Batista (Dave Bautista) is one of the biggest stars to come out of WWE over the past 20 years. Throughout his WWE career, he racked up six world title reigns, won the Royal Rumble twice and was a founding member of the Evolution faction.
It’s hard to think of The Animal as anything but a main event star, but even he was a rookie at one point. He wrestled in WWE developmental as the demonic character Leviathan. In May 2002, he made his main roster debut as Deacon Batista, an enforcer for Reverend Devon, a short-lived gimmick by tag team legend Devon Dudley.
It didn’t take long for WWE officials to see Batista’s potential. Less than three years later, he was handed the keys to the castle and defeated Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania 21 to win his first World Heavyweight championship.
Earlier this week, Batista celebrated his 54th birthday. To mark the occasion, he looked back on his first world title victory. It was a special moment he’ll never forget. Despite the fact that everything turned out just fine for him, he admits he was completely unprepared for that achievement and all the responsibility that would soon be placed upon him.
“I just really wanted to make a living and be able to support my family. Being champion, being on top of the company, was something that was beyond my dreams.”
Batista got emotional while watching the final moments of his WrestleMania 21 encounter with Triple H. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect to be the top guy in WWE. He is honored that Vince McMahon and others had faith in him, but he believes he was wholly unprepared for what was coming.
“I can’t believe this is happening at this point, because this happened so fast, where I went from being a guy in the background who they never had any big plans for, to being the top guy in the company. Now I’m the flagship. Now I’m out here holding the belt and there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with that. I was just so unprepared. I was not prepared for what was coming my way.”
Unexpected Success
In the early days of his run with WWE, Batista was just happy to be employed. At times, he felt he could get fired at any moment. The last thing he expected was to be ‘the guy.’
“Triple H was my mentor. He groomed me as best as he could up until then. There just came a point where.. I was on top now and so I had to come into my own. It was still a lot of learning lessons after this, but I was thrown into the deep end. I didn’t plan on this, so watching it makes me emotional. I just never planned for this. When I was wrestling, I was just happy to have a job. I was thinking, ‘I’m going to lose my job any day,’ so becoming the world champion was something I just never imagined.
It’s weird, they always say, ‘Why do you want to be there if you don’t want to be champion? Just because, I was content just having a job. I just really wanted to make a living and be able to support my family. Being champion, being on top of the company, was something that was beyond my dreams.
So with me, it’s always baby steps. I find things by accident, almost and then I chase them. Once I find something I really love, I’ll put everything I have into it. I put blinders on and sometimes thats been a fault. I’ve sacrificed some things because of that, but also my life is what it is because of it. But this is still surreal.”
