"Never lock an animal in a cage!" cried Batista prior to his Hell In A Cell match at Vengeance. Well, if the animal is 'Dave Batista' then locking him in a cage with anyone other that HHH should be out of the question, especially following his lackluster performances at The Great America Bash and SummerSlam. Even putting him in a ring at all should be seriously reconsidered. Are the WWE so bereft of ideas that giving this guy an extended run with the title is the best option they've got" It makes JBL's run seem positively awe inspiring. I don't blame Batista too much, but a man's got to know his limitations. Clearly he, or more likely the booking team, don't.

The biggest problem is that the guy is not championship or headlining material. His mic work is poor, his work rate is low, and his character is, well , characterless. Batista is a big guy who executes those big power moves that the WWE is so fond of, with near flawless execution. His role as Evolution's enforcer was perfect for him - he kept his mouth shut and made a big impact in a short space of time by disposing of Triple H's enemy's with minimum fuss and painful results. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Giving a guy like that a proper feud with extended promos, and worse, extended matches, is like throwing water on a fire.

Given the soap opera approach the WWE takes, the most important aspect on any storyline is strong characters. Now, I'm not saying we need a convoluted back story or a War & Peace size plot for their motivation, but we need a character. What's Eddie Guerrero all about" Describe John Cena's personality to me. What's gets JBL fired up to get in the ring" You know the answers, so do all WWE fans, even casual ones, because they all have well defined personalities (too often bordering on parody, or worse, racial stereotypical, but that's a whole other issue). Now tell me about Batista. Is he a heel" Given his opponents, and his turn on the biggest heel around, HHH, logic would say not. Is he a face" Well, given his opponents the conclusion would be yes, but his feuds never involve any kind of moral high ground that usually accompanies a face run, he no longer seems to pick up clean wins, and he now seems to prefer beating the hell out of an opponent with a chair in some kind of animal rage, not the most face of activities. So is he a tweener" The introduction and push of tweeners saw the WWE through the Attitude era and beyond, the most obvious example is Stone Cold, but these guys are less "in-between" than heels that the crowd love. Taker had it for years. But what's to love about Batista, why cheer for him regardless of the morality of his actions" We've got Christian for that! All we really know about Batista is he's "an animal" (although he talks about being an animal more than he acts like one), and he usually wears a suit. And sunglasses. At the same time. That's pretty much it.

But hold on, all hope is not lost! He doesn't need to take on some kind of gimmick or undergo a personality transplant. As I said before, he was perfect in Evolution - now being that character may not be the best thing for his run with a belt, but you play with the cards you're dealt. Clearly what Batista is crying out for now is the big guy himself, yes, The Pain. Brock Lesnar. Two muscle bound monsters with not an ounce of personality between them. You don't need an angle for a feud like that, you don't need witty promos. You need two guys claiming to be the biggest, baddest lumps of rock to have ever set foot in the WWE, and then watch them beat the hell out of each other to prove it. It's solid gold. It'd be like Goldberg vs. Nash, but good!

What will actually happen with Batista's career next is not too clear though. Whilst I don't expect the WWE to run with my idea (are you reading Stephanie!"), they have apparently wised up to the fact that Triple H was carrying Batista through their entire feud and that without that talent he's just the latest in a long line of impressive bodybuilders who generate no interest from the wrestling fans. Batista's over at the moment, but that's WWE-created popularity (yes they do manage it sometimes!), but he doesn't have the talent to keep up steam. However, given the lack of anyone else to really challenge JBL on Smackdown!, Batista will have to keep the main event status for the foreseeable future. Whether he or the WWE can use that momentum to put some fresh ideas forward and create an interesting wrestler or angle remains to be seen, but public opinion and time seems to be against them.

by Mike Bradbury ..