To some fans, the only thing more exciting in WWE than the scripted fights is the real ones those same stars have behind the scenes from time to time.
Back in 2006, former world champions Booker T and Batista went at it on the set of a commercial shoot for the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view.
It had been brewing for a long time. Booker T and many others supposedly had problems with the open affair Batista was having with Melina who was dating fellow WWE star John Morrison at the time.
On top of that, it was believed that Batista had become arrogant. After quickly joining Evolution with Triple H, Ric Flair and Randy Orton after his debut, The Animal went on to win the world title and become a bona fide top guy virtually instantly.
It was believed Batista was acting like he was better than everybody else and for a man like Booker T, who had come up the long, hard way in the business, that wasn’t going to fly.
Speaking of the fight in his book, Booker says he put ‘a good beating on the boy’ and wrestling sites at the time reported that Booker T won the fight.
Kurt Angle was in the final few weeks of his WWE tenure when the fight went down. He would leave in August 2006, but he was at the commercial shoot and recently gave his point of view on his podcast.
“I was there after the fight ended, but I heard what occurred. Batista got there for a commercial shoot. We were all doing a commercial. I think it was for SummerSlam, and someone approached him and Batista said, ‘When are you coming over to SmackDown because I have nobody to work with,’ and Booker took that as, ‘Wait a minute, I’m on SmackDown, there are a lot of people to work with.’
“I think Batista was just saying because there were a lot of injuries going on, it was getting a little bare at the top, and he was just trying to tell the person I’d love for you to come over and work a program with you.”
“I don’t think it was anything personal against Booker T or anyone else on SmackDown. So Batista said it, and Booker T confronted him. Now, the situation got hotter because now Booker confronts Batista, makes Batista look like an idiot.
“Batista yells back at Booker; then, they end up in a fight confrontation. So, the fight occurred. I got there afterward, I saw Booker T had a black eye, and Batista was a little banged up, and you know, I just thought it was a big misunderstanding.
“I know they apologized afterward and made up and whatever they had to do to move on, but I just think it was a big misunderstanding, and they just misunderstood each other about the whole situation. It was a shame; it really was. It didn’t have to happen.”
The Booker T black eye is interesting and Fit Finlay was another man who said Batistia got more from the fight than he was credited.
Both men say they are friends now, though, and Batista is expected to join Booker T and Angle inside the WWE Hall of Fame next April.
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