June 26th 2005 – After the Vengeance Pay Per View. The main event that night saw Dave Batista defeat Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a Hell In A Cell match for the World Heavyweight Title. That victory made three in consecutive Pay Per View events for Dave over Hunter, a streak which had started with Dave winning the title from Hunter at Wrestlemania 21. The following is what happened afterwards.
Hunter was sat in the chair, his face covered with blood. He was almost delirious from the pain – physically from the punishment he had sustained and mentally from the agony of defeat. He slouched a little to try and take the pressure off his aching back. Tonight, he had been broken and worse – he had been beaten. His last foreseeable chance to win the World Heavyweight Title was gone. He did not know how long it would be before he would hold it again. He did not know if he would even challenge for it any time soon. He had gambled everything on this one last match, one more chance competing for the reason he was in this business, and he had lost.
It was a long and difficult night to end a long and difficult last three months. Those whom he had taken under his wing had now both departed him. Tonight, the latest to do so had also bested him in a match Hunter thought he could never lose at – Hell In A Cell. Shawn Michaels could not beat him at Hell In A Cell. Kevin Nash could not beat him at Hell In A Cell. Chris Jericho could not beat him at Hell In A Cell. Even Cactus Jack, one of the outright toughest men of his generation, could not beat him at Hell In A Cell. But Dave did. Dave didn’t just beat him, at the end of the day Dave outclassed him. There was no freak injury that prevented him from finishing the match. There was no interference from a friend on either side. Both had put their hearts and souls into the ring and Dave had come out of it the stronger. Dave was the better man. What was worse is that it put Dave’s past victories over Hunter during that long and difficult last three months into context – they were probably the right result. He was not lucky, he was better. Hunter closed his eyes and sighed.
Ric was pacing behind him. He knew Hunter was inconsolable. Ric himself had been in this situation before and so he knew how Hunter felt. He knew there was nothing he could say to remedy the situation, to turn the clock back and change what had happened. All he could do was help Hunter come to terms with his loss. As he tried to work out what to say he solemnly walked over to the chair next to Hunter and sat down. He placed his hand on Hunter’s knee, covered by a towel. Hunter looked up at him. Ric looked deep into Hunter’s eyes and with heartfelt sincerity tried to help Hunter begin to grieve.
“That was one of the greatest efforts I’ve ever seen in my life. You have nothing to be ashamed of. It was a great match.”
Hunter’s head dropped. Ric had looked him in the eye and told him exactly what he didn’t want to hear. He knew that Ric was right, however, with it came acceptance that his greatest effort was not enough, which in turn meant that he was simply no longer The Best. He might still be The Game, but he was not The Best. His best was not good enough to remain known as the greatest in the business today. His fears were being confirmed. Ric took a momentary pause. He knew his friend had to take this in slowly, but he also knew he had to give him hope. He had to give him a reason to continue and the only way to do that would be to suggest that Hunter could perhaps beat Dave another time.
“He’s on top of his game. Nothing you did was wrong. It was a great match and you are a great champion. Let it go.”
Hunter leaned back and let out a long breath. He might have been a champion in Ric’s eyes, but he did not have the belt. He was not THE Champion. Ric squeezed Hunter’s knee.
“Let it go.”
Hunter started to wipe the blood from around his mouth with the back of his hand. His taped fists were already stained. As he started to clean himself up he heard a shuffling of feet. Someone was stood in front of him. He looked up and saw a man in a pair of white trunks with “The Animal” emblazoned across the front. His eyes moved further up his body, past the torso wrapped with a towel and his beloved belt draped over it and eventually locked onto the eyes of Dave. There he was, the better man. But for a few welts and bruises he looked fresh. Perhaps if Dave looked to be in the same sort of pain as Hunter felt now he might have had more reason to believe he really could beat him on another day, but no, he looked like he could do it again if he had wanted to.
Hunter looked down and took a deep breath to brace himself. He looked up again at Dave before placing his hand on the back of his chair and pushing himself up. He wanted to show that he was just sitting to get some rest, but now that Dave was here he could still go at it again if needed. The pain of standing was excruciating. Hunter desperately tried to make it look easy, make it look natural, but in the end he could not help but let out that breath he had been holding to prepare himself for the pain. His muscles screamed as he straightened up and he could not help but let out a small whimper from the back of his throat as he stood nose to nose with Dave. Once more he had been defeated, this time by himself. He had shown weakness.
Dave looked at Hunter. The time for posturing was done. The facts spoke for themselves.
“It’s over.”
Hunter looked down and nodded. He knew there was no hiding it any longer.
“Damn right it’s over.”
Dave allowed himself a small smile. He knew how big an admission this was from his former mentor. He knew how long it had been since someone had truly gotten the better of the man before him. He may not have liked how Hunter had treated him in the past few months, or how he had been goaded into tonight’s match, but Hunter had always been the ultimate competitor, his ruthlessness the stuff of legend, and for that Dave respected him. Not only that, but for the guidance Hunter had given him over the two years prior, Dave admired him. Dave looked down and offered Hunter his hand.
Hunter looked down at the outstretched hand and then back up at Dave. He knew what sort of person the man he had just fought against truly was now. He understood where Dave was coming from and more importantly he understood how Dave felt about him. This was never about malice, this was never about hatred, this was about proving his worth as a champion, a role for which Hunter had been preparing him for all along. It had just come sooner than expected. It was a heated rivalry, sure, but it was a professional one. After all, would Dave have come and offered his hand if he didn’t care about how he was doing?
Hunter shook Dave’s hand and eventually they embraced. It was a final “Thank you” from Dave to Hunter for all he had done and a final “You’re welcome” from Hunter to Dave. It would be a while before they would meet in a ring again. Hunter put his hand gently around the back of Dave’s neck. He looked him in the eyes and gave a wry smile.
“That’s Evolution, baby”.
Dave let out a soft, gentle laugh and smiled as Hunter playfully patted him on the side of the face. Hunter then allowed himself to fall back into the chair behind him. Dave nodded and slowly turned before walking away.
Hunter took a moment to himself for reflection. The grieving process had already begun. It was time to move on.
“That’s Evolution”.
The aim of this column has been to portray the importance of ending a feud properly. There are many different ways of doing it, and this was an example of one that I feel was done extremely well – the video of the above was put on wwe.com shortly after the Pay Per View ended.
However it’s something that I don’t feel is always paid the proper attention to. I mean, how often do the characters involved just kind of go their separate ways? No explanations, no conclusions, no finality?
Sometimes it helps to keep some hostility between two characters, even when a feud is technically “over”, but when months of hard work have been poured into telling a story and the final match happens and then you carry on the next night as if it was just another day at work before suddenly starting to hate on someone else, doesn’t that make it worth a little bit less? Aren’t us fans supposed to look back at a feud and go “Yeah, that was really good”? It makes us want more if ever they go at it again, which with characters who have been around a while especially they eventually do.
Wrestling is full of ongoing stories. They never really end until someone gives up for good, but that doesn’t mean you should not from time to time put a lot of effort in Closing The Deal. In many ways, not only does it help end this story, but it can help set up the next one beautifully.
Just a thought…
A little something different this time round, so please let me know if you enjoyed it at stuart_black@hotmail.com and also don’t forget to check out my Myspace Page www.myspace.com/stuartblack (currently under construction) which will eventually hold an archive of all my previous columns!
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