Ranking All 50 WWE World Heavyweight Champions - From Worst To Best

34. Batista

WWE Champions
WWE.com

Another modern era performer more synonymous with a different top title, Dave Batista's WWE Championship reigns weren't quite as remarkable, but his second and last did propel some of his finest ever work back to the top of the card.

Obnoxious heel 'Big Dave' was, by 2011, an utter delight. His WrestleMania XXVI feud centred around a jealous obsession with the star power of John Cena allowed him to flex more than just his humongous biceps. An enjoyable actor beyond the Sports Entertainment prism, WWE Champion Batista was a mainstream crossover success-in-waiting.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett