SummerSlam 1998
At the Great American Bash, John Cena beat General Mayhem to retain the WWE Championship. After the match, Cena was attacked by the masked man once again, who started snickering. On a special Exclusive after the PPV, World Heavyweight Champion and Cena's best friend Triple H stated that the masked man could be Cena's brother. The next night on RAW, The Champ demanded to know the masked man's identity. The man appeared in the ring and took off his mask. It was Cena's brother after all. But he was...Batista! A shocked Chain Gang Commander was then powerbombed by his brother, who then held up the WWE Championship. The next week, Batista claimed that his attacks were because he wanted a title shot. During their younger years, Cena was always better than Batista at everything, and he vowed revenge. So, Batista went through weekly workouts and training in Florida Championship Wrestling, better known as FCW, to eventually live his lifelong dream of ending his brother's WWE career. Batista then said that Step 1 is taking the WWE Championship. Later that night, he assaulted Ultimo Dragon before their match even started. The assault continued until Cena made the save. Batista immediately made headlines as a savage beast, to the point where Jim Ross dubbed him "The Animal." To this day, Batista is still referred to by this nickname. The next week, Batista shocked everyone by inviting Cena to a contract signing, which would be The Animal's termination papers. Later that night, Batista signed them first, then told his brother that management needed someone to sign off with the papers, so The Champ gleefully signed them. Big mistake. The Animal's frown turned into an evil grin. Batista told Cena that those weren't termination papers. He had threatened Jonathan Coachman and his family unless he received a WWE Championship match. And that was the match contract. It was official. At SummerSlam, John Cena would defend the title against Batista. Not only was The Animal menacing, he was smart as well. Batista then attacked his brother and hit a spinebuster. For unknown reasons, Shane McMahon came out to make the save, but The Animal attacked him too and threw The Money out of the ring. Batista then grabbed a steel chair and hit Cena in the skull with it. The new #1 contender flattened The Chain Gang Commander with a sitout powerbomb through the contract table. Batista raised up the gold once more and spun it, a possible scenario of things to come at SummerSlam. The next week, The Animal stated that Cena is a weak little punk who will never rise up to the occasion. He then said that his weekly dominations of his brother have been so easy, the championship win can be smelt from miles away. Coachman came out and said that RAW is his show, and Batista will not take it over. He then appointed the WWE Champion Cena as honorary General Manager for the night. In his first order of business, The Champ forced his brother to wrestle ECW's Undertaker in the night's main event. Of course, Batista hightailed it once the bell rang and decided to take a countout loss instead of suffering a beatdown. Cena knew this would happen, and he threw The Animal back in the ring. The Deadman then hit a chokeslam and a Tombstone Piledriver for the win. The West Newbury native then hit the squared circle and dropped his brother with an FU. At SummerSlam, two brothers would collide. And only one would leave as the WWE Champion.