10 WrestleMania Followup Pay-Per-Views with WrestleMania Rematches

#4. Backlash 2005: The Beast stays The Best

An iconic Evolution moment became a signature Batista taunt.

After 2004's SummerSlam event, where Randy Orton claimed his first World Heavyweight Championship from Chris Benoit, the dissolution of Evolution began, as Triple H famously, and unceremoniously, had Batista dump the youngest world champion in WWE history to signal an attack during Orton's championship celebration.

The "thumbs up to thumbs down" signal Helmsley used to trigger the attack came back to bite him, when Batista, having learned of a plot by The Game to have The Beast run over, opted to use his Royal Rumble win to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21, using the "thumbs-up-thumbs-down" callback to let Helmsley know that pain was in his future.

Batista took his first world championship when WrestleMania went Hollywood, and Triple H invoked his rematch clause for Mania's April followup; Batista would, once again, execute his Batista Bomb to The Game to retain his new title, but this time, Helmsley took out his frustrations on referee Mike Chioda, whom Triple H felt had failed to execute his duties properly during the contest. The WWE Draft later that year separated Batista and Helmsley later that year.

Which Worked Better?

Two pay-per-views in a row end with nearly identical, but solid, endings.

Like the Triple Threat in 2004, reaction to these two matches is a matter of personal preference; WrestleMania was more of an evenly-contested back-and-forth, while Backlash saw Helmsley employ every dirty trick learned from his mentor Ric Flair to stay competitive. Also, like the previous year's Backlash main event, critical reception for the two matches is nearly identical.