Will Batista have a chance to step out of the shadow of Randy Orton?

[Unknown]

Evolution quite possibly is one of the greatest stables of all time. You have HHH as the leader, Randy Orton as the rising star, Ric Flair as their manager and mouthpiece, and Batista as the enforcer. One can argue that Evolution was really alive and kicking when Batista was out. They had the whole best of the past, present, and future thing going. It seemed to make perfect sense given their name. Since Batista came back though, the emphasis was taken off of this concept and back on the way they had Evolution before he was injured which is fine to me. Batista made his return with the 100,000 dollar bounty angle. Things looked up for Evolution's enforcer. He was being built as a monster and looked to be in line for a monstrous push to match his monstrous character right? Wrong. Randy Orton right now is the posterboy of Evolution receiving nearly all of the shine. IMO this is good and bad at the same time. While the Randy Orton push is one of the best things on Raw, it has overshadowed Batista. I in a way see the logic in this one.

It seems as if after Orton drops the IC title and moves up, Batista will begin to move into the IC title division. Right now, Batista has the tools to be a credible IC champ. He has improved in the ring greatly, has a great character, and the size factor which Vince is a fan of. The only thing he needs now is building. Right now, Batista needs a strong feud with a midcard level face. The WWE's best option for this would be Tajiri IMO. This could be the feud that sends Batista into the IC title race. It would also be very logical given the "choke out" angle they had with Tajiri. After this feud, I think Batista will be next in line for an IC title shot against Shelton Benjamin maybe around October-December. Batista can be a great IC champ if built right but will he ever step out of the shadow of his fellow Evolution comrade? In short...no. Randy Orton is being built as the next Rock/HHH right now and rightfully so. Randy is money in the bank right now. Batista on the other hand can make a decent World Champ one day but not the greatest.

I hope the WWE does right by Batista and pushes this guy into the IC division with a proper feud because he deserves it. He shouldn't be featured in the background of Evolution only wrestling once every month or so on Raw then being sent to Heat but rather built up as a monster. He needs time on his own like Randy has had to work on the mic and establish his character. He also needs a few matches on Raw to put over his improved in ring skills so that people can look past his size and see him as more than another big man. Batista will never be able to step out of the shadow of Randy Orton which is logical but if the WWE doesn't pay close attention to how his character is built he may not be able to be seen as something more than Evolution's enforcer.

[The Kid]

If I were a writer for the WWE, I'd have Batista develop a character like the Dudleys have. I'd have him feel that he's sinking into the background and that he has to try to get out of the rest of Evolution's shadow. He'd be competing with all of them and seemingly trying to get their attention. He won't turn on them but rather try to prove to them that he belongs in this elite club called Evolution.

In the process he'd go through Raw destroying anybody who gets in his way until a returning Tajiri comes back and tries to get back at him. Tajiri fares well against Batista in a match that they have but Tajiri won't be able to overcome Batista's raw power.

As Batista goes through mid-carders, he'll gain confidence and credibilty and eventually he'll meet up with HBK. He sees this as an oppertunity to take out Michaels who is Triple H's sworn enemy. Batista attacks HBK backstage and is made to look like the stronger wrestler until the eventual match in which HBK goes over. This doen't hurt Batista's push as the build up will have been dominated by Batista and HBK gets a meaningfull fued. After all of this Batista will be a main event or upper mid card wrestler.

I think that pushing Batista would be a really good move because I really can't see him not being a champion one day. He proved in OVW that he can be an effective main eventer as he was most likely the biggest star ahead of people like Randy Orton, John Cena and Brock Lesnar.

[Chazz]

I have noticed that Dave is starting to show confidence in himself and his abilities. That is a good thing because he has so much potential to be a huge superstar one day. There is no question that he has the capability to do great things, and knowing what he did in OVW shows you that he can.

[KusToM KnucKs]

Ill agree Batista has improved alot really & should be in the IC title hunt. I think the reason they havent pushed Batista that far yet is that they fell it would be bad for Evolution if they were to have 2 members fighting each other for the title at the same time. Until Evolution is finished or Orton drops the title I dont think we will be seeing Batista getting a shot. Hopefully before the end of the year he does

[D-Dogg]

I have actually thought about Batista the guy deserves more then he is getting however i see the WWE may of set up a great chance for him last Monday on Raw and i think we should see a fued between Batista and Chris Jericho as this could really work for both men a win and a good fued over Batista will finally push Y2J to the top level where he should be and will also devolop Batista as a major player then have Batista going on winning against some high level mid carders and then eventually the IC Title is his

[TheMainMan25]

Batista is actually my favorite guy on Raw right now. He's got it all, a great look, size, ring skills. I do think that they should stop having him look weak against guys like Benjamin, or Edge. I think that if they give him the IC strap, then it would open up a lot of angles for the WWE, as well as give the IC strap even more crediability. Orton has already made it important again.

[Unknown]

Yes...this thread did exactly what I thought it would promote intelligent discussion. WP is like the new Molly's Take! Hopefully it can become that. Anyways, I see a return match coming out of the Randy Orton/Shelton Benjamin feud maybe a two out of three falls match where we'll see Shelton Benjamin come out with the strap (I'll be posting a thread on him soon...). Then I'd have Randy being unsatisfied with losing the match but other guys also wanting a chance at the belt which would then set up a fatal four way elimination match with Orton/Benjamin/Matt Hardy/Christian. Benjamin will come out victorious which will send him into a feud with Christian since I'd have he and Christian being the last two guys left then Matt and Randy Orton would feud because after Matt gets eliminated, he'd sneak back into the ring and plant Orton with Twist of Fate. This feud will help Matt look like a more viable IC level talent and Randy would be elevated following the feud into a high profile feud. Benjamin would go over in the feud with Christian which would set up a Batista/Benjamin match for sometime later in the year. The reason I'd have them do it like this is that during that time, Batista will be feuding with Tajiri leading into Vengeance where he'll go over then he'll move into a feud with maybe a guy like Rhyno (if they ever get him off of Heat or if he doesn't go back to SD). Batista will go over in both feuds giving him steam and momentum heading into a feud with Shelton Benjamin over the belt. By then, Randy Orton will had already moved on from the IC division but the way I set it up, he wouldn't just treat the belt like it meant nothing to him. Batista would then begin to develop into his own sort of like Randy did. He'd be a laid back heel but when pushed too far he'd go crazy and do things like choke people out (ala Tajiri and HBK) and assault them with a chair. The WWE could even make a T-shirt that on the front says "Batista: Evolution's Enforcer" then on the back it would have a picture of some sort of fearsome animal with the caption underneath it saying "Don't unleash the animal inside". He could use that as his catchphrase when feuding with Benjamin saying, "I nearly ended the careers of guys like Shawn Michaels and Tajiri because they were stupid enough to unleash the animal inside. I'm warning you, don't unleash the animal inside." That would be perfect for his character. Anyways, this is the best way I can see them pushing him into the IC title hunt and allowing him to develop a character separate from Evolution just like Randy Orton did.

[The_Wolf]

when evolution does break up im sure batista will be a heel cause i sure cant see him been a face, it just wouldnt match him. but then again the wwe can make anyone turn face/heel. i think he needs more time on the mic to get more confidence and hopefully a few more singles matches.

[TheMainMan25]

Batista could be a face if they gave him a reason to be one. I think that first they need to build his character so that we care about more. Right now, I think we care about Batista because he's in Evolution and he's a monster. The WWE needs to give him some personality, meaning something besides Evolution just like Unknown said. Then after establishing Batista's character, they could give him a reason to turn face...maybe being screwed over by Orton to get ahead (i don't know-just thinking out loud). If you think about it, with his look, size, and ring skills, Batista could be a great face. I agree that he does need some more mic time as well.