10 Fascinating WWE WrestleMania 22 Facts

3. Batista Vs. Randy Orton Was The Original Choice For World Heavyweight Title Match

Edge, Mick Foley
WWE.com

The death of Eddie Guerrero understandably threw much of SmackDown's creative for late 2005/early 2006 into disarray. Things were made even more complicated when World Heavyweight Champion Batista tore his right triceps in the first week of January, necessitating the vacancy of the belt. Kurt Angle was pulled over from Raw to fill the vacancy and stabilize the show.

Before Batista's injury, plans were for him to defend the belt against ex-Evolution teammate Orton, who would have been coming out of his feud with The Undertaker around that time.

The two shared a backstage segment the night of WrestleMania 22, implicitly hinting at a battle down the line when Big Dave recovered. However, Orton was moved to the Raw brand later in the spring, scrapping those tentative ideas.

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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.