3 times Batista turned on his best friends
Tonight's WWE Raw ended on a shocking note, with "The Animal" Batista making his return to the WWE, and attacking the legendary Ric Flair in the process.
Flair was on Raw to celebrate his 70th birthday. The celebration had just begun and the entire Raw roster was waiting for him to come out, when the camera panned to the back and we saw the disturbing footage of an enraged Batista dragging a helpless Ric Flair out of his room.
This is a clear indication that we are going to get a grudge match between Triple H and Batista at the grandest stage of them all. Batista and Triple H engaged in a war of words some time back on SmackDown 1000 when Batista reminded him that he has never beaten The Animal. Ric Flair prevented a confrontation at the time, but the match is finally going to happen at WrestleMania 35.
This isn't the first time we've seen Batista turn on his colleagues. Let's take a look at three occasions when Batista snapped and attacked his best friends.
#3 Rey Mysterio
At the Bragging Rights PPV in 2009, the SmackDown World title was defended in a Fatal 4-way match, pitting Batista, The Undertaker, C.M. Punk and Rey Mysterio.
The match came to an end when The Undertaker delivered his patented Tombstone Piledriver on The Animal and pinned him. After the match, Josh Matthews came in to interview a visibly frustrated Batista and Rey Mysterio.
Suddenly, Batista snapped and began a ruthless attack on Rey Mysterio. After taking his time brutalising the masked superstar, Batista spent the next several weeks attacking Mysterio on multiple occasions.
The rivalry came to an end at Survivor Series 2009, when Batista defeated Rey Mysterio via knockout, as Rey was unable to compete further after getting powerbombed by Batista three times in a row. A spinebuster was delivered to make matters worse.
The beatdown on Mysterio resulted in a full-blown heel turn for The Animal, as he ascended onto the main event scene and began a program with the WWE champion John Cena, heading into WrestleMania 26.