Legendary 10-time WWE champion was 'never beaten because he wasn't good enough,' claims Jim Cornette; explains major Stone Cold Steve Austin moment
Longtime wrestling personality Jim Cornette shared a story about a legendary 10-time WWE champion's undefeated streak that involved Stone Cold Steve Austin. Cornette recently discussed Batista's time in OVW, mentioning how Austin helped snap The Animal's streak at developmental.
Before Batista was known as The Animal, he was Leviathan in OVW. He had an undefeated streak that started in mid-July 2000 before losing to Kane at the Christmas Chaos event on January 31, 2001. Austin was present at the event and even helped The Big Red Machine get the win by hitting the Stone Cold Stunner on Leviathan.
Speaking on The Jim Cornette Experience, Cornette explained why Batista's comments on Insight with Chris Van Vliet were a little off on his personal view. He pointed out that several veterans such as Big Show and Kane helped put over Leviathan in OVW and Steve Austin's involvement in his winning streak beating snapped meant he was not ready for the main roster back then.
"When Big Show came in, he understood, right. I said, 'We're building this guy. He's the monster, you're coming in as the irresistible force for the immovable object. He was calling s**t where Dave would spear him out of his boots and Dave would give him the big belly to back. (…) He helped get this guy over."
Cornette continued:
"It wasn't like squash matches when he's wrestling, and Glenn (Kane) did the same thing, and as a matter of fact, the way that we beat him against Kane was that Steve Austin rolled in at the big Christmas Chaos show. Steve Austin rolled in and gave Batista, Leviathan, a Stone Cold Stunner and then Kane chokeslammed him. We protected him. He was never beaten because he wasn't a good enough worker back then to get beat looking like that," Cornette said. [5:48 - 6:45]
Batista, who won four World Heavyweight Championships in his WWE career, felt that he didn't grow in OVW under Jim Cornette. He was put in squash matches that "stunted" his development. He credited Fit Finlay, William Regal, and Dave Taylor for helping him improve once he got called up to the main roster in 2002.
Jim Cornette reacts to Batista's comments about him
In the same episode of The Jim Cornette Experience, Jim Cornette responded to Batista's remarks during his interview with Chris Van Vliet. Cornette acknowledged the respect the two-time Royal Rumble winner gave him although he also explained what went wrong with the Leviathan character.
"Dave, at that time, I've said he was very meek, and I appreciate the nice things he said about me. I'm not saying anything bad about him except he was very meek and he seemed very unmotivated a lot of times because I don't think he was comfortable with the gimmick," Cornette said. [3:57 - 4:12 from the video above]
Batista was part of the greatest developmental class in WWE history. He was part of the famed OVW class that also included John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, and Shelton Benjamin.