Dave Bautista “Batista”: Biography, Birthday, Early Life, Career, Family, Net Worth

Born on January 18, 1969, Dave Michael Bautista Jr. is a retired professional American Wrestler and actor. Bautista rose to fame with his impressive stints in the popular wrestling show, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), formerly known as World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 2002 to 2019.

Dave Bautista is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time by active fans of the Wrestling show. His wrestling career began in 1999 and he signed with WWF (now WWE), in 2000. He gained fame from 2002 to 2010 with the ring name, Batista, as a member of the team, Evolution.

Dave “Batista” won the WWE Championship twice, World Heavyweight Championship four times, The World Tag Team Championship, three times (two times with Ric Flair, and one time with John Cena), and The WWE Tag Team Championship, one time with Rey Mysterio. His reign as the World Heavy Weight Champion, remains the longest in the show history, having stayed the champion for 282 days.

Dave “Batista” also won the 2005 and 2014 Royal Rumble matches. He went on to headline WrestleMania 21 and WrestleMania XXX with the former, being the highest-grossing PPV event in the history of wrestling. His retirement from professional wrestling came after the WrestleMania 35, in 2019.

David Michael Bautista Jr. known professionally as Dave Batista, was born on 18 January 1969 in Washington DC. His father David Michael Bautista Snr, a hairdresser, was born to Filipino immigrants while his mother Dona Raye (née Mullins) is of Greek descent. Batista’s paternal grandfather served in the Philipines Military and he worked as a taxi driver and a barber, to feed his family. His mother later came out publicly as a lesbian.

Dave Bautista during an interview stated that he grew up in poverty, and had a hard life growing up which included exposure to violent crimes from an early age. By age 17, he was estranged from his parents and living alone. However, he later said, “I am proud of my parents. They are good, honest, hard-working folks. They taught me the value of working hard.”

While working as a bouncer in a nightclub he was arrested and sentenced to one year of probation, after a trial, for a fight at the nightclub which left two patrons seriously injured with one being knocked unconscious. Dave Bautista worked as a life guard, but latter pursued a career in bodybuilding which he attributed to saving his life.

Seeing how lucrative a career as a professional wrestler could be, Dave Bautista decided to pursue a career as a professional wrestler at the age of 30, after he had a breakdown from the shame he felt for having to ask a co-worker to lend him money so he could buy Christmas presents for his children.

THE PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING CAREER OF DAVE BATISTA

Having signed with the WWF (known presently as WWE) in 1999, the professional wrestling career of Dave Bautista fully began in 2002,  lasting till 2019 when he announced his retirement as a professional wrestler.

While trying to kickstart his boxing career in 1999, Dave Bautista appeared at WCW’s Power Plant. During the appearance, DeWayne Bruce, a notorious trainer told Dave Bautista that he would never make it in the wrestling business. Those words pushed Bautista to prove DeWayne wrong, and he then went to WWE (then WWF). At the WWF, he was advised to train with Afa Anoaʻi at the Wild Samoan Training Center. He later competed in Anoaʻi’s World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) promotion. His debut match was under the ring name Khan on October 30, 1999, less than three months before his 31st birthday.

After signing fully with the WWF in 2000, Bautista was sent to WWF’s developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). With the ring name Leviathan, he made his OVW debut, and immediately joined forces with Synn, becoming a member of the Disciples of Synn stable. Bautista went undefeated until he was beaten at Christmas Chaos, by Kane, with help from Stone Cold Steve Austin. He later won the OVW Heavyweight Championship from “The Machine” Doug Basham before losing the belt to The Prototype. A few months later, he got promoted to the WWE (then WWF) main roster and left OVW immediately.

Dave Bautista, Randy Orton, Ric Flair, and Triple H  all came together to form the Evolution in January 2003. Dave Bautista was not active as a member of the team in 2003 having torn his right triceps muscles in a Raw Live Event, in a tag team match with Randy Orton between The Dudley Boyz. He re-tored his triceps while he was training after the injury, extending his stay on the sidelines. Batista, in the October 20 episode of Raw, made his return from injury, interfering in a match between Goldberg and Shawn Michaels. At Armageddon, Batista and Ric Flair became the World Tag Team Champions. while Triple H won the World Heavyweight Championship and Randy Orton the Intercontinental Championship. Batista and Flair held the title until the February 16, 2004, episode of Raw, when they were defeated by Booker T and Rob Van Dam. They later defeated Booker and Van Dam on the March 22 episode of Raw to regain the titles before losing them to Chris Benoit and Edge on the April 19 episode of Raw.

DAVE MICHAEL BAUTISTA’S ACTING CAREER

Dave Batista has had an impressive acting career since he decided he wanted to become a Hollywood actor. With professional wrestling being conquered, he has done fairly well as a Hollywood actor, appearing in several blockbuster films. Dave Batista has been featured in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, Universal Studios, and other Hollywood movie franchises, both as himself and his wrestling character.

Batista guest-starred in the eighth episode of season 6 of Smallville as Aldar, an extraterrestrial who escaped from the Phantom Zone and sucks the bones of humans as nourishment.

He made a cameo appearance as himself on the Australian soap opera Neighbours, in June 2009. In 2010, he appeared in an episode of Chuck and made a cameo appearance in Relative Strangers. He starred in the 2010 action film Wrong Side of Town.

Dave Bautista appeared as the villainous Brass Body in the Universal Studios film The Man with the Iron Fists. He played Drax the Destroyer in the 2014 Marvel Studios film Guardians of the Galaxy, which was a critical and commercial success. He played Mr Hinx in the James Bond film Spectre (2015) and starred as the villain Tong Po in the reboot of the martial arts film, Kickboxer. He was widely praised for his supporting role in Blade Runner 2049 (2017). He reprised his role as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Batista starred in Army of the Dead (2021). He had a villainous role in Dune, a film adaptation of the novel of the same name, by Frank Herbert, which was released to critical and commercial success. He appeared in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery as Duke. He is set to star in the fantasy-adventure film In the Lost Lands with Milla Jovovich, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. He starred in M. Night Shyamalan’s horror film Knock at the Cabin (2023).

Related posts:

Michael Caine Biography, Early Life, Books, Acting Career, and More Facts About Legendary British Actor. Ryan Reynold Biography, Life, Family, Career, and investments. All you need to Know. Taylor Swift Biography: Age, Birthday, Family, Career, Early Life, Personal Life, Album, Songs and Net Worth All About Tyrese Gibson Hollywood Actor and American Musician: (Biography, Age, Family, Marriage, Children, Nationality, Siblings, Parents, and Career) The Complete Lillian Randolph Biography, Age, Family, Career and Death Unveiling the Rise of Cardi B: From Urban Roots to Global Stardom