Batista Vs. Umaga At Wrestlemania: Battle Of The Bridesmaids
At the Survivor Series this past November, Batista had one of the biggest wins of his career, a Hell In A Cell victory over the Undertaker. Since then, "The Animal" has been put in the unfamiliar role of bridesmaid to others at WWE PPV events. At Armageddon, he dropped the World Title to Edge in a three-way match with the Undertaker. The fact that WWE did the three-way then surprised me at the time, since I expected them to save the three-way for Wrestlemania, and have the WWE Title in a singles match (things seemed very different in 2007 when it came to the Wrestlemania picture). Batista then became the last Smackdown entrant in the Royal Rumble, before being dumped so Triple H and John Cena could have the spotlight. At No Way Out, Batista fell victim to a tombstone piledriver in the Elimination Chamber, setting up Edge vs. Undertaker, and officially knocking Batista out of the main event picture at Wrestlemania. While some would expect Batista to get "boo-boo faced" over his lack of a feature match on the show, we've instead seen a more mature wrestler who just went about his business. Batista is fully confident, as he should be, that his place in the "on deck circle" just means it is a matter of time before he is back in the main event picture. The result has been a fun series of matches with MVP on Smackdown, with Batista showing he can sell and put over an opponent as easily as he can dominate one.
Umaga, unlike Batista, is probably destined to be "always a bridesmaid, never a bride". Yes, he'll be included in multi-man main events, and even given a feature match on shows where there are co-main events (like his bout with John Cena at the 2007 Royal Rumble, or the Bobby Lashley match at Wrestlemania last year). Umaga getting the WWE Title just doesn't seem to be in the cards. He's the classic "good hand" who always delivers in the ring, and is believable in laying out main eventers, even if he rarely is allowed to be one himself. Need a good match or a monster to beat up someone? Call Umaga. Yes, he'll lose matches, but WWE is always careful to keep him looking strong. For an example, just look at the Elimination Chamber at No Way Out, where it took a parade of finishers to put him away. Recently, Umaga has been dropping weight, and the added speed has made his maniacal charges across the ring look even nastier. So, with WWE in need of a monstrous opponent that can have an interesting match with Batista, the decision seemed simple. Umaga.
The storyline? Well, it's not exactly enthralling. Smackdown General Manager Vickie Guerrero, ignoring ECW (like everyone else), challenged Raw to put up someone for an cross-brand match at Wrestlemania. Raw General Manager William Regal picked Umanga, er, I mean Umaga. Batista stepped up and said he wanted to represent his brand in the match. Throw in a few faceoffs and brawls, and that's it. To be blunt, the appeal here is seeing two powerhouse brawlers trade slams and tackles. Smackdown vs. Raw? Who cares? Hell, there was a Smackdown vs. Raw match last night, although I doubt that many people want to remember Great Khali vs. Hardcore Holly. WWE can throw another brawl on Smackdown between the two if they want, but I think we've got the picture already.
So, if nothing else, Batista vs. Umaga is a unique match (in other words, not something we've been seeing over and over) and should be a fun bout for fans of power-based offense and sledgehammer blows. Batista is the odds-on favorite to win, since logic dictates that he will be the challenger to the Undertaker-Edge winner once they get any rematches out of the way. Besides, Umaga will just destroy someone the next night on Raw and get his heat back. Unless of course, WWE decides to mix things up following Wrestlemania. Since it seems unlikely that Umaga will crack the Cena-Orton-HHH ceiling anytime soon, a move to Smackdown, and a continuation of his rivalry with Batista may be in the cards. However, that is just speculation on my part. For now, Umaga is going to be a "good hand" as always, and work with a motivated Batista to show that he's ready to walk down the aisle for a main event again (as if there was any doubt).
PWInsider.com
