10 Times WWE Turned Trash Into Treasure
6. Batista
WWE repaired Batista twice.
He arrived on SmackDown - his one marketable asset obscured in a suit John Laurinaitis told him to fork out on, before taking a knife to it - as second to the second best part of the Dudley Boyz tag team. This was sub-New Generation dross: 'Deacon' Batista's Ringmaster moment. Atoning for their sin, WWE quickly shoved Batista into the Evolution faction, and built him as a cool destroyer immune to power plays; the badass counter-terrorist to Triple H's WHC reign. This version of Batista, alongside John Cena, drew a record pay-per-view buy rate at WrestleMania 21.
He returned, following an excellent career as headliner, at the 2014 Royal Rumble, as the stark antithesis to the man WWE pegged him to replace: Daniel Bryan. The wheezing dinosaur to Bryan's incandescent, state-of-the-art performer, this version of Batista was transported forward to a time he did not belong to, and crowds nationwide let him know it. Boo-tista; Bluetista; both were synonyms of "public enemy number one".
To spare themselves the embarrassment of a rejected 'Mania main event, and any potential impact on the WWE Network launch, WWE repositioned Batista as a heel, and he revelled in his role as a spiteful, p*ssed off mercenary.
Batista was a killer in that Triple Threat Match, and put The Shield over big time as the final boss in two consecutive six-man stunners.