WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley has said that Dave Batista was eager to learn the ropes after signing with the promotion.
In 2002, Batista made his TV debut as D-Von’s ‘Deacon’ as the tag-team specialist was Reverend D-Von at the time.
Speaking to Pwinsider, D-Von recalled working with the future WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He said,
“It was great working with him, it really was. I remember Dave telling me that he really didn’t have that much of knowledge in terms of working in the ring because, when he was in OVW — and again, this is coming from Dave — all they did was have him do run-ins and things like that. So he never really had full matches.
“If he did have a match, it was like what they did with the Ultimate Warrior; he was in there for maybe two to three minutes, and that was it. So he never had a full match.
“But it was great because we got to work together before the people got into the building. He would show up to the building and I would get into the ring with him and we would go over stuff and things like that. He was very eager to learn, so that was the one thing that I was very happy with Dave [about].”
D-Von was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018. Batista was announced for the 2020 class before withdrawing and has yet to be inducted.