Batista Says WWE “Screwed Him Over” During His Last Run, Talks Why It Didn’t Make Sense for Him to Work with Daniel Bryan After ‘Mania

January 24, 2017

Former WWE star Dave “Batista” Bautista recently spoke with DailyDead.com at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and below are some interview highlights:

Interviewer: I just want to say on a personal level, being somebody who’s enjoyed watching your career as a wrestler, too, I was so incredibly bummed about how everything went when you came back in 2014. I was so excited to see you come back, and I’m glad that you’re moving on in movies now, but I feel so bad because you deserved more than you got out of that situation and it still makes me sad as a fan.

Dave Bautista: It really sucked. It didn’t have anything to do with me or anything, there was just a lot going on behind the scenes.

Interviewer: Well, creative was a mess back then, too.

Dave Bautista: It was the company, man. They really just screwed me over. I was banging my head against the wall every day. It’s one of those things, I wish people knew how hard I fought to be there and how hard I fought to just give them the best matches and performances that I could. But it was an everyday struggle dealing with the company. It was such a f***ing nightmare.

Interviewer: I’m so sorry.

Dave Bautista: I stayed longer than I should have, actually. You followed it pretty closely back then?

Interviewer: I did, and still am, yes.

Dave Bautista: What most fans don’t realize is that I stayed an extra month. The reason I had to leave was because I had to go and do press for Marvel for Guardians of the Galaxy. They were actually nice enough to let me stay an extra month. They wanted me to stay that extra month and work with Daniel Bryan at another pay-per-view, but I just thought that didn’t even make sense.

We were just starting the Evolution thing, so why couldn’t we run with that instead of me putting Daniel over again, which I just did at WrestleMania? We’re not going to have a better match there than we did at Mania. Let’s just work more with Evolution and build these guys up. So we did. Then right after we built the hell out of them and they were so strong as a unit, they broke them all up. I said, “What is wrong with you guys?”

Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.

Nick attended New York University and graduated in 2001 with a degree in Drama.

Nick first entered the internet wrestling community back in 2004 when he became the co-host of The Voice of Wrestling Radio Show. From there, Nick made the transition from radio personality to editor when he began working with WrestleZone in 2008.

Nick is a member of two Off-Broadway theatre companies, Another Urban Riff, and the Drama Desk Award winning Godlight Theatre Company. Nick has appeared in over a dozen Off-Broadway plays since he moved to New York City, and has shot several short and feature length films. In 2010, he completed principle photography on a film titled "How to Score Your Life," which also features TNA Knockout ODB.

Inspiration in his life has come from many people including his family, Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, Jack Nicholson, The Beatles, and of course, Lassie.