in charge now, so I'm making a big match. You two are fighting."
I also find it funny that Cena got injured in this match and so he took a 2 month break, but they hyped up his return as if he was gone from year.
ReplyDeleteAt least they more than made up for it at WM 26. That one was great.
ReplyDeleteThe only comparison would be that they have kept Cena and Taker apart for 10 years now (with the one exception of a tag team PPV match right before WM23).
ReplyDeleteFine a running kick to the mouth...
ReplyDeleteHa! The perfect counterexample. I'd argue he is the exception that proves the rule, but I can't argue his success.
ReplyDeleteWasn't this the Summerslam card that also included Taker/Edge in Hell in a Cell?
ReplyDeleteAlso, Goldust was way more over than Dustin Rhodes.
ReplyDeleteTaker killed Cena on PPV back in the day.
ReplyDeleteI love the DVD, but fuck if it doesn't look dangerous to take.
ReplyDeleteIdk...the wcw "they call him the natural" theme was pretty damn hip and over lol. Listen on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteWhich was about 10 years ago.
ReplyDeleteWhy wasn't Batista vs. Cena "For the first time" given a Wrestlemania build? Seems like a suitably epic main event for Wrestlemania 25. HHH-Orton, Cena-Batista, and Taker-HBK on that card would have been tremendous. It's best that they DIDN'T go that route, since Batista ended up missing WM25 anyway, but I'm surprised they weren't headed in that direction for their "first ever" meeting of Cena-Batista. Also, that Cena-Big Show-Edge triple threat is such a throw-away.
ReplyDeleteMankind and Cactus Jack were always a lot more over than plain old Mick Foley too.....
ReplyDeleteDebatable - Mankind the character took off when Mick started being himself turned up to 11 when he was Vince's dupe. The goofy comedy bits and interviews where he told his own story got him more over than promos from a boiler room. Cane Dewey the same way.
ReplyDeleteI dig their first 2 matches very much.
ReplyDeleteNot so much the series of main events they had after WM26 though, aka the "Lets jerk off Cena's ego" and "Bury Dave" matches where it was nothing but a point to squash Batista embarrassingly as we was heading out
Right. With Cena you really gotta split his career in half. After his title win at WM21, everything before that just kind of doesnt matter really
ReplyDeleteI think he was more over before he retired and came back as Mick Foley, obviously there was a big part of Mick in Mankind.....
ReplyDeleteAt least Miz won one of the matches and was made to look smart in some of them.
ReplyDeleteBatista lost all three.
I think Batista's absence and awesomeness just before leaving made me forget about how much I hated him from about his move to Smackdown until his heel turn. His face character was this big dumb guy who had to be either champion or #1 contender all the fucking time and couldn't look weak by losing a title shot so they just made him look stupid.
ReplyDeleteDitto. His character was also incredibly dull. I always thought it was amazing how the fans never turned on him like they did Cena.
ReplyDeleteI dont recall him ever getting corny. I really believe that fans turned on Cena when he began to get too corny...
ReplyDeleteBatista was oft-injured and Cena was dealing with various injuries during the summer of 2008, so I think WWE wanted to just run the damn match at a big show (if not a Wrestlemania) while they still had the chance. When both guys were healthy in spring 2010, Cena/Batista got the proper Mania build.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall any instances where Batista was particularly 'stupid.' In fact, I seem to recall him retaining his Triple H-outsmarting intelligence along the way, i.e. always knowing that Eddie was eventually going to turn on him but playing along anyway.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of keeping guys apart - did Jericho and Taker ever work a program together? I feel like they haven't, nor worked against each other on a PPV (outside of Taker eliminating Jericho in the Rumble one year).
ReplyDeleteSurvivor Series 09 they were in a three way with Big Show for the WHC...
ReplyDeleteTime Honoured Tradition. :)
ReplyDeleteThat is very true. It felt like 99% of his angles were indeed "Defend the world title" or "Challenge for the world title". Some guys like Jake Roberts didn't need titles... Batista was the polar opposite. That said, it's been 4 years, so I'm glad he's coming back.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, they made Taker/Jericho a TV feud in late 2009 - their very first (televised) match against each other was a throw-away "Smackdown" one, and they feuded for about a month after that.
ReplyDeleteWhat a waste. The very first Taker/Jericho match easily could have been a "WM"-worthy feud.
In his "last chance" match against Edge he gives him the Batista Bomb on the floor, then rolls him in so Edge beats the count and Batista doesn't. Maybe "stupid" wasn't the right word, but even when they wanted to go with other guys holding the title they had to have Batista be the #1 contender, without actually winning, so you had 2 or 3 rematches with him having to look like he had it won while not actually winning - I just found it tiring.
ReplyDelete