10 Fascinating WWE SummerSlam 2008 Facts

4. A "Text Vote" Resulted In WWE Putting Batista Over Cena

Triple H Great Khali
WWE.com

John Cena did more than his usual number of high-profile jobs throughout 2008, losing to the likes of Randy Orton, Triple H, and JBL leading up to SummerSlam. Batista was the next person to get a kick at the Cena can, and "The Animal" scored a no-doubt-about-it clean victory over the company's top star.

Cena's status as the WWE ace is what made the company decide to go with Batista at SummerSlam. During the August 11 Raw, WWE conducted a text message-based survey, asking fans who they thought was the bigger star between Cena and Batista. Cena won handily with 73 percent of the votes.

According to the Wrestling Observer, WWE wanted to bring Batista closer to Cena's level as a bankable top guy, and gave him the clean win as a way of establishing parity between the two stars.

Contributor
Contributor

Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.