8 WWE World Title Changes That Were Going To Happen (But Didn't)

3. Batista Defeating Randy Orton - WrestleMania XXX

Batista 2014
WWE.com

Following his return to WWE at the turn of 2014, Batista was almost immediately on the Road to WrestleMania.

As planned, Big Dave emerged victorious from the '14 Royal Rumble match, with that win punching the Animal's ticket for a shot at Randy Orton's World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXX. But for Batista - and for WWE as a whole - the Road to WrestleMania was certainly a bumpy one.

And the reason for that bumpy journey was a fella named Daniel Bryan.

Instead of the planned closing shot of 'Mania being Batista standing tall as the new World Heavyweight Champion, we famously got one of the all-time great WrestleMania Moments, as it was D-Bry celebrating in a sea of "Yes!" chants when that year's Showcase of the Immortals concluded.

Of course, that was a unique time in WWE history. Despite WWE's plans for Batista vs. Orton at WrestleMania, the company did the rarest of rare things - they listened to their audience!

Daniel Bryan was in the midst of an organic rise in popularity that has rarely been matched in WWE history, and the sheer impassioned audience responses to Bryan meant that WWE had to insert him into the WrestleMania main event. And while Batista still got to be a part of that main event, instead of his planned World Heavyweight Championship win Big Dave found himself tapping out to Bryan's patented Yes! Lock.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.