10 Wrestlers Who Saved Other Wrestlers From Getting Fired

7. Triple H Saves Batista

Dave Trips
WWE.com

This one might veer into apocrypha territory, but it's easy enough to believe - and that is because Dave Batista, for a time, was indistinguishable to a Heidenreich or a Matt Morgan or any other shallow John Laurinaitis hire who looked like, and had all the mobility and emotional range of, a skyscraper.

Jim Cornette's opinion of Batista's arc might be informed by two separate developments: Batista's negative feedback to his Ohio Valley Wrestling experience and his incandescent hatred of Laurinaitis, who treated the OVW sandbox like a massive, f*ck off tidal wave, on which he surfed on the lookout for hot chicks.

Cornette, who has told the story hundreds of times across his thousand podcast appearances, was aghast at WWE had done to somebody who wasn't even his boy. It was monumentally thick even by WWE's standards: the guy who at the time only had a body going for him was made to wear a suit as Reverend D-Von's heavy. Cornette claims that they botched Batista so horrendously that they were at least prepared to let him go until he started working out with Triple H.

That relationship was incredibly beneficial - against Trips in storylines, Batista displayed his immense acting prowess and learned to measure his explosiveness to awesome effect - but, per Cornette, it was even more significant than that.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!