Dave Batista walks through the door of his modest Maryland home. After yet another electrifying Raw appearance, he returns home, opens up his mailbox and receives the largest check he’s ever received in his life. He can no longer randomly go to a shopping mall or just take his kids to the park. He is the WWE Champion.Winning the coveted title on the grandest stage of them all, Wrestlemania, it’s time to put a down payment on the million dollar estate that he’s always dreamed about and acquire the best set of wheels that money can buy.
Nothing can bring this man down……
An ear-to-ear grin makes it’s way across his now famous face as he reaches into his luggage and pulls out the most coveted piece of gold that the wrestling world has ever seen……The WWE Title. “How it’s all come so fast!” he thinks to himself. He feels proud, and he should. His now infamous smile is replaced with an all too serious expression…….”So much, so fast. But how long will it last?”.
There are exceptions to every rule, but there is one thing that holds true in the world of professional wrestling. The faster it comes, the faster it goes!
Tommy Rich, Bill Goldberg, The Ultimate Warrior and Brock Lesnar were all the “talk of the wrestling world” at one point in their careers. All four received instant fame, instant fortune and almost immediately acquired the World Heavyweight Title shortly after their careers began. Even more amazing is how Bill Goldberg and The Ultimate Warrior both came in, won their companies second most prestigious title and shortly thereafter won the World Heavyweight Title. Ironically, both men beat Hulk Hogan to acquire the top spot in their respective companies. Their careers virtually mimicked one another’s. I have to wonder to this day how promoters allowed Goldberg and Warrior to defeat Raven and The Honky Tonk Man so swiftly and decisively after both men had brought a ton of credibility to their respective titles.
In retrospect, where were these 4 guys 2 years before and after their world title wins? As far the aftermath goes,
Goldberg was out or semi-retired most of the time after ’97. The Warrior was AWOL, Rich was working small Indies in the Mid-South territory and Lesnar? Well he is in the middle of suing the WWE to get out of a 10 year “no compete” clause that he signed while he was with the company.
As far as before goes, Tommy Rich was wrestling small indy shows, Goldberg was home nursing a football injury, The Ultimate Warrior was working in World Class Championship Wrestling as the “Dingo Warrior” and Lesnar was just entering Ohio Valley Wrestling. Now many can consider Rhyno’s case similar to the previous aforementioned (but on a much smaller level), but even he suffered after ECW’s demise and was wrestling in high school gyms in the Michigan area (which is where he’ll most likely end up once again) as “Rhino Richards” a couple of years before entering ECW. The sad fact is that the previously mentioned 4 through time will be remembered in a casual context, but will hardly be considered legends.
What is it that truly solidifies a wrestlers place in history as a “legend” and differs them from the “flash in the pans”? Well there are obviously quite a few ingredients, but through my 25 years of observation, one ingredient holds truer than any other.
Adversity.
The story of Shawn Michaels’ and Mick Foley’s 15 year struggles and lifelong dreams of being the WWF/E World Champion captured the viewers hearts and imaginations. Sting’s constant ability to somehow always overcome all adversity and obstacles and ultimately defeat the “heel” World Champion made us watch NWA/WCW every week. Even Triple H through all the alleged politics had to fight 5 matches in one night on Raw just to earn a shot at the World Title. Regardless of how I feel about any of the aforementioned superstars, one thing will hold true. They will all be remembered by the fans as legends.
There are some lucky and unlucky exceptions to the rule. Both The Rock and The Big Show were given accelerated pushes in the early stages of their careers and both ended up having stellar careers for the most part. On the flip side, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho won the World Title on momentous occasions, but are currently struggling to regain a spot amongst the upper echolon of their respective brands rosters. All these listed cases are true testaments as to how important character build up is and how fragile any professional wrestlers career can be.
With all that in mind, Dave Batista puts his coveted trophy back in it’s rightful place and regains that infamous smile, takes a deep breath and thinks to himself……”I’ll cross that bridge when it comes……if I ever find it”.
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