Batista was the perfect WWE Superstar. His physique was phenomenal, could cut a promo, and worked great as both a babyface or heel. While his Deacon Batista character didn’t get his main roster career off to a great start, it skyrocketed when he became part of Evolution in 2003. Over the next seven years, he would work with the biggest stars in the company, appear in countless main events, and even headlined WrestleMania 21 against Triple H.
However, in 2010 he decided to step away from the business to become an actor in Hollywood. Now in an interview with IGN, the multiple-time world champion has revealed that during the time between leaving WWE and securing the role of Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy, he actually went broke. He’d admit he lost his house and had to borrow money to pay for Christmas gifts for his three children.
I barely worked in three years. So I’d really left wrestling behind and I could have gone back with my tail between my legs, but I still would have been just stuck in a place that I never would have gone any further, but I just took a chance. And then when I got cast, not only because I was broke, everything changed. When I say broke, my house was foreclosed, I had nothing, man. I sold all my stuff. I sold everything that I made from when I was wrestling. I had issues with the IRS. I was just lost in everything.
When Guardians came out and people saw me as Drax, it just started opening doors. So Drax didn’t just change my career. It literally changed the trajectory of my life. My life just got better and I just became more successful. And that’s when things really just started to seem like surreal. It wasn’t many years earlier when I was just like borrowing money to pay for food, pay for rent. Borrow money to buy my kids Christmas presents.
BatistaBatista is now arguably the second biggest wrestler turned actor in Hollywood behind The Rock. In addition to the Guardians of the Galaxy and associated Avengers movies, he has also appeared in Spectre, Blade Runner 2049, My Spy, and most recently, Army of the Dead.
Batista did go on to return to WWE in 2014 and had a run between January and June which saw him win the Royal Rumble, rejoin Evolution, and main event WrestleMania before leaving again. He then returned for one final match in 2019 when he would lose a No Holds Barred to Triple H and officially retire. While it was announced for the WWE Hall of Fame, he has opted to wait until his induction can happen in front of fans.
