Smarkass Reviews: Batista: I Walk Alone (Disc 3)

Like the second disc, this one is just matches.

Match #1: World Heavywight Championship Match -- King Booker (C) vs. Batista (Survivor Series -- November 26, 2006
I was looking forward to this since I'm increasingly becoming a fan of Booker T, but this match was pretty standard face/heel fare. Nothing really stands out as being fantastic. King Booker tried to cheat from time to time, but Batista's passion/power was too much until Booker attempted to nail Batista with the world belt, Batista ducked, and used it himself to pick up the win. This match is noteworthy because it was Batista winning back the belt -- and it introduces us to JBL on commentary. I wish he would come back and do that with Michael Cole.
Winner and NEW World Heavyweight Champion: Batista [**1/2]

Match #2: Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship -- Batista (C) vs. King Booker vs. Finlay (Smackdown -- December 1, 2006)
An interesting choice right after Batista wins back the belt, this match was a definite step up with Booker and Finlay not directly engaging one another at first, preferring to focus on the champion. This made Batista take the most punishment, but that only serves his eventual victory. As JBL points out, Batista cheated to win the belt back, so a clean win here against two opponents gives him a bit of credibility back. It's nice to see Finlay in the mix for the world belt even if it was for only one match. He looked like a legitimate threat, probably more than Booker. There was even an appearance from the then-unnamed Hornswoggle. Like the previous match, there wasn't any one spot that stood out, but this was a good triple threat match of PPV-calibre.
Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Batista [***1/4]

Match #3: World Heavyweight Championship Match -- Batista (C) vs. the Undertaker (WrestleMania 23 -- April 1, 2007)
WrestleMania 23 pisses me off kind of. Not much really, but a little. See, I got back into watching wrestling in October 2007 because of my roommate Adam. We had been in the same program for a year and figured moving in together would work (and it did). But, he just didn't get me into wrestling soon enough since WrestleMania 23 was in Detroit! I got back into wrestling six months too late to attend a WrestleMania across the river! GAH! That bugs me. Not that that has anything to do with this match really. I'd heard a lot of good things about this match and it disappointed somewhat as a result. This was a good match -- very good even -- just not great. I loved how energetic both men were. This was a hard rock version of a wrestling match with none of the pauses or breaks, just two guys going at it hard and fast... for the most part. The usual spots were there. I'd have to watch it again to see some of the storytelling since you need to know where it's heading (not just the result) to get a good picture. I enjoyed this, but thought the ending was a little rushed. This match clearly needed another five minutes or so to make the pacing work better. It also suffered a little with the crowd not knowing who to get behind entirely. That worked better with Undertaker/Michaels since Batista isn't skilled enough to be one half of a match that's carried on technique alone. He needs story and the passion that comes with wanting him to win or wanting him to lose. Again, very enjoyable and very good, but it didn't live up to the hype.
Winner and NEW World Heavyweight Champion: The Undertaker [***1/2]

Match #4: Steel Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Championship -- Edge (C) vs. Batista (One Night Stand -- June 3, 2007)
This match follows their short, kind of shitty match from Judgment Day 2007 and is definitely an improvement. Despite Edge being a chickenshit heel, he pretty much beats Batista here by... well, beating him. Both men attempt escapes, but Edge manages to beat Batista down enough to pull his off. I kind of wish the match had only been 15 seconds when Edge tried to escape through the door right away and Batista grabbed him and thew him across the ring. I wanted Batista to then walk out the door, beating Edge at his own game. There was a funny moment where Edge brought Batista down off the rope so he bounced from it against the cage and, then, off the rope again. Pretty much the only thing that I haven't seen in any other cage match. I would have liked to see Batista go for pin attempts, while Edge tries to escape until later in the match. If there's any big flaw in this match, it's that I didn't think there was a good story. It was just two guys going at it and by limiting Batista to beating Edge, while Edge just tries to survive, that would have made for a good story. All in all, not bad, but nothing special.
Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Edge [**3/4]

Match #5: World Heavyweight Championship Match -- Batista (C) vs. the Undertaker (Cyber Sunday -- October 28, 2007)
Cyber Sunday 2007 was the first PPV I saw after I got back into wrestling. Adam and I watched it at a bar and I don't really remember much about it. I was more concerned with figuring out who half the people were. This match had the stipulation where fans got to vote on the special guest referee and, of course, they selected "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in his yearly WWE appearance. I'm pretty sure Cyber Sunday stuck around just so they'd have an excuse to bring out Austin once a year. This match was pretty good. It reminded me of their WrestleMania match, but Batista had something to prove a bit more having lost three matches to the Undertaker earlier in the year. Austin's presence was meaningless and didn't affect the match at all. Both men pulled out all of the stops and Batista's rage at the end before delivering the second Batistabomb was good. A fine, fine match.
Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Batista [***]

Match #6: 6-Man Tag Match -- Batista, Triple H & Ric Flair vs. Randy Orton, Edge & Umaga (Raw -- December 10, 2007)
This match doesn't really amount of anything, but this was a nice moment where, at the 15th Anniversary episode of Raw, Evolution was going to come out and... do something. So, out come Flair, Trips, and Batista, all in Evolution t-shirts. Then, out comes Orton to say that the only group he's proud to have been a member of is Rated RKO with Edge. Flair says they should get a partner and have a six-man tag, Orton reveals that they're one step ahead of him and out comes Umaga. The match itself was pretty much nothing. Some back and forth until Umaga attacked the ref and, eventually, got beaten by the three Evolution guys. A fun inclusion for the set despite the lacklustre in-ring product.
Winners (via disqualification): Batista, Triple H & Ric Flair [*]

Match #7: Batista vs. John Cena (SummerSlam -- August 17, 2008)
Another face/face match featuring Batista. This match suffers from knowing the work that Cena and Batista did together this year at WrestleMania where Batista's heel turn gave that match some much needed energy and storytelling. This one followed a similar path: who is The Man in the WWE? Both men are powerful and somewhat limited in the ring. It was really a matter of who would outpower the other. Cena putting the STFU on Batista was fucking sick -- Batista's leg was bent in a way that didn't look right at all. The result surprised me at the time and it surprised me again since you figure Cena would walk away with the victory here... nope. Interesting choice to put over Batista. A decent match, but one that looks worse in retrospect.
Winner: Batista [**3/4]

Match #8: Batista vs. Randy Orton (Armageddon -- December 14, 2008)
The DVD set is concluded with the two former Evolution members going head-to-head in a strong match. This one came near the beginning of the formation of Evolution, so Randy Orton is accompanied by Cody Rhodes and Manu. Yes, everyone will remember Manu now because he shows up on the Batista DVD set. Early into the match, the two get banned from ringside after the ref catches them mid-beating on Batista (but it looks like they're just about to begin). Batista uses his power, Orton his skill, each man pulling out every move. Orton focused on Batista's neck with some high impact moves to that area and Batista just powered through until winning via Batistabomb. I didn't think this match would leave much of an impression, but the final five minutes were really strong back and forth.
Winner: Batista [***1/4]

Batista's schtick gets a little old after a while, especially when he's up against other faces. But, when he's on, he delivers the goods... it's just that when he's off, he can stink up the place. The DVD set is worth it for the documentary, but the collection of matches are solid. If you can buy this used/cheap, do that.

Smarkass Reviews: Batista: I Walk Alone (Disc 2)

The second and third discs are just matches, so let's dive in...

Match #1: OVW Heavyweight Championship Match -- "The Machine" Doug Basham (C) vs. Leviathan (Ohio Valley Wrestling -- November 28, 2001)
Before he was Batista, he was Leviathan, a mythical monster of a man raised from the Ohio River by a witch or something. This match isn't really anything special. It doesn't flow too well, but it does have Jim Cornette on commentary making it seem like the biggest thing to ever happen. Batista does most of the stuff that he would do in the WWE: powerbomb, spear, maybe a spinebuster thrown in... He did use the chokeslam at the time, too, which I don't remember ever seeing him use in the WWE. The match was no dq, so there was plenty of interference and even the use of two refs. You really get the sense of watching two guys still learning and improving, trying to make the basics work before doing anything too complicated. All of which is fine, just nothing too amazing.
Winner and NEW OVW Heavyweight Champion: Leviathan [*1/2]

Match #2: Batista vs. Kane (Armageddon -- December 15, 2002)
Jumping ahead a year, Evolution hasn't begun yet, but Ric Flair is mentoring Batista, so things are moving in that direction (the group would form officially a month later). This was Batista's first PPV match and it's a fine outting where the point is to make him look like a force against Kane. It's a good way to put over Batista since Kane is also a big man and beating him puts you at a certain level immediately. Flair interferes quite a bit, which helps Batista gain the win. It's a solid little match, nothing special. Batista is still pretty dull in the ring and an agile Kane can't drag him to a good match yet.
Winner: Batista [*1/2]

Match #3: Batista vs. Shawn Michaels (Armageddon -- December 14, 2003
Jumping ahead another year, Evolution is on its way to dominance with Randy Orton winning the Intercontinental Championship earlier in the evening and Batista and Flair to win the World Tag Team Championship later in the evening. But, in between, we've got Batista versus Shawn Michaels. In the documentary, Batista mentions this as the first match that felt like a success for him, the first one where he showed that he can make it in the WWE, and put on a good show. I don't know if I would go that far, but it's definitely a step up from the first two. Batista is more fluid in the ring, more in command of his character, and is carried somewhat by Michaels. Flair interferes again, but Michaels does well against him, including on of my favourite things to see: a guy running at another only to be put down with a single punch. Michaels is one of the best sellers in the business, so he makes Batista look great by selling how beat up he is by the end of the match. Things end with Michaels getting out of the Batista Bomb and hitting Sweet Chin Music, which allows Michaels to not lose to a relative newbie while still making Batista look like he was close to victory. Pretty much all you could ask for.
Winner: Shawn Michaels [**]

Match #4: Tables Match for the World Tag Team Championship -- Batista & Ric Flair (C) vs. the Dudley Boyz (Royal Rumble -- January 25, 2004)
I'm kind of surprised they went with this instead of Batista and Flair winning the belts at Armageddon since that would be a nice follow-up to the Michaels match. Anyway, this is pretty short and nothing too impressive. The Dudleys dominant at the beginning, taking advantage of Batista's inexperience to take him out and, then, double-teaming Flair until Batista can power he and Flair to victory rather quickly. Kind of a pointless inclusion and lame even by tables match standards.
Winners and STILL World Tag Team Champions: Batista and Ric Flair [1/2*]

Match #5: Batista vs. Chris Jericho (Vengeance -- July 11, 2004)
This was a nice little match with a typical big man/little man dynamic. Batista dominated with a few outbursts of quickness and strategy by Jericho thrown in. It was built around the idea that Jericho couldn't take Big Dave off his feet, so when he did, the crowd went wild. Batista showed some good ring intelligence by countering a few Jericho moves in ways that he wouldn't have earlier in his career. Not advanced stuff or anything, but more subtle ways that don't rely on simply overpowering Jericho. Batista got the win as he continued his rise to the top. A solid match all around.
Winner: Batista [**1/2]

Match #6: Except from the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match (Royal Rumble -- January 30, 2005)
We begin this moments before Batista came out at #28. He came in with some presence by delivering a Batistabomb on Kane and taking out some other guys. The next two guys were Christian and Ric Flair with Flair providing the best moment of this short bit when he attempted to grab Batista by the back of the head to pull him to the ropes and eliminate him, but Batista didn't move and Flair just fell down. Flair turned on Batista pretty quickly, which contributed to his turn against Trips and Flair. It eventually came down to Batista and John Cena (I loved how the final four were all guys who had never won a world belt -- remember when the Rumble was about elevating someone new to the main event?) with a botched finish where both men went over and Batista clearly hit first a little bit. I liked the whole story with the Raw refs saying Batista won and the Smackdown refs saying it was Cena, with Batista then throwing Cena out again -- followed by Cena throwing Batista out, too... until McMahon ordered the match restarted and Batista won. That wouldn't stop Cena from winning the WWE Championship off JBL at WrestleMania 21, but it did set up Batista going after Trips's World Heavyweight Championship.
Winner: Batista [N/A] (since I didn't see the whole thing)

Match #7: World Heavyweight Championship Match -- Triple H (C) vs. Batista (WrestleMania 21 -- April 3, 2005)
I wasn't expecting to like this match as much as I did since neither one of these guys blow me away in the ring anymore. As well, the story to this match is so key with Batista's slow turn against Triple H -- and while I know the story, that's not the same thing as experiencing it. But, the storytelling was strong with Batista as the clear underdog while Triple H uses his experience and ring-savy (and cheating) to make up for Batista's superior power. Batista is tenacious, but Triple H controlled the first half to two-thirds of the match pretty much until Batista hit the slingshot off the steps on the outside, sending Trips flying into the ringpost. That was the turning point with Triple H doing a good blade job. Michelle doesn't like blood, but she admitted that it worked here. I'm not the biggest fan of blood either -- but, like any storytelling tool, when it's used well, it works. The problem is that it isn't used well far too often. Here, it was a tangible sign that Batista has struck a meaningful blow against Triple H, that maybe he could win despite the odds being against him. After that, Batista was in control a lot more and even kicked out of a pin attempt after Triple H hit him with the belt behind the ref's back. Cheating wasn't enough to beat the Animal here as he eventually overpowered Triple H to win the title. It felt earned and was a great victory, partly because of the storytelling where Batista slowly gained the upper hand, culminating in that one move that turned the tide and put momentum on his side.
Winner and NEW World Heavyweight Champion: Batista [****]

Match #8: Hell in a Cell Match for the World Heavyweight Championship -- Batista (C) vs. Triple H (Vengeance -- June 26, 2005)
I've seen this match a couple of times already since it's on the Triple H DVD set I have. But, I liked it more this time having seen the WrestleMania match. I'm a little disappointed that they didn't include the match at Backlash just to give us all three of these matches. I know why they didn't obviously, but it would have been cool to see the whole story from the Royal Rumble through all three matches against Triple H. There were a few things that I found interesting here. First off, it was very back and forth from the get-go. Batista was on more equal footing with Triple H, leading into Triple H always being the guy who brought in a weapon. He was the first to use the chain, the barbed wire chair, and the sledgehammer. Batista was confident and knew he could beat Triple H, so Trips was more likely to look for something to give him the edge. They still played up Trips's experience edge, especially since he'd been in numerous Hell in a Cell matches. After two losses, the match stipulation gave him back his edge, but it wasn't enough. They also played up the idea that there was no way that Batista was going to beat Triple H for a third time in a row by giving Triple H a lot of pincovers after finisher-quality moves only for Batista to kick out. People expected the match to end at those times, especially near the end. Batista won the match by finally using the ring steps as weapons, but the sort where it was to work with his power moves. By the way, Batista can't blade for shit. Though, his back acne worked well with Trips's use of the chain and barbed wire chair. I really liked the small touch of Triple H sucking in some blood from his face, so when he came off the top rope and Batista raised the sledgehammer to hit him in the chin, he could spit blood out. The finish was good with Triple H trying to use the sledgehammer only for Batista to hit the Batistabomb and retain the belt. I'm surprised how well this worked right after the WrestleMania match.
Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Batista [****]

Match #9: No Holds Barred Match for the World Heavyweight Championship -- Batista (C) vs. JBL (Summerslam -- August 21, 2005)
I have no idea why this match is on the DVD. I really don't. The next match provides a good enough account of Batista being a fairly dominant world champ. I guess they needed two. Listen, if you read the participants in this match along with the stipulation and immediately thought of what the match would be like, you'd be right. It's exactly what you'd expect from a no holds barred match between Batista and JBL: they brawl, they use a weapon or two, Batista eventually overpowers JBL. The only interesting thing was Batista hitting the Batistabomb and, then, instead of going for the cover, noticing the steel steps that had been brought into the ring and then Batistabombing JBL onto the steps. I'm fairly certain that spot happens only because either Batista or Triple H realised after their Hell in a Cell match that that spot would have been awesome and were pissed off that they didn't think to do it then. This isn't a bad match, it's just mediocre.
Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Batista [**]

Match #10: World Heavyweight Championship Match -- Batista (C) vs. Eddie Guerrero (No Mercy -- October 9, 2005)
The final match of the disc and it's pretty good. The story (from what I can piece together) is that Eddie Guerrero is trying to be a good guy, to no longer lie, cheat, and steal in order to win, and he wants to earn the respect of Batista by winning or losing cleanly. That aspect of the match isn't used much at the beginning where it's Guerrero using speed and skill against Batista's power and... er, power. But, as the match progresses, Guerrero goes outside to get a chair, but then stops and throws it away. Later, he unties the tag rope in the corner, but stops and throws it away. Even later, the ref is down, Batista is down, and it's the perfect chance to use the chair: Guerrero gets it, brings it in the ring, and hesitates, almost uses it a couple of times, but throws it away. Throughout this part of the match Guerrero was dominant through various holds and submissions, just beating Batista down with skill. There's a funny moment where Batista counters a Texas Cloverleaf attempt by rolling Guerrero up and Michael Cole comments on the rare finesse move from the Animals, calling it an act of desperation -- this, friends, is a small example of Cole not doing his job right. You want to sell it as Batista seeing that his regular strategy doesn't work, so he manages to dig deep and pull off a move beyond his normal skillset in order to stay alive -- he's not desperate, he's determined, and improving mid-match. The final use of the chair bothers me a little, because Batista sees him throw it away, but still acts like he was going to use it and gets pissed off. I hate shit like that. It's like when Wrestler A goes to hit Wrestler C with a chair, but Wrestler C ducks, so Wrestler A winds up hitting his buddy Wrestler B who was standing behind Wrestler C and Wrestler B gets pissed off and attacks Wrestler A assuming he did it on purpose. It's lame and tries to sell us on the idea that these guys are idiots. I would have preferred Batista seem happy and then kill Guerrero anyway, because they're still in a match. But, Batista goes full force on Guerrero, but Guerrero manages to gain the upperhand only to miss a Frog Splash (more like see Batista getting ready to move, so he rolled through it) and get hit with a Spinebuster (his second in pretty short order). After the match, Batista pulled up Guerrero and Guerrero offered his hand, which Batista accepted. A great moment when Batista turned his back and Guerrero got his shiteating, evil grin on only to lose it immediately when Batista turned around. A solid, fun match all around even if I didn't like the odd thing.
Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Batista [***1/4]

While the first few matches of this disc were what you expect from an early Batista, I was really impressed with his two matches against Triple H. Give Batista and quality opponent and a decent in-ring story to tell and he can work that match. Here's hoping the second disc has some great ones.

Smarkass Reviews: Batista: I Walk Alone (Disc 1)

Not exactly high on my list of WWE DVD sets to get, but Michelle and I were in Blockbuster today and they had this three-disc set for $10 used plus 30% off as part of a sale. It's hard to pass up this sort of set for seven bucks. I don't have anything against Batista really. I liked him when I got back into wrestling in 2007, but he's the sort of the guy who you tire of quickly in the ring. He's pretty limited in what he does and it gets a little stale after a while despite it being exciting/entertaning when you first see it. He's definitely got that special quality and the ability to work with different guys. Even after I grew tired with him, he would still get me interested in seeing him wrestle from time to time like his short feud with Rey Mysterio at the end of 2009. This set was done at the beginning of the fall in 2009, which kind of sucks only because it's less than a year later and he's no longer with the WWE.

The first disc of the set is devoted to a documentary feature on Batista and I always enjoy these. The first 20-30 minutes are about his life before he got into wrestling with the rest detailing his career with some personal stuff thrown in. It's well done for the most part. They do go a bit overboard in trying to cover up Batista's negatives, even when detailing his personal problems with his ex-wife and the mother of his two daughters. They all gloss over some of the backstage problems he had that I know of and whatever I don't know about. It's very much about making him look like a great guy -- and you can't blame them for that. You're not going to get a documentary full of negative interviews about a guy still working for the company as Batista was at the time. That wouldn't make any sense. Still, I would have liked something to round things out a little more.

I don't have a lot of detailed thoughts on the first disc, so I'll just throw out some random stuff:

* I was really surprised when Batista's mom showed up on the screen. I don't know what I expected when I thought about what his mom would look like, but that wasn't it. Nothing negative meant by that, it was just surprising.

* Triple H is right in noting that, at that time, Batista was the success story of Evolution. Randy Orton may have gotten a world belt before big Dave, but Batista's time post-Evolution had him as a bigger star. Though, I think, on the whole, Orton will have the bigger career. It's a short-term vs. long-term thing.

* You'd think they couldn't discuss the break-up of his marriage without discussing Batista's rampant cheating on his wife, but they did.

* Everyone says 'wrestling' and 'wrestlers' except for Batista who, being a good company man, says 'sports entertainment' and 'sports entertainers.' That amused me.

* Dammit, I want an Evolution DVD set. I really wish the WWE had done one around the time that Randy Orton, Triple H, and Batista were all mixed up in the same feud. That would have been fantastic.

* The stuff about Batista having a hard time when he got drafted to Smackdown while world champ was interesting since I never thought about that: the two brands were separate, almost like two different camps of guys, so a new guy coming in as the top guy right away would cause some problems.

* Fuck, I wanted to see Booker T present his views of Batista. Obviously wasn't going to happen, but it would have been fun.

* The WWE made Batista buy a suit for his on-screen character as Deacon Batista? That surprises me for some reason.

Despite the bias, this, like most of the WWE documentary discs, is worth watching. You get a decent look at a guy's career in 90 minutes with some fun interviews. Since the documentary is only 90 minutes and the bonus interview segments only like 10-15 minutes, I would have liked to see some matches on this disc, too, to allow for some more on the last two. The first match on the second disc, an OVW match, would have worked better here, acting more as a bonus feature than part of his official career. But that's not a big deal. The next two discs will get write-ups after I finish each of them.