Dave Bautista is an American actor born on January 18, 1969. He started his acting career back in 2006 and starred in various big-shot movies including his role as Drax the Destroyer in MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

Bautista is also a retired WWE professional. He was in it for many years and started wrestling in the WWE (formerly known as WWF) from 2000 to 2010. After focusing on Hollywood, he returned to the scene back in 2014 and again in 2018.

Dave Bautista

WWE Helped Dave Bautista Turn His Life Around

Dave Bautista grew up in a rough neighborhood in Washington, D.C. and before he was even 10 years old, he had seen pretty disturbing things in his area and even witnessed three murders. Their family was poor and had very little to themselves, times were rough for him. While on a podcast in Ben Pakulski’s Muscle Expert Podcast, he shared,

“We didn’t even have very little – we had nothing, there were – and I’m not kidding – times when we didn’t have food. We were broke, man”

Dave Bautista in WWE

During his late teen years, due to his massive height and build, he got a job as a bouncer in a nightclub. Later when he was in his 20s, he was arrested for getting into a fight with two customers one night and even knocking one of them out cold. He was sentenced to a year of probation and turned over a new page in his early 30s after he was finally given a chance by the WWE.

On the 18th of January, 2023, Batista celebrated his 54th birthday and in his Twitter post he thanked the WWE for giving him a chance to turn his life around. He also added that the love and support he received from them is something he is always grateful for and he wouldn’t be in this place today if not for them. He was also seen reacting to his World Championship win in Wrestlemania 21 and commented on how he became a world champion from a non-existent guy in the back seat.

Dave Bautista’s WWE Career

While in his tenure with the WWE, Dave Bautista was nicknamed “The Animal”. He was mentored by Tripple H and Rick Flair. With their help, he went on from being an animal with brute force to an animal with brute force with six World Heavyweight Champions. He holds the record for the longest time being a World Heavyweight Champion with 282 days under his belt and it has not been broken to date.

In this time, Dave Bautista, also called “The Animal” in the ring, has won multiple championships and trophies in WWE. He became a world champion a total of six times. Bautista won the World Heavy Championship four times, his first time in 2005, then in 2006, and the last two in 2008. He was also the WWE champion twice. He won the first title in 2009 and then went on to win his second one in 2010.

Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer in MCU

In 2014 he made his return to the WWE after drifting away from MMA. He joined in January, won the 2014 Royal Rumble Match, and quit in June of the same year. Again in 2018, he made his return to the WWE and attacked Ric Flair, which shocked everyone. This sudden act was a setup to fight Tripple H into a showdown, but Dave Bautista failed to defeat him and finally made his farewell.

source: fandomwire.com