 By Graham "GSM" Matthews I'm still debating on whether I write a separate review for Batista's first DVD released in 2009 (which I believe had the same name as this one), but either way, you'll see me make several comparisons between the two DVDs in regards to which is better and where this one measures up to that one. Let me state right off the bat that I'm a fan of Batista's and that's what opted me to check out his latest DVD (though I'll do my best to remain unbiased while writing this review). I own his first one and thoroughly enjoyed it to the point where I would say it is fairly underrated. That said, it was mind boggling to me when it was announced many months ago that a second DVD was going to be released on Batista that would also feature a documentary. I understand capitalizing off the buzz from his WWE return in January, but seriously, how much more could you touch upon that wasn't already talked about in the first DVD? To put it in perspective, Batista's first DVD was released in late 2009, mere months before he departed the company. The documentary covered basically everything from his early childhood to his start in the business to his feud with Undertaker in 2007. He hadn't done much of note from that point forward aside from leaving the company in 2010. Of course, this documentary briefly discussed his departure and what he did during his time off. Most of the movie focused on his return to WWE this past year, his mindset, getting back in shape and more. The biggest differences between the two documentaries, however? This one was barely 40 minutes long. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the documentary portion, but it definitely felt like they tried to cram in in a lot of meaningless stuff just to make it as long as possible. Big Show's documentary was a little less than an hour and I thought that was short! Batista talked about feeling back at home upon his return and how he never really wanted to leave to begin with. He even admits that he wasn't a fan of the creative direction the company was going in at the time and that also played a factor in him leaving. You can definitely tell that he was being genuine and that he loves wrestling as much as he says he does, regardless of what some might say. That shines through in this documentary.
The actual content, though, was nothing groundbreaking. The documentary airs his return to Raw on January 20 and then jumps into his performance in the Royal Rumble and how everything went wrong. From having to tape up his boots to his trunks being too small to not being able to workout much beforehand, it was a total disaster behind the scenes. The funny thing is that it was a disaster when he hit the ring as well. He did have the best showing and the Philadelphia crowd that night was very vocal in their disdain with Batista winning the Rumble. Batista talks about how while the boos motivated him, he wished that the fans would have been a bit more receptive to him coming back. I think there is a common understanding with the way Batista was booked and received upon his return in January. Fans didn't dislike Batista, they just didn't like the idea of him headlining WrestleMania, especially after returning only days prior. I can virtually guarantee you that had it been anyone else, the crowd would have still booed. They wanted Daniel Bryan and no one else. So, I can sympathize with Batista in this situation. He loves the business, that much is obvious. He didn't deserve the hate he got when he came back, but he made the most of it by turning a negative into a positive. Batista put all the boos he was getting to good use by turning heel in February. He flourished in the role and became the most despised heel in the entire company. He even had a handful of great matches at WrestleMania, Extreme Rules and Payback, not to mention his outings against Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Seth Rollins and others on Raw and SmackDown. So, with all that in mind, I didn't see his run as much of a failure as some fans did. Sure, he didn't win any championship gold, but he played his part well during the five months he was in WWE for, did what he was told and put a few people over in the process. That sure sounds like a successful run to me. However, the biggest issue with this documentary is that it covers none of that. Filming for it took place over the course of January and maybe the early part of February, but that was it. It didn't talk about him turning heel, his road to WrestleMania, nothing. It goes in-depth on his Raw return, sure, but it left a lot to be desired. It felt like a special or something you'd see on the WWE Network, not a three-disc DVD set that you'd pay money for. That's not a knock on Batista at all. It's a knock on WWE for putting this DVD out a lot sooner than they should have. Like I said, they obviously wanted to capitalize on the buzz he received when he came back, but there wasn't enough content to make the DVD worthwhile. On top of it all, the matches that were included in the subsequent two discs (and the remainder of the first disc) also didn't make this DVD feel worth it. All of Batista's best and most memorable matches were on his first DVD. There were very few matches on this DVD that were actually worth watching. It was cool of them to include his very first match on SmackDown in 2002, but everything else that was featured was either a rematch of a match from the first DVD or a completely random contest that had no business being on a DVD. For example, Batista had a match with CM Punk on SmackDown in 2009. It ended in a count-out loss for Batista and had no real significance. Why even bother including something like that? Due to his first DVD going up to only late 2008, this DVD featured some matches in 2009 and 2010, including his WWE Championship matches with Randy Orton and John Cena. I can see why those would be on here, especially since his bout against Cena ended up being his last for the time being, but all the rest were pointless and a waste of time. There was one match (a Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship on SmackDown in late 2006) that was on the first DVD! How does something like that slip by? Even as a fan of Batista, I can't recommend this to anyone. If you're the biggest Batista fan in the world, then maybe, but even then you might be disappointed. I didn't get my hopes up beforehand because I figured it probably wouldn't feature much content, but a 40-minute documentary and three discs worth of forgettable matches is just pathetic. Like I said earlier, this would have been fine as a special on the WWE Network, not as its own DVD set. The timing of its release was also strange since it was during the first week of June which was when Batista "quit" WWE in storyline. So, the guy quits you company and then you release a DVD on him. Yeah, that's totally logical. Should you watch this movie? No. |
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