Batista won’t tarnish ‘storybook ending’ by coming out of WWE retirement
Batista says that while he misses professional wrestling he will never tarnish the “storybook ending” to his career.
He officially retired from the industry after his loss to Triple H at WrestleMania 35. He announced the news the following day, writing, “Thank you for letting me entertain you. I love this business and whether you cheered me or jeered me, I’m grateful for being a small part of your life. I am officially retired from sports entertainment and I am grateful for every second of my amazing journey.”
The 55-year-old actor is currently promoting his upcoming film, “The Killer’s Game,” which releases in theaters on September 13. Along with his co-star Sofia Boutella (Rebel Moon, Star Trek Beyond), he was interviewed by Chris Van Vliet and the conversation transitioned from movies to wrestling.
Boutella, who was also in Argyle with John Cena, asked Batista as many questions about his wrestling career as CVV did, including if he knew WrestleMania 35 would be his last match.
“I did, I just didn’t tell anybody else because I didn’t want it to be a big ordeal. I didn’t want to go out and do the tour and give a speech, I wanted to have my match and I wanted to call it a career so I wanted to go out on my own terms,” Batista responded.
Boutella seemed surprised to learn that Batista lost his last match.
“Did you know you were going to lose? She asked. “Is that how it works?”
“I did, yeah,” Batista responded. “It was the way I wanted to go out. It was like a dream for me. It’s so perfect. It’s such a romantic way and wrestlers don’t get to choose the way they go out, I did. I went out on my own terms the way I wanted with the guy I wanted to go out with and I will never tarnish that.”
“It’s not that I don’t miss it,” he continued. “I miss the crowd, I miss the energy of the crowd. I dream about walking out and hearing my entrance music but I know if I do that I will just tarnish my storybook ending and I’m just not willing to do it.”
“I just have to come to terms with my time has passed,” he continued.
CVV asked if the plan is still for him to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
“Eventually, I will. I want to and there was a good opportunity for me to go in a couple of years ago and I agreed to do it. Hunter asked me to do it.”
“It was here in LA and I thought it was storybook because I won my first title here in LA and we just couldn’t figure it out. I was working on a film, I was in South Africa, so logistically, we just couldn’t make it happen but I’m still open to it and one day I would like to.”
The full interview is available below: