The Final Post

So here is the end of this book review blog. I will wrap up my thoughts and talk about 2 final aspects of Batista's life.

Batista was a grandfather at the age of 35. He is not proud of this fact, but he has some very good advice for parents that might find themselves grandparents at a young age. He notes that he wasn't ready to be a grandfather, but that his grandson was here and ready for him. Batista does care deeply about his family and this comes through in the book.

Batista knows that he isn't very good at wrestling. Dave freely admits that he isn't the best mic guy, isn't the best technical wrestler, and kind of stumbled into his fame. He does try to go out and do his best every time, but he is fully aware that he doesn't have the raw talent that others have. Knowing this, he works very hard in the ring.

This book is not the Iliad of wrestling autobiographies, but I do have more respect for Batista now than before I read his magnum opus. I would like to meet him some day.

I hope that you have found this blog illuminating.

Thus endeth the lesson.

The Ultimate Warrior

It was Triple H who suggested that Batista should watch Wrestlemania VI to get some ideas. That is why Batista shakes the ropes in a mad rage. I know that if I wanted to be a better wrestler I would watch the Hogan/Warrior contest from VI instead of the Steamboat/Savage match from III. If you haven't already, check out his website.

Vince has mouths to feed

Batista's description of his rise through Evolution and getting the title are fine, but he doesn't really add anything extra to what the average fan must already know. 


What was fascinating is Batista's explanation of expenses that the superstars are require to incur themselves. The WWE will pay their salary (of course) and airfare (first class if you are a main-eventer) but the wrestlers must pay for everything else. 


They pay for rental cars, food while on the road, and even their own costumes. Now, I guess I can understand the food (although Vince should spring for a per diem at least), but the costumes? Doesn't that seem like a pretty standard expense that a multi-million dollar entertainment company should front themselves?

Eddie

It seems that every wrestler loved Eddie. A lot of wrestlers have publicly spoken about how much Eddie meant to them, and now I can add Batista to the list.

Get the tables!

Batista has nothing but good things to say about D-Von, which isn't surprising as they were paired together during Batista's start in the WWE.

What is surprising is that Batista has a mad hatred for Bubba Ray. Apparently Bubba Ray is a bully and a jerk who treated the younger, newer wrestlers like dirt. Bubba Ray broke Randy Orton's foot during a match once. He landed on Orton badly and crushed the bones. While Orton was being taken away in an ambulance Bubba Ray yells at Orton saying he hurt his back when he landed on Orton's foot. Bubba Ray crushes Orton's foot and blames Orton not only for the incident, but also for deliberately getting his foot crushed just to jack up Bubba Ray's back.

That is cold, Bubba Ray. Although Orton could have planned it that way...

I don't know the Dudley Boyz (surprising, I know) but I'd have to agree that D-Von seems like a nicer guy than Bubba Ray.

Training Part 3: Fit Finlay

So even after hitting it big the WWE realizes that Batista still doesn't really know what he is doing, so they give him to Finlay as his pet project.

Batista has nothing but good things to say about Finlay (as does everyone else he has ever trained), and, to his credit, Batista also knows that he needs the work. He says that he learned more in two days with Finlay than he did in two years at OVW. Ouch. Cornette was pissed.

Training Part 2: Enter Leviathan

His work with Afa helped Batista get a spot in OVW. This brought a paycheck of $650 per week and the role of Leviathan! Leviathan was a monster from the sea, an unkillable beast, who squashed everyone he went against. I personally think that he should have kept this character. Sure, it's pretty old school, but he and the Undertaker could have fought some great matches as supernatural, unkillable monsters.

Interestingly enough, Batista mentions that his OVW matches never lasted for more than 2 minutes, so he didn't really learn that much about in-ring technical maneuvers.

The wrestling companies do it to themselves; they love big men wrestling, and they train them properly in the minors, but once they get into the ring they give them great moves like spear, choke-slam, power-bomb, and, let's not forget, the big boot.

A lot of future superstars were in OVW the same time: Sheldon Benjamin, Randy Orton, and Brock Lesnar. Batista regrets Brock leaving the WWE before he hit it big; in his mind a Batista/Lesnar match would have been legendary. Well, it would have been better than Goldberg/Lesnar.