The Complete History of the WWE Championship - Part 14

Batista (June 7, 2009 - June 9, 2009)

Batista: Won his first WWE Championship at Extreme Rules 2009

Batista was no stranger to World titles: in 2009, he had worn the World Heavyweight Championship on four separate occasions between 2005 and 2008.

He won his first WWE Championship, however, versus long-time friend and rival Randy Orton inside a steel cage at Extreme Rules 2009. In doing so, Batista became the first wrestler to win the title in a Cage Match.

Batista's reign was not planned in advance. In fact, "The Animal" entered the contest with a torn left biceps and there was no chance of him enjoying a lengthy title run. However, the feeling in WWE was that Batista had come up short too many times in big title matches and that fans would lose faith in him if he lost again. Therefore the decision was made to award the big man the belt and immediately vacate it.

Randy Orton, the man from whom Batista won the title would regain it just six days after losing it on Raw.

Batista's first title run lasted just two days. His second would not come for another two years, in February 2010, just a few months before he retired from WWE for the first time, prior to short comebacks in 2014 and 2019.

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