Dave Batista opens up on his early days in WWE. The Animal has since gone on to have a successful career in both wrestling and acting.
Dave Batista is quite popular due to his appearance in several succesful hollywood movies. However, his journey began in the world of wrestling where he climbed the top of the mountain and become one of the hottest acts in WWE. According to Dave Batista though, that wasn’t always the case.
During a recent conversation with Lauren Larson of Men’s Health, the Animal described the atmosphere in the company when he began as toxic. He revealed how he wasn’t liked by some people backstage and worried every day that he was going to get fired.
Dave Batista opens up on his early days in WWE
“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.”
They also discussed his transition from wrestling to acting. Batista acknowledged that his body helps him get noticed but also added that he doesn’t want to be known as the guy coming from pro wrestling, taking the typical roles.
“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’s last WWE match was against Triple H at Wrestlemania 35. The Game won the fight, finally emerging victorius against his former protégé, having never beaten him before.
Batista was scheduled to be the headliner of the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame Class. However, the ceremony was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and both 2020 and 2021 classes were inducted at the same time this year.
Batista did not make it to the event due to previous obligations and the WWE honored his request to be inducted at a future ceremony.
Click here for more Wrestling News
