Batista Unleashed Review

Rating 4.00 out of 5

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Batista Unleashed
By Dave Batista with Jeremy Roberts
Published by WWE Books
Released on October 16, 2007
320 Pages (Hardcover)
Available in Hardcover, Paperback & Kindle

Today, Dave Batista is one of the biggest stars in WWE ever since winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Triple H at Wrestlemania XXI. His road to the top of the WWE may have been a fast one, but things weren't always so easy for him. Growing up in Washington DC, dead men were found on his front lawn on three seperate occasions. In his younger years, he lived a rough lifestyle and hung out with bad crowds, working as a bouncer in dingy bars to make ends meet.

Batista Unleashed is not the story of a wrestler who worked a million territories all across the world for $25 payoffs, trying to get a break in WWE. But that doesn't mean that Batista doesn't have a story to tell. He was raised by a single mother (a lesbian Democrat - which her father remarked that of the two, being a Democrat was "much, much worse") who often worked until the early morning hours. Some of the highlights of the book include his upbringing, bodybuilding, his family (or what remains of it), his wife's fight with cancer, his drug of choice, his stay at the WCW Power Plant, breaking into WWE through OVW, his first WWE gimmick, Evolution, Randy Orton, Ric Flair, Brock Lesnar, why he hates Bubba Ray Dudley, first meeting and relationship with Melina, feud with Triple H and face turn, having to forfeit the title due to injury and comeback, his Wrestlemania match with The Undertaker and some funny road stories.

Batista Unleashed is not the most well-written WWE autobiography ever, so perhaps the potential of Batista's story was not maximized, but it's still a fun read that goes by very fast. It's not filled with humour or anything like that and most of it that is in the book is dry. Batista is very honest about his thoughts on other wrestlers as well as other decisions made that affected his career. Overall, recommendations for this book go out to Batista fans and non-fans may want to skip it.