A man doesn’t “turn out” to be a wife beater, or violent, or abusive.
A man IS a violent, abusive, wife beater, or he is not.
(Barring a severe head injury altering personality, of course.)
That may be true, but it's pretty unlikely that a man abuses a woman on their first date. Oftentimes, physical abuse doesn't start until years after the couple gets married.
Which is where the saying, “Adversity REVEALS character”, comes from.