Right off the bat, Batista manages to recap his entire childhood, teenage years, OVW career and entire WWE run in, quite literally, less than two minutes. While I get that much of this was covered off on the (admittedly very watchable) I Walk Alone set, it's a story that bears repeating in a non-Cliffs Notes version for people who may not have caught that DVD.

 

So now that Batista has declared he's returning to WWE, we get random footage of The Animal. Lots and lots and lots of random footage. 

 

For example? Batista discusses in great detail his love for low-rider cars, his new passion for learning Jiu-Jitsu, and the injuries that he's facing upon his return to the ring. If this were being discussed by, say, Cena or Foley, it may get a free pass because the personalities involved are so passionate about everything they do. But Batista comes across as.... well, a pretty normal guy. No knock against him or anything, but it's hard to be involved in Batista's life when he isn't portraying a larger than life personality.

 

Even something as simple as choosing a new pair of trunks for his return feels like watching paint dry, and the seamstress is giving Batista a few different options for the design, and he's all like "I trust your judgment; whatever you think is best."

 

When it comes to Batista's in-ring return - namely, his win at the 2014 Royal Rumble - it's really the only noteworthy aspect in this biography. Obviously, the story becomes that fans are booing him as a proxy for Daniel Bryan being excluded from the match, which has been documented for some time now.

 

But when you get Batista's take, it's apparent that he is genuinely hurt - not by the fans' love of Bryan, but rather the implication that he doesn't deserve the opportunities he gets. It's refreshing to see a "human" side of a wrestler who we really don't know that much about behind the scenes.

 

Beyond that one revelation, there really isn't much beneath the surface here. Plus, at a running time of less than 40 minutes, it really never gets a chance to go very far. Compare that to semi-recent releases on Randy Savage and Paul Heyman and the differences are night and day.

 

Does the match selection at least make up for the lack of content? Well.... no. The only semi-intriguing matchup here is Batista (as Leviathan) versus a young Brock Lesnar from their time together in OVW. However, the match is easily available on YouTube and hardly a classic.

 

From there, you've got matches from Raw and SmackDown against the likes of John Bradshaw Layfield, Randy Orton, Finlay and King Booker and a handful of PPV matches against CM Punk, Edge, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels. Not that any are particularly awful, but really nothing here that screams "Buy this DVD", you know?

 

Overall, I can't in good conscience recommend this one. I Walk Alone is so much better at telling the Batista story as is his book Batista Unleashed. If you're really curious about the content, or.... I dunno, you really have a thing for low-rider cars, then perhaps watch the biography portion on WWE Network.

Otherwise, this very much like the Batista comeback of 2014: more style than substance and at the end of the day, quite overwhelming,