In this week’s episode of Ruthless Aggression on the WWE Network, fans were treated to seeing the story behind one of WWE’s most successful factions of all time – Evolution.
The coming together of Ric Flair, Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista was something fans quickly took a shine to, but it could have been very different. Batista had been sidelined for months and the group were keen to kickstart their storyline, so started looking for alternatives and almost settled on somebody some of you may have never even heard of, in the name of Mark Jindrak.
Jindrak’s time with WWE was largely unspectacular. The only highlight was probably his run in a tag team with Garrison Cade, but he was always credited as being a great athlete, who was probably just a little too young and immature when he found himself ready to shine.
Let’s take a look at what could have happened if Jindrak had joined the fabled stable.
Mark Jindrak winning the Royal Rumble
Knowing Jindrak was released from the WWE in the same year Batista won his first Royal Rumble, taking The Animal to the promised land of winning his first World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21, must have hurt the man formerly known as Marco Corleone.
But, imagine if Jindrak had impressed Triple H and made it into the faction ahead of Big Dave Batista. 2005 would have been a very different year.
Obviously, he wouldn’t have messed up the finish to the Rumble, which would have meant we would have never got the hilarious moment where Vince McMahon angrily stormed to the ring before tearing both of his quads.
Mark Jindrak could have topped the PWI 500, instead of finishing below Raven and Chavo Guerrero.
Jindrak could have main evented WrestleMania.
2005 would have been more wild than anybody could have imagined.
Evolution would have never have taken off…
As stated by Triple H in Ruthless Aggression, Randy Orton was one of the best talents in the building – until Mark Jindrak was around him. Jindrak was a bad influence on Orton, so if they were put together full time like Vince McMahon wanted, Evolution could have fallen at the first hurdle.
Would we have seen Jindrak drop Orton after he won the title at SummerSlam 2004?
Would we have seen the slow build between Jindrak and Triple H leading to WrestleMania 2005?
So many iconic scenes that we can only imagine happening with a star like Batista, and we were so close to never seeing all of this history take place.
What could have been.
Mark Jindrak breaks The Undertaker’s Streak
Let’s face it, Batista was great, but imagine all of the build-up going into WrestleMania 23 if Jindrak had have taken his place in Evolution? I don’t believe there was any way that the Deadman would have been able to cope with somebody who had the highest vertical leap in WWE history.
Just think: how would a man who can touch something 12ft in the air be afraid of a little Chokeslam? He lives at those heights every single day. Last Ride? Child’s play.
The Streak vs. Jindrak’s title? Only one winner.
This would have changed the course of history. Shawn Michaels’ Career vs. Streak? Not happening. Brock Lesnar’s resurgence after beating The Undertaker? Not happening, either.
I think the real thing we would have had on our hands is that Jindrak would have created a streak of his own, starting back in 2004 against The Rock and Mick Foley, and lasting until today, which would have given Mark Jindrak a better streak today than when he broke The Undertaker’s back in 2007.
Mark Jindrak – Hollywood Superstar
Obviously, if he had been given the TV time once joining Evolution, Jindrak would have used this to perfect his promo skills, which would have eventually left Jindrak with the choice – WWE or Hollywood?
Now, as we’ve seen with superstars such as The Rock and John Cena, juggling both can be a tricky ordeal, but not for Mark, who would have obviously picked out a prized role in the new Space Jam movie by this point as, let’s face it, nobody can jump as high as Jindrak.
Despite his busy schedule, he would make time to come back every year for WrestleMania to defend his streak, which would probably last longer than time itself.
Mark Jindrak entering the Hall of Fame
After a glittering career, we could have seen “The Reflection of Perfection” look back on all of his accomplishments while being entered in by his best bud, Randal Keith Orton. They would laugh about how they used to goof off backstage while making magic in the ring, before Jindrak emotionally told us all how he owes everything he has to Triple H, who would be in tears at his protege’s great accomplishment.
To top it all off, he would bring out the fabled See N The Farmer Says toy he used to jokingly make noises to with his friend, and him and Randy would give us their greatest performance since Extreme Rules 2009.
Obviously, all of this is completely hypothetical, as Batista made his mark in the group and carved out a magnificent career for himself and anybody who surrounded him. He made absolute magic in the ring, and absolutely deserves his place in the WWE Hall of Fame.
Still, how hilarious would it have been in 2014 if we got to see Blue-drak?
Let’s just hope other timelines exist where Mark did get to accomplish all of this. I certainly envy them.
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The author of this article can be found on Twitter @DRL_1990. Thanks so much for reading!