Batista: WWE World Champion To Guardian Of The Galaxy

In February 2010, Batista would begin getting involved in the feud between Bret Hart and Mr. McMahon, even though he was technically a member of SmackDown and McMahon & Hart were on Raw. He was rewarded by McMahon with an impromptu match against John Cena for the WWE Championship. The match took place at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, immediately after Cena had just defended the title in an Elimination Chamber match. Batista won the Championship, moved to Raw, and set up the final one-on-one WrestleMania match of his career, thus far. The build up to the match would see Batista complain about the company putting everything they had behind Cena despite him being just as big of a star. It was designed to make him look whiny, and it did come off that way, but he also made some pretty valid points during the whole thing. To nobody’s surprise, Cena would win the WrestleMania match and the two ensuing rematches at Extreme Rules and Over the Limit. Their match at Over the Limit, was an “I Quit” match. Cena won when he threatened to deliver the AA off the stage unless Batista quit. “The Animal” surrendered, but Cena still followed through with the move. What a hero… The next night Batista would come out to the ring and deliver a worked promo that had some elements of a shoot in it. Then, new Raw GM, Bret Hart, booked him in a match against Randy Orton later that night. Batista would refuse to compete and “walk out” of the company. In reality his contract had expired and he chose not to re-sign. He said he “Didn’t like the direction the company was headed in.”