Batista isn’t afraid to say that the WWE locker room was toxic when he first started.
There was a lot of uncertainty with Batista when he first got his start in WWE. He had been a bouncer and didn’t really have much going for him when he entered the wrestling business. Despite his impressive look, the Deacon Batista gimmick was going nowhere and Batista thought he’d be out of a job for sure.
Luckily for the big man, he was taken under Triple H’s wing and competed in the Evolution faction along with Randy Orton and Ric Flair. Batista would end up becoming a big star, winning multiple world titles in WWE before finding success in Hollywood.
Still, Batista will never forget his humble beginnings. He admitted to Men’s Health that the environment in WWE at first was tough to deal with.
“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.”
Batista said that when he first entered the world of acting, he wanted to prove that he was more than a meathead whose only purpose was to play the tough guy in an action movie. He’s been able to score over 20 film roles since leaving WWE. Not bad for someone who once only knew how to be a bouncer.
