| From WorldWrestlingInsanity.com Insanity Year End Section
In another catagory that had the same winner from both the Readers and the Staff, 2005's Insanity Babyface of the Year is...
Dave Batista
Readers
2nd Place: A.J. Styles 3rd Place: Rey Mysterio Staff 2nd Place: Shawn Michaels 3rd Place: A.J. Styles Reader Comments: "His face turn was well-scripted and he brings a strong credibility to Smackdown. I'll never forget the visual a few months ago of him standing in the ring alone against a bunch of Raw stars, unafraid to fight to the death for his team. He looked like a true champion there." - Ric Carnahan "He is still on a roll and still gets thundering ovations. I went to Raw in St. Louis and the crowd was just amped for the guy. Their big faces like John Cena cannot match the ovation that Batista gets. He has portrayed his character well this year. From being the smart clever man who tricked Triple H, to the best friend of Eddie Guerrero. His months with Eddie helped show more depth for him. Now, he is pushing through an injury no one would really want to work through, probably for fear that if he left, HHH would go to Smackdown and win the title. Batista had a breakout year." - Adam Airforce "His slow face turn made for some must-see shows, and that's something both Raw and Smackdown haven't put on for some time since ." - Craig Elder Staff Comments: "This is a tough category this year because there's a possibility that nobody deserves this award, at least nobody in the three North American companies I follow, WWE, ROH, and TNA. Batista has been a bust since his move to Smackdown, but I can't discount the first half of the year, when his feud with HHH drew enormous ppv numbers. Batista was super-hot for a short period of time. Hulk Hogan and C.M. Punk are second and third, respectively." - Eugene Sandow "No one else stands out as being the most dominant babyface of the year. The buildup to his WrestleMania match, and subsequent title win, were handled fairly well. He seems to have found his niche on Smackdown, and the crowds still love him. On the other side, Cena has been pushed much harder than his Smackdown equivalent, but when half the audience boos you on a consistent basis, it makes it tough to give him the "Babyface of the Year" title." - Mike Nicolau (Raw AM) "Big Dave, since he was on RAW and breaking up with Evolution, has been the most consistent of babyfaces in wrestling. He has maintained his star power, still gets big pops, has managed to gain the company's trust in him since they have not taken the title off of him, and he has managed not to get to cute so that fans rebel against him like they do with John Cena. Batista is still the big, cool guy who fears no one. Plus, he is still smart enough in his backstage skits to come across as a wise ass. Look at what happened at the Smackdown prior to Armageddon. Melina tried to seduce him with the hope that he would back out of his schedule tag team match against her team of Nitro and Mercury. Not only did Batista (allegedly) f*ck her backstage, but when she asked him if he was going to back out of the match, he laughed and said, "No way, I am going to kill those guys" So he got to tap that ass and still beat the tag champs for their belts. If that isn't cool, nothing is." - Matt Dawgs Check back for the results of the rest of our Reader and Staff Awards (Wrestler of the Year, Match of the Year, Match of the Year, Tag Team of the Year, and Worst Gimmick.) Plus, stay tuned in the next two days for the unveiling of the Insanity Album Cover exhibit. Got an opinion? Stop by the Insanity Message Boards to discuss it. © Copyright by WorldWrestlingInsanity.com WorldWrestlingInsanity.com is not
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