King Booker (or BOOKAH if you prefer) and Batista made headlines in May 2006 when they got into a scuffle during a SummerSlam commercial shoot. Apparently, veteran Booker was upset with some disrespectful comments that Batista had made about the Smackdown roster. Booker's wife Sharmell and Batista's heat-magnet, erm, friend, Melina might have also played a part. Accrording to most accounts, Booker battered Batista (although he suffered a shiner in the process). The Animal was humbled, but there was a problem: Booker and Batista were slated to work a programme with each other in the summer and into autumn. Would they be able to act professionally? They would, but that wouldn't save their mediocre feud. It just went on and on and there was no real killer segment that helped to pique fan interest. It was just a repetitive cycle of Batista fighting the numbers game week in, week out as he battled Regal, Finlay and Booker on Smackdown. Their SummerSlam match was a dud and their Survivor Series outing, which had the stipulation that should Batista lose he'd never get another shot at Booker's title, wasn't much better. Batista was clearly struggling at this time coming back from an injury layoff. His in-ring performances were sloppy and the matches and segments with Booker were not as good as they should have been.
