WWE Legend Rules Out In-Ring Return

One former World Champion won’t be returning to WWE for one more match.

Despite taking up pro wrestling relatively late in life, Dave Bautista rose to the top of WWE in the mid-2000s winning World Championship gold on six occasions. Just eight years after debuting on the main roster, the man known to fans as Batista all but ended his full-time career in 2010.

Since making the jump to Hollywood, the star briefly returned in 2014 and 2018, before wrestling his final match at WrestleMania 35 against Triple H.

During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Bautista was asked whether he knew he’d never wrestle again after the defeat to The Game.

“I did. I just didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t want it to be a big ordeal. I didn’t want to, you know, go out and do the tour and give a speech. I wanted to have my match, and I wanted to call it a career. So, I wanted to go out on my own terms. It was great. I was really proud of it. It was in New York….I lost……You got to go out on your back….This is like a dream for me. This is why it’s so perfect. It’s such a romantic way.”

The star added that although he misses wrestling, he’s determined not to tarnish his perfect goodbye.

“Wrestlers don’t get to choose the way they go out. I did. I went out on my own terms the way I wanted with the guy I wanted to go out with. I will never tarnish that. It’s not that I don’t miss it.

I miss a crowd. I miss the energy of the crowd. I dream about walking out and hearing my entrance music, but I know if I do that, I will just tarnish my storybook ending, and I’m just not willing…..It’s always a temptation because I miss it, and every time I hear my music, I want that feeling again. It’s like a drug…..I just have to come to terms with my time has passed.”

WWE Legend Batista Was Told He’d Never Be A Wrestler

Despite being a near-certainty for the WWE Hall of Fame and a former World Champion, Dave Bautista was once told he’d never have a career as a wrestler.

The Hollywood star attempted to launch his wrestling career back in 1999, a move that saw him attend a try-out at the WCW Power Plant. However, he was told to leave, after coaches were adamant he’d never make it as a wrestler.

A year later Bautista signed with what was then the WWF, before making his SmackDown debut in 2002.

H/t to WrestlingNews.Co