Batista is the ultimate nemesis that Bryan needed all along

[rnrk supports BLM]

After Batista's promo on Smackdown, it struck me that he's the perfect foil for Bryan. Orton as the protected golden boy and Triple H as the corporate asshole who doesn't think Bryan fits the top star mold never quite clicked, in part because emotional investment in that angle requires knowing and caring about WWE's actual backstage politics. It doesn't connect on the same primal level as Austin as the blue-collar everyman against his boss, because Bryan's appeal isn't being a blue-collar everyman, it's being a... nerd.

And Batista is the perfect enemy for a nerd; a bodybuilding douchebag jock with a metrosexual obsession with his image, who dresses up in faux-MMA gear in spite of having never beaten anyone besides a fat tomato can, and with pumped-up muscles that are good for posing but give out and leave him exhausted when he's stuck in a real fight. And he gets pissy about any attention being given to a guy who's less of a "real man" than him, completely oblivious to the fact that the short, scrawny, ill-kempt Bryan is the one with a real, genuine fire that Batista's show muscles can never live up to.

That's a visceral, intense feud, and that's the enemy that Bryan's been missing all along, whose ass he needs to definitively kick.

Whether or not the booking plans lead to them meeting at Wrestlemania, I can see this being a great feud in the making.

['Foretold' Joker]

Bryan vs Batista?

I'd watch that, just for the crowd reaction.

[mystikz]

Only if it ends in Batista tapping out.

[543Y2J]

Bryan works brilliantly with big men, would love to see them feud together and they have history

A brilliant 6 minute BTC match that showed Bryan can get the best out of Batista in ring (just like he does everyone else)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Lp2ujH7oo

[hassanchop]

He needs to do this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rShFpGEn47E

[Lick Ness Monster]

I do actually think that Bryan could have clicked really well with Orton as the machine's chosen champion going into WrestleMania had the booking done a better job keeping them separated after SummerSlam and, you know, NOT left Orton a complete nonentity joke of a champion by this point. Having said that, Bryan vs. Batista in a one-on-one match would be all kinds of fun at 'Mania. You can't write a better story than this, for all the reasons that rnrk spelled out.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

As perfect as it might seem, it won't happen that way. Batista was brought back like that as a face and changed only to salvage his run. Vince and Triple H are both alpha males and don't realize that for the under-40s, our culture is different. The nerd is the hero now and it's in a genuine way, but that's just not a narrative they want or understand. If this feud happens, it'll be typical "big heel fights small face" feud and it will ignore these aspects entirely.

[lovingway]

I just think that if they go with a 3 way how very eerily it is that it occurs on the 10th anniversary of Benoit's win and all the similarities.

[hassanchop]

Maybe afterwards, he could feud with Evan Bourne, Tyson Kidd and maybe Big E. The thing is even though they're not that tall, they at least have the body and arms:

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Mar 2, 2014 2:17:32 GMT -5 hassanchop said:

WHY HASN'T THIS MAN RETURNED TO MY TV YET!!!!

[The IWC WORLD Champion]

I can see the match happen before my eyes. First five minutes Byran get a few offensive strikes and the shinkick combo he does while the crowd chants yes. Batista counters a running kick with a spinebuster. 15 minutes of powerslams and a back breaker into the ringpost from the outside. Bryan rallies with his usually shijnkick offense which sends Batista reeling to the outside, suicide dive. Then Batista counters Bryan top rope attempt and hits the Batista Bomb, Bryan kicks out shakes his head channeling the Ultimate Warrior and hits a running knee for the 1 2 3.

Pretty much the same as all his other matches

[Macho Pichu]

The audience would eat the shit out of that match. Not only do the characters interact perfectly for it to work, but all of the audience's positive attention has been on Bryan lately, while all the negative energy is focused on Batista. Its literally* the hottest match up they could make right now.

*

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{*}Before anyone tries to Grammar Slam me....

[nate5054]

It's absolutely perfect.

Which is why WWE will drop the ball on it. They are too dumb to capitalize.

[Deleted]

Bryan could have a good match with Batista, a lot of his moves are "restholds" in the sense that the person gets to just wait and eat it. Running kicks in the corner, midring kicks, surfboard tease (Batista probably can't actually do that, but he can lay there and let the crowd be teased) etc

Throw in an actual resthold and maybe a toss out of the ring, you could go 15 mins no prob.

I'm sure if he thought about it, he could come up with more than I did in 30 seconds.

It's not like Batista is a collapsing hulk hogan. He can do some stuff, go into those spots, then do some stuff later.

Batista is in better shape than me. I could have a 15 minute match with Bryan np with him carrying me. Sure I'd be godawful unwatchable on offense but you know what I mean. His stuff is really easy to bump for. That's why he keeps having good matches. A ton of it is "Just sit there and sell". Perfect for the WWE.

[Boo!]

Batista now heel will lose a lot of his heel heat. It's more fun to hate on someone you're not supposed to than are.Now he's pretty much turned, his crowd responses may well improve.