Devon Dudley just dropped a backstage gem that nobody saw coming — and it paints a hilarious, unexpected picture of Batista during his early WWE days. While fans remember the former World Champion as a powerhouse who stared down the biggest names in the business, Devon says Big Dave had one surprising weakness: John Cena messing with him.
During his appearance on the Duke Loves Rasslin podcast, Devon explained that Batista would get rattled every time Cena was around, not because of the physical matchup, but because Cena couldn’t resist messing with him. Batista finally opened up to Devon before a match, admitting he didn’t exactly feel comfortable. Devon remembered the moment Batista confessed what was really going on:
“He goes, ‘Hey Rev, let me ask you a question. We’re working with Cena tonight, right?’ I go, ‘Yeah.’ He was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ And I said to him, ‘What’s the problem?’ He was like, ‘Oh, he scares me.’ I go, ‘What do you mean he scares you?’ He’s like, ‘He’s always messing with me.’”
Devon confronted Cena to get the truth, and it turned out Batista wasn’t imagining a thing. Cena just loved playing with him because Dave reacted every single time.
“I asked Cena, ‘When you and Dave were in OVW, did you ever mess with him?’ He goes, ‘All the time! Why? What did he tell you?’ I said, ‘He said he’s nervous to wrestle you.’ Cena just started cracking up. He goes, ‘Yeah, I always mess with Dave because Dave was so easy to mess with!’”
Devon even cooked up a plan to let Cena prank Batista during their match. When Cena went for it, Batista jumped out of his skin.
“I threw Cena out of the ring. Dave goes to pick him up and Cena goes, ‘Dave, I love you!’ And Dave freaked out. He said, ‘Cena kept messing with me. You told me he wasn’t gonna mess with me.’ I said, ‘Dave, he’s messing with you, man.’ And he goes, ‘I don’t know. He scares me.’”
Devon wrapped the story by reminding fans that Batista wasn’t the tough, intimidating presence people assumed behind the curtain. Instead, he was a quiet, gentle giant who got flustered easily.
“Dave was only tough when you pissed him off. Other than that, he was a sweetheart. People would part like the Red Sea when he walked in a room, but he was shy. Cena knew he could mess with him.”
This backstage story gives a completely different look at Batista — a vulnerable, human moment from a guy fans usually see as an unstoppable force.
Devon’s storytelling continues to pull back the curtain on a side of wrestling fans rarely hear about, adding more character and humor to the legends we’ve followed for decades.
What do you think of Batista secretly being rattled by John Cena’s jokes behind the scenes? Drop your thoughts below and let us know if you want more WWE backstage stories like this.
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November 27, 2025 4:30 pm
