9 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2007
2. Batista Was A Blessing
Let's hear it for dishy Dave.
Batista pinned Great Khali in a Triple Threat match also involving Rey Mysterio at Unforgiven on 16 September. He’d only hold the belt until Armageddon when Edge (who was back from injury woes) replaced him, but 'The Animal' was a vast improvement over what had come before. Post-Khali, big Dave was a blessing.
His 3 month reign featured plenty of fun matches as well, including a surprisingly decent ‘Punjabi Prison’ bout vs. Khali at No Mercy (no, really!). Other matches of note from this time include Batista vs. Undertaker at both Cyber Sunday and Survivor Series, a fab clash with Edge on the 30 November SmackDown, and a solid ‘Last Man Standing’ scrap with Kane on the 14 December show.
Batista was very much an 'in emergency break glass' roll of the dice from WWE, but it was the right call to divert attention away from Khali as champ onto someone more dependable in that role. Edge was always the long-term plan, and everyone knew it. Still, avoiding him having to pull something out of Khali was smart.
Imagine returning from injury and hearing, 'So you're wrestling Khali for 20 minutes on the next pay-per-view'. That wouldn't have gone down well with Edge, and rightly so. Batista tried his able best to pull a worthy showing from Khali, then he had quite the rivalry with 'Taker as everyone readied themselves for Edge's comeback.
Words cannot describe how much better SmackDown was under Batista's watch than Khali's. Sorry, big dude. You were the drizzling you-know-whats in-ring!