It was one of the best matches on the card. So why was Batista upset about the match that he and Undertaker had back at WrestleMania 23?
He talked to Jim Ross about it on his podcast. Him being upset wasn't about who he was facing, or the match in general. Rather, it was where the match was on the card. He wanted to headline against the Undertaker, and when it didn't go his way he was a bit upset:
It was weird because by the time I came in for my first run with [Undertaker], going into WrestleMania 23, I believe it was, I was really starting to come into my own. And I think that match we had at WrestleMania was when I actually felt like I had really come into my own and I could really carry my own weight. I didn't feel like people were carrying me through matches anymore or building me. It was actually that time that I could start to build other guys. That was that time when I felt like the company's investment in me had paid off, that I was really going to start making some money for them, serious money for them.
John Cena and Shawn Michaels were the two who headlined that night at Ford Field in Chicago. He explained that he had a chip on his shoulder throughout the match, and at the end of the day felt robbed about not being able to headline.
I was really upset that we weren't the main event. I just felt like we should have been. We deserved to be. We set some milestones with that and I know with the exchange of title and everything, it was just more significant of a match. And I also just felt like [Undertaker] deserved that to be the main event and should've gone on last. So I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder. It was [John] Cena/ Shawn [Michaels], I believe. And I just didn't.. I felt like we got robbed of that top spot and we should've had it. And I felt like our match speaks for itself. I think we had the match of the night. And I just felt like Taker should have been the last thing that people saw that night, so I had a chip on my shoulder and I was a little bent out of shape that we didn't.
Hey, at the end of the day, they did have a great match. Batista would go on to have many more big main events, including headlining WrestleMania 30, where he was defeated by Daniel Bryan in a triple threat match that also featured Randy Orton.
