During his time in developmental, Batista teamed up with WWE Hall of Famer Mr. Perfect to face Shelton Benjamin and Randy Orton in a dark match that went totally wrong in Chicago. The Animal recalled the incident in his autobiography, "Batista Unleashed."
"We couldn't find Mr. Perfect before the match. I was a nervous wreck. He showed up literally as we were ready to walk out. [...] I was used to having everything told to me. [...] But Mr. Perfect - Curt Hennig - was from the old school. 'Ah, we'll just call it out there,' he said. meaning that once we were in the ring, we'd decide the moves that would be made," he wrote.
Batista was uncomfortable with Mr. Perfect's suggestion. Nevertheless, he could not do anything about it. As he had no idea what he was doing in the ring, Batista botched the end of the match.
"So we were in the ring. I was with Shelton Benjamin and I had no clue what the hell I was doing. But I had to make the call. So I had Shelton give me something really stupid, like an elbow. Which I bumped for, going down on my back. He covered me. So I'm down on the mat, he's covering me, and I'm trying to come up with something to tell him what we're going to do when we get up. Before I could think of anything, I got counted out. He beat me because of an elbow? Oh, f**k. F**k!" Batista added.
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After the unexpected botch, Batista was freaking out, as he stated in his book. His partner, Mr. Perfect, also felt the same. Meanwhile, the fans started booing. Although they restarted the match, The Animal was still embarrassed and "just wanted to die right there."
Batista later had a successful career in WWE between 2000 and 2019. The 53-year-old won six World Championships before retiring from professional wrestling to pursue a career in Hollywood.
A former champion recalls a "memorable" backstage altercation between Booker T and Batista in WWE. Check out his comments here.
Batista is not interested in returning to WWE
In April 2019, Batista hung up his boots after losing to Triple H at WrestleMania 35. Since then, many fans have expressed their desire to see the former World Heavyweight Champion back in the ring.
During an appearance at Zack Snyder's Justice Con in 2021, The Animal addressed the possibility of returning to WWE, disclosing that he would never wrestle again.
"It's hard to convince people that I'm actually retired. You have no idea how tough that discussion is. When professional wrestlers retire, they don't really retire. They kind of retire. But, you know, when the pay cheque's big enough or the event's big enough, they come out of retirement. It's just not that way with me. I exited the business in such a storybook way, I'd never go back. I would never take away from that. I am just done, man. I really got to finish on my own terms and nothing is going to take away from that," he said. [H/T: Metro]
A WWE Hall of Famer had problems working alongside Batista. Check out his comments here.