Batista Shares Story Of When He Believed His WWE Career Was Over

Dave Batista, former WWE Superstar and Hollywood actor, recently shared a candid account of the infamous 2005 Royal Rumble match ending in an interview with Chris Van Vliet. The conversation discussed the botched ending to the match and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’s surprising reaction to the incident.

The 2005 Royal Rumble was meant to conclude with Batista’s victory, setting the stage for his WrestleMania 21 storyline. However, an unexpected simultaneous elimination of both Batista and John Cena led to a chaotic situation. Batista admitted full responsibility for the botched ending.

Then there was the [Rumble] match, and it was botched and I totally take blame for it because I knew what the finish was and I just went over and thank God we landed when we did at the same time, it was a miracle.

The situation escalated when Vince McMahon rushed to ringside, tearing both his quadriceps in the process, to restart the match. Batista recalled his immediate fear of termination.

When I saw Vince coming down I was like ‘I’m getting fired’.

Surprisingly, McMahon’s reaction was far from what Batista expected. The following day at Monday Night Raw, he was summoned to McMahon’s office.

I walk in [to Vince’s office] and he just starts laughing at the top of his lungs. I said ‘You’re not going to fire me?’ And Vince said “No! I loved it. It was real! Nobody knew what was going to happen!

Batista theorised that McMahon’s positive response stemmed from his love for unpredictability and chaos.

I think that Vince thrives on chaos. I think because that moment was so chaotic, I think it just exhilarated him.

Batista would go on to headline WrestleMania that year and defeated Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship as was the plan all along.

Batista Confirms WWE Hall Of Fame Plans

Former WWE Champion Batista has declared he would still like to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame after previously agreeing to it, but having to pull out due to filming commitments.

H/t to ITRwrestling.com