Batista’s Top 13 WWE Opponents

Dave Bautista’s rise to Hollywood stardom is one of the most remarkable stories to come out of the professional wrestling world. He started wrestling training at 30 years old, and quickly worked his way to the top of WWE before departing for an acting career.

Known as “Batista,” he impressed with his charisma, look, and power move set that molded him into the prototypical WWE Superstar. Batista’s wrestling career spanned from 2002 to 2019, but 13 opponents in particular helped shape his path to success.

1. Triple H

Without Triple H, it’s very possible that Batista would never have reached the level of superstardom he’d achieve in his Hall of Fame career.

The two were originally stablemates in Evolution, which helped launch Batista and Randy Orton to the main event scene. Batista would go on to win the 2005 Royal Rumble match, turn on the evil World Heavyweight Champion Triple H, and defeat him at WrestleMania 21. They would have a Hell in a Cell match at Vengeance that year, and wrestle dozens of times the rest of their careers. Triple H would defeat Batista in a No Holds Barred match in the final match of both of their careers at WrestleMania 35.

2. The Undertaker

The Undertaker’s iconic WrestleMania streak served as an opportunity to cement someone’s status on the card, and he certainly helped do that with Batista.

Taker put his undefeated streak on the line against Batista at WrestleMania 23, in what is viewed by many as one of the best matches of the latter’s career. Batista came within milliseconds of ending “The Dead Man’s” streak, but Undertaker would emerge victorious. They would trade wins multiple times over the years, with each picking up big wins. Undertaker would stand tall in their final match on TV together, retaining the World Heavyweight Championship in a chairs match in 2009.

3. John Cena

For a while, John Cena and Batista were the biggest names in all of WWE. The two faces of the franchise would square off many times from 2005 through 2010, aiming to establish their reputations as top dogs.

Batista claimed victory first when he tossed Cena out of the 2005 Royal Rumble match en route to winning. They would also share the ring at WrestleMania XXVI, where Cena would win the World Heavyweight Championship. Altogether, they wrestled together 76 times, with Cena defeating Batista in an “I Quit” match at Over The Limit in 2010. Batista would go on a hiatus from WWE afterward, not appearing for the company for four years.

4. Edge

Edge and Batista spent much of the late 2000s as the defining figures of Smackdown, trading the World Heavyweight Championship and jockeying for positioning in the main event.

Edge retained the title in a cage match at One Night Stand in 2007, then would win it from Batista in a triple threat match at Armageddon in 2007 that also involved The Undertaker. Their feud would carry into 2008, where “The Rated R Superstar” would win once more at Night of Champions. Even though “The Animal” was generally the main protagonist on the show at the time, Edge often got the best of him.

5. Randy Orton

From tag team partners to foes, Randy Orton and Batista would go on to feud on and off for the better part of a decade in WWE.

They were instrumental pieces to the success of Evolution, before both would go on to win the World Heavyweight Championship between 2004 and 2005. Batista would defeat Orton at Extreme Rules in 2009 to win the title in a cage match, the only direct championship change between the two. They would also share the main event of WrestleMania XXX with Daniel Bryan, before finishing their run together with an Evolution reunion in 2014.

6. Rey Mysterio

Batista and Rey Mysterio shared a unique dynamic in the aftermath of their mutual close friend Eddie Guerrero, which they leveraged into a tag team championship reign in 2006.

But it was perhaps that bond that made Batista’s shocking turn on Mysterio in 2009 at Bragging Rights all the more impactful, as “Big Dave” mutilated his former friend. They would go on to trade wins through the end of the year, with Rey ultimately winning a cage match to blow off their feud.

7. Shawn Michaels

It was hard for Shawn Michaels to have a bad match with someone, and Batista was no exception to the rule.

The two had quite a personal feud in the aftermath of Michaels retiring Batista’s mentor Ric Flair at WrestleMania in 2008. Batista took exception to this, and would lose to Michaels in a match at Backlash. He would get his win back at One Night Stand though in a stretcher match, and Michaels’ size played well in making Batista look like a monster.

8. Booker T

There was real-life tension between Booker T and Batista in 2006. Several off-screen issues led to a fistfight between the two at a WWE promotional shoot, where both allegedly left bruised and battered. Rather than letting it simmer, they decided to try and make money off it.

The two feuded for the better part of 2006, with Batista chasing the newly crowned King Booker for the World Heavyweight Championship. He would eventually be successful at Survivor Series, defeating Booker for the title and staving him off the rest of the year.

9. Chris Jericho

The seeds for a potential program with Chris Jericho were laid during Batista’s feud with Michaels, as Jericho was the special guest referee for their Backlash match. Eventually, that feud would come to be later that year.

Jericho’s new straight-faced heel character antagonized a frustrated Batista, and the two would spar over the World Heavyweight Championship throughout 2008. Batista would eventually take the title from Jericho at Cyber Sunday, when he won the belt with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin as special guest referee.

10. Mark Henry

WWE made a major attempt to build Mark Henry as one of the top bad guys on the Smackdown brand in 2006, and pairing him with Batista was the avenue to do so.

Henry worked with Batista through much of 2006 and 2007, with a lot of the matches taking place off television. Batista was used as a vehicle to improve Henry’s ring work to get to a main event level, experience he would eventually leverage into a main event run a few years later. Henry’s size played well stacked against Batista’s strength, making for a “Clash of the Titans.”

11. Kane

Back in the 2000s, Kane was seen as the litmus test for any WWE Superstar trying to make it to the next level. Batista was given that opportunity very early in his career.

The two first squared off in Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE’s then-developmental territory. Batista, then known as Leviathan, faced Kane twice in losing efforts. Kane was then given one of Batista’s first main roster pay-per-view matches at Armageddon in 2002, a match Batista would win to help establish himself as a player for years to come.

12. Big Show

Big Dave. Big Show. It was a match made in heaven … or at least in a WWE ring.

The 7-foot-tall Big Show was a natural opponent for someone with the sheer size and physique of Batista. Batista actually earned an early win in his career down in OVW as Leviathan over Big Show in 2000, and it would be the first of 45 career encounters. They would face off several times over the years in hard-hitting battles, with Batista picking up multiple wins via countout and disqualification due to the physicality involved.

13. JBL

Batista needed a top-tier heel to work with upon moving over to Smackdown in 2005, and John Bradshaw Layfield was just the right guy.

JBL’s physicality was a strong complement to Batista’s rough-and-tough in-ring style, and his antagonization pushed “The Animal” to the next level. He forced him into a disqualification at The Great American Bash in July, before Batista defeated him to retain the World Heavyweight Championship in a nine-minute brutal No Holds Barred match at SummerSlam. Batista would get the last word in the feud by winning a bull rope match on Smackdown in September.