9 Things You Didn't Know About WWE No Way Out

9. Batista Was Added To 2005 Event In Order To Boost Low Ticket Sales

WWE were a little worried going into the 2005 incarnation of No Way Out, a SmackDown exclusive event, with ticket sales not improving in the weeks leading up to the show. Indeed, front row tickets were supposedly still available a mere fortnight before the PPV. What, you mean people didn't want to see a JBL versus Big Show main event? I am as shocked as you are. WWE had booked the show for the Mellon (formerly Civic) arena, which has a capacity of around 17,000. WWE weren't even close to half of that when they decided to call in reinforcements from the other brand. Leading up to the show, Raw man Batista had been having a spot of bother with JBL, who had cut a scathing promo on The Animal after big Dave had won the Royal Rumble. This was done because Batista was weighing up whether to challenge Raw or Smackdown's World champion. By having the Texan cut the promo, it diverted fans' attention away from the prospect of Batista versus Evolution stablemate Triple H (which was the plan all along). Anyway, to cut a long story short, the red-hot Batista was advertised as making a 'special appearance', which helped to add a couple thousand ticket sales. The 'special' appearance was him appearing at the very end of the show and beating up JBL stablemates the Basham Brothers and Orlando Jordan. Batista turned up wearing his ring attire, despite not being booked for an actual match. No, I don't know why.