Batista has opened up about his early days in WWE when he says the company had no idea what to do with the man that would become World Champion.
Batista has headlined WrestleManias and won multiple WWE and World Championships in a career that was due to culminate in a WWE Hall Of Fame induction before the pandemic struck.
However, Batista’s days in WWE weren’t always plain sailing after he had an inauspicious start as D-Von Dudley’s henchman known as Deacon Batista. Thankfully for The Animal, he was able to evolve thanks to the help of Ric Flair and Triple H before striking out on his own as a hugely popular megastar in the company.
Speaking to Lauren Larson of Men’s Health, the man now best known by his real name of Dave Bautista says that his early days in WWE were fraught with difficulties:
“I couldn’t get comfortable, people didn’t like me, I was doing something wrong, the company wasn’t going to do anything with me, they didn’t know what to do with me, they didn’t know where I fit in. It was just a very toxic atmosphere. Wrestling is very competitive.
It’s very cutthroat. You’re put in a position where you have to posture up all the time, and it’s exhausting. It’s just exhausting.”
Now a regular fixture in Hollywood and noted Guardian Of The Galaxy, Batista went on to discuss his transition into movies and says it was important for him not to be typecast due to his wrestling past:
“I didn’t want to be the guy coming from wrestling, taking these easy action roles and just kind of pumping up and putting baby oil on my arms. I really fell in love with acting.”
“I’m not trying to separate myself from professional wrestling because I’m embarrassed or anything like that. It’s just, I needed to make a name for myself and start all over and kind of just get people to see me in a different light.
Because if people always see me as a pro wrestler turned actor, then they’re going to put me in a box for roles.”
Batista previously commented on not wanting to share the silver screen with fellow WWE Superstars turned actors, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and John Cena.