Where Do You Think Batista-Eddie Would Have Gone?

[Tyfo]

At the time of Eddie Guerrero's death, he was involved in a storyline with Batista on SmackDown. If you don't remember it well, basically, Eddie was heel at the time and had just come off the long feud with Rey Mysterio. Theodore Long was going to name Rey as the #1 contender for the World title, but network executive Palmer Canon decided that Eddie Guerrero would be the better choice.

Eddie then seemingly tried to buddy up with Batista heading into their title match at No Mercy 2005. But unlike the usual oblivious face (ala Sting) they made sure you realized that Batista knew exactly what Eddie was trying to do. Which made their dynamic really interesting. They were teaming up regularly and you were just waiting for Eddie to go off and jump Batista, or for Batista to finally stop playing with him and drop him with a spinebuster. But neither happened.

At WWE Homecoming when Batista was fighting off the RAW superstars, Eddie Guerrero claimed to be the only SmackDown guy to come back and help him, because they were friends.

Batista beat Eddie at No Mercy and retained the World title. But their maybe/maybe not friendship continued on. Eddie had even started using his face entrance theme again, and had qualified for the SmackDown team at Survivor Series, which Batista was the captain of. It still seemed that their angle wasn't done though.

Had Eddie lived, what do you think would have happened with their angle? I thought that Eddie would eventually win the World title, using heelish tactics and go back into his heel persona and continue feuding with Batista, but I don't really know.

Also, remembering this feud made me remember how good Batista's character used to be. He outsmarted Triple H and Ric Flair during the end of his Evolution days, to the point that the crowd was begging him to go face a month of more before he turned. Then when he gets to SmackDown and does the same thing with Eddie. He was the babyface that wasn't dumb and wouldn't fall for the usual heel tricks, because he had learned them all from the best (HHH and Flair). Now he just gets random title shots and has a terrible forced laugh.

[Jimmy]

I agree with your "Win the title by using heelish tactis" theory. After he died everybody said it was leading up to Eddie becoming a face again but at the time I was convinced it was all just an act by Heel Eddie, seeing as he had only turned several months ago and there still seemed to be something boiling with Batista undernearth the surface.

[Tapout]

Eddy would've turned on "Big" Dave, costing him a precious title shot or somesuch, then he would've gotten his comeuppance. Among other characters, Eddy was a master of the cowardly heel character and he clearly would've been happy to put "Big" Dave over at their blowoff match.

[Tyfo]

Also, it's hard to tell what storylines changed or were added after his death, but I had assumed that the angle with Batista and Rey winning the tag titles and then continuing the feud with RAW and facing Kane and Big Show at Armageddon was also intended to be for Batista and Eddie.

I think had that happened, and they took the loss to them, and then losing the tag titles back to MNM, that's what would have finally set Eddie off.

[I Like Your Poetry]

Basically, the Murdoch/Cade and Hardyz angle was an inferior version of this one.

I definitely think Eddie would have won the World Title, screwed Batista in the eventual one-on-one match, and then had a World title reign for a few months before losing it back to Batista.

[Nacho STAYS Hyped]

This might sound terribly morbid, but...I'm kind of glad Eddie died when he was still pretty much a tweener babyface. If the angle went like I think it would have, and Eddie died as a heel, that would have been pretty bad.

[I Like Your Poetry]

Oct 12, 2009 13:30:23 GMT -5 Nacho STAYS Hyped said:

This might sound terribly morbid, but...I'm kind of glad Eddie died when he was still pretty much a tweener babyface. If the angle went like I think it would have, and Eddie died as a heel, that would have been pretty bad.

I don't get this..it's not like less people would mourn the performer because his character was "bad."

[DrizzlinShytes]

I kept waiting for Eddie to turn, but if they were going to have him turn it was a very slow burn. It was a great storyline and they worked well together.

Batista said once in an interview, I thin on Eddie's DVD, that he had last talked to Eddie about storylines and how upset both were about something Vince had decided. So maybe the storyline was changing?

Personally, from how it was going I think they were turning Eddie face and Batista didn't want that because it meant working with him less.

[kemps]

Eddie saves Batista from a beatdown from the RAW superstars, and they hug then SUDDENLY-

Eddie low blows Batista!

Then he grabs the WHC and slams it hard against Batista's weakened nuts.

Then dragging a down Batista to his low-rider, Eddie snarls, "THE WORST IS YET TO COME." and throws Batista against the hood.

The next smackdown, Eddie comes out in a suit.

[4real]

Hopefully Eddie would have beat Batista and Orton in the triple threat to win the World Title.

Also interesting to think how the RAW vs. Smackdown! Survivor Series match would have gone with Orton the sole survivor only being Eddie's replacement after he died.

I'd like to think that Eddie would have been the sole survivor but severly doubt it.

[wrestlecrapcrap]

Agree on Batista, his character was great then, and in his Evolution days. Even against Taker he was still good and vs HBK in 2008 was some of his best work.

When he plays either being clever or in the HBK feud, passionate, then he is fine. I think he's been unfortunate that he's been in alot of angles that don't really get him involved enough that he can use that character, he just seems to be the babyface challenger there to tide things over until they can get someone else. Fair enough if they don't want to invest to heavily in a storyline when they have other plans, but it gets frustrating when you know Batista can be much better.

[Mighty Mouth]

I loved this storyline and was excited to see where it was going to end up. I would love to think that Eddie would lie, cheat, and steal his way to another title reign. Only to end up losing it back to Bats after a nice little feud.

Now if you go into the "Was Eddie going to be champ again?" thread and say that, they might castrate you over there.

[Ben Wyatt]

Im not entirely surewhere the storyline was going.

Really, I LOVED that whole angle. Everything about it was awesome.

And I agree about Batista. That version of him was easily my favorite

[The Genesis of KoOS]

Oct 12, 2009 13:22:05 GMT -5 Tyfo said:

Also, it's hard to tell what storylines changed or were added after his death, but I had assumed that the angle with Batista and Rey winning the tag titles and then continuing the feud with RAW and facing Kane and Big Show at Armageddon was also intended to be for Batista and Eddie.

Let's not forget that Batista also got hurt right before Eddie's death, so even if Eddie didn't die, plans would have changed.

I recalled them hinting at a Matt Hardy/Orton feud on the Smackdown before Eddie's death.

[Bo Rida]

I think Big Dave may have turned first as he wanted to do it before Eddie did.

I'm hoping CM Punk can replicate this feud so he can repeat his ROH snake promo.

[chunkylover53]

Anybody think Batista would've turned on Eddie as a swerve?

[Pipe_Bomb2k13]

Here's another idea that could of happened how about Eddie lying and cheating his way to win the Rumble (instead of the Rey win we got) then go onto WM to face Batista? I could of seen that happening personally.

[Mayonnaise]

I honestly think it would have been dropped and forgotten. Batista was working through some serious issues and, needed some time off and they were just using this to get Eddy back into the main event scene as as a face. Batista would be out for a Lord knows how long and, they needed someone to step back into the role and face Orton.

[Perpetual Nirvana]

I think they changed it shortly before Eddie died. The plan may originally have been to have Eddie turn on Batista but once Batista went down with injury and the title was going on Orton, Eddie would have turned fully face and feuded with Orton in Batista's absence.

[noleafclover1980]

Inb4 the pit of danger.