Dave Bautista, best known by his stage name of Batista in the wrestling ring, most recently opened up about the period in time in which he was completely broke after walking away from a career in wrestling in order to pursue his acting career.
"I starved for three years," Bautista said during an appearance 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."
He went on to detail the experience of doing one particular film while he was still with WWE, but quickly realized that he was a "horrendous actor" and in order to get better, he would have to take a leave of absence from the WWE Universe.
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"I was with WWE at the time and I went and did a film," Bautista said. "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 favor for a friend and I realized I was horrible. I was a horrendous actor. I was so mortified that I wanted to prove I could be better, and the company [WWE], they wouldn’t let me do anything outside of the company."
He would eventually find solid footing when he landed his role as Drax in Guardians of The Galaxy, which put him in a position to comfortably return to wrestling.