Batista: I 'starved' after leaving WWE while pursuing acting career
Monday 3 June 2019 08:47, UK
Batista has revealed he "starved for three years" after quitting WWE to pursue his dream of becoming an actor.
The man nicknamed The Animal first left sports entertainment in 2010 before returning for a brief run at the end of 2013, with a career in Hollywood his primary goal.
Several years of struggle followed before he was successful, eventually making a major breakthrough as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, and the journey came full circle earlier this year with his final WWE match, against Triple H at WrestleMania 35.
"I starved for three years," he said in an on-stage question-and-answer session at Denver Pop Culture Con. "I went broke. I lost everything. I couldn't get a job and I said that I will never go back to wrestling until I prove what I set out to prove, and that was that I can make it as an actor.
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"I was with WWE at the time and I went and did a film. I had zero interest in acting, all I wanted to do was wrestle. I loved wrestling, I was obsessed with wrestling, and I went and did a film as a favour for a friend and I realised I was horrible. I was a horrendous actor. I was so mortified that I wanted to prove I could be better, and WWE wouldn't let me do anything outside of the company.
"Then I got the role on Guardians. When I got the role, I finished the film and the first call I made after I wrapped was to Vince McMahon. I said, 'Hey man, I'd really like to come back and wrestle for a little bit.'"
