11. King Booker Vs. Batista – World Heavyweight Championship (2006)
Let’s be honest: even though King Booker and Batista wrestled each other at two Big Four pay-per-views in 2006, the only reason people talk about their feud today is because of the real backstage fight the two men had while shooting a commercial for that year’s SummerSlam.
Batista, the face of the SmackDown brand at the time, was forced to relinquish the World Heavyweight Championship due to injury in January 2006. The Animal came back in the summer with one thing in mind: to regain the world title, which was now around the royal waist of King Booker. Unfortunately, their singles matches never really clicked, including an extremely disappointing SummerSlam bout that ended in a flat disqualification.
After coming up short in an underrated Fatal Four-Way Match that also featured Bobby Lashley and Finlay at No Mercy, Batista finally regained the Big Gold Belt in the main event of Survivor Series. While the fans were behind The Animal in Philadelphia, Batista’s second world title felt more like an inevitable outcome than an exciting closure to the main event of one of WWE’s biggest events. Needless to say, their rivalry was more fiery backstage than on television.
- Match Rating: 4/10
