Any time a feud happens where one guy is a current main eventer and he helps somebody else get to that level it has to be considered a major success. The story of Batista becoming a top babyface in WWE was a really well done angle based on the history of the Evolution stable that dominated the Raw brand for about two years. When the group was together, Randy Orton was supposed to be the big breakout face star. He didn't do a great job of it, so Batista emerged as this muscle bound freak that was smarter than people thought and realized that Triple H as well as Ric Flair played him for a fool. Batista won the 2005 Royal Rumble in the final two with John Cena. He had to decide if he would go after the World Champion Triple H on Raw or the WWE Champ JBL on Smackdown. Hunter wanted him to go for JBL so they could dominate both shows, but it was really because Hunter didn't want to face him. Batista, who was sick of Hunter's antics, did the infamous "thumbs down" sign to Hunter (and Flair) to say that he was going after him. They went on to have a very good match as the main event of WrestleMania 21 that showed that Batista was ready to become a top guy in WWE. The feud continued past WrestleMania as well with several more matches where Hunter put him over multiple times to solidify Batista's spot including an underrated Hell in a Cell match. Sometimes there are storylines in WWE that are very confusing. In this case, they kept it simple. They just did some very basic stuff that worked perfectly in part because the fans hated Triple H so much, but also because the saw the star power of Batista as something they could support.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
