Batista's quick rise to World Champion status - and the main event of WrestleMania - allegedly gave "The Animal" a big head. He was forced to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship in early 2006 due to an injury, but coming back over the summer and immediately being placed into a feud with King Booker for the belt did Batista's attitude no favors. At a commercial shoot for SummerSlam, Booker spoke up to Batista over comments he had made, and things escalated. According to lore, both men went into a room, did their business, and it was Booker who emerged victorious. The rest of the roster was reportedly thrilled that someone had put Big Dave in his place, and any bad blood between the grapplers seemed to end there - they went on to work a program with each other immediately thereafter. In interviews, Batista seems to be a humble, sweet guy - one can only wonder if Booker T has something to do with that.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
