10 WWE Villains With Understandable Motives
8. Batista - Rightful Face Of The Company
It's been very well documented just how meteoric both John Cena and Batista's rise to the top actually was. The fact that it seemed to happen simultaneously is quite simply a minor miracle.
Both winning world titles at WrestleMania 21 and becoming the flag bearer of their assigned brand, the two were kept separate for what felt like an eternity. Then - when Batista was drafted to Raw in 2008 - the two would finally be found on the same show and a showdown between the two leading babyfaces would take place at that year's SummerSlam.
They would then be kept apart for a while, only for Batista to be granted a WWE title match with Cena (after another grueling Elimination Chamber victory) at the titular event in 2010 - which he won.
Their programme running into 'Mania XXVI revolved around Batista's on-screen angst at being shunted as the legitimate 'top guy' in the company, in favour of Cena. Batista admitted that the two were 'the biggest stars since the Attitude Era' in a promo, but felt that the magazine covers, movies and commercials should have been offered to him, too.
You couldn't exactly argue with those points as Batista had proven to be as valuable a commodity as Cena up until that moment and - like anyone who knows their worth - he wanted to be afforded the same treatment as his rival.
The guy just wanted what he'd earned...