10 Worst WWE Booking Decisions Of The 2000s (Year-By-Year)
2. 2008 - John Cena Vs. Batista Is Rushed With No Build
At SummerSlam 2008, John Cena and Batista had their first ever one-on-one encounter... in the semi-main event... after a couple weeks at most of build. Something doesn’t seem right about that, does it?
Since 2005, Cena and Batista were the company’s two top babyfaces, captains of their respective brands, and genuine stars. However, it was clear by 2008 that Cena had the higher profile of the two, and so in an effort to get Big Daddy Dave back on Cena’s level, the 'Animal' got a clean pinfall win over Big Match John at SummerSlam.
A fine idea, but as mentioned, the match was given so little build, and the fact that it didn’t even main-event a PPV was ridiculous. John Cena vs. Big Dave in Little China could have been a long-term money feud that could have culminated at WrestleMania 25. If they wanted to make Big Momma’s House Dave a bigger star, they should have done more than give him an abrupt win over Cena. The two should have had a meaningful storyline that got the both of them over, and given the concurrent HBK/Y2J and Edge/Undertaker feuds at the time, it’s clear WWE knew how to do this.
It seems like a small complaint, but it really felt like a big missed opportunity for Clifford The Big Red Dave.