On his upcoming return to the WWEon Monday Night Raw 1/20/14, Batista tweeted:“I can’t wait to get to the Cheesefest in Hoakietown and punch somebody right In the f’n face! Playtime’s over children






David Michael "Dave" Bautista, Jr.[5](born January 18, 1969)[3]is an Americanactor,mixed martial artist,bodybuilder, andprofessional wrestlerwho is currently signed toWWE, where he performs under thering nameDaveBatistaor simplyBatista. He is a six-timeworld champion, winning theWorld Heavyweight Championshipfour times and theWWE Championshiptwice. He is thelongest-reigningWorld HeavyweightChampion in WWE history, and has won theWorld Tag Team Championshipthree times (twice withRic Flairand once withJohn Cena) and theWWE Tag Team Championshiponce (withRey Mysterio). He was also the winner of the 2005Royal Rumble matchandwent on to headlineWrestleMania 21, one of the top five highest-grossingpay-per-viewevents in pro wrestling history.[6]In August 2012, Bautista signed a contract with Classic Entertainment& Sports to fight in mixed martial arts.[7]He won his MMA debut on October 6, 2012, defeating Vince Lucero via TKO in the first round.[8]As an actor, Bautista made his feature film debut inThe Man with the Iron Fistsin 2012, after starring in variousdirect-to-videofilms since2009. He appeared in the 2013 filmRiddick, the third installment ofThe Chronicles of Riddickfranchise, andwill star in the 2014 filmGuardians of the Galaxy, a part of theMarvel Cinematic Universe.Early lifeBautista was born inWashington, DC. His father, David Michael Bautista, is the son ofFilipinoimmigrants to America, and his mother, Donna Raye Bautista, is ofGreekdescent.[5]His parents separated and eventually divorced. His paternal grandfather served in the military, worked as ataxicab driver,barber, and held other jobs to feed the family. Bautista has said that he is not ashamed to admit he lived in poverty.[9]He has admitted to having a hard life; before he had reached the age of nine, three murders had occurred on his front lawn.[10]As young as age 13, he wasstealing automobiles.[11]By age 17, Bautista was considered estranged from his parents and on his own,[12]despite admitting later: "I am proud of my parents. They are good, honest, hard-working folks. They taught me the values of working hard."[11]Hebecame a regularbouncerfor clubs until he was arrested after a fight that left two patrons injured, one of which was rendered unconscious.[12]After atrial, he was sentenced to one year ofprobation.[12]He also worked as alifeguard[13]before pursuing a career inbodybuilding.[12]He credits bodybuilding with potentially savinghis life.[14]Professional wrestling careerTrainingBatista tried out at theWCW Power Plant, but was told he would never make it in the wrestling business bySgt. Buddy Lee Parker.[15]He then went to theWorld Wrestling Federation, who sent him to train withAfa Anoa'i's school in the Wild Samoan Training Centre.[16]Ohio Valley Wrestling (2000–2002)He made hisOhio Valley Wrestlingdebut in 2000 under the ring name Leviathan, where he immediately joined forces with Synn.[4]As a member of the Disciples of Synnstable, he went undefeated until being beaten atChristmas ChaosbyKanewith help fromStone Cold Steve Austin. He later won theOVW Heavyweight Championshipfrom"The Machine"Doug Bashambefore losing the belt toThe Prototype. A few months later, Bautista left OVW after he was promoted to World Wrestling Entertainment.[17]World Wrestling EntertainmentDebut and Evolution (2002–2005)He began his WWE career on 9 May 2002 episode ofSmackDown!as Deacon Batista, avillainousenforcerforReverend D-Von.[18]He made his WWE in-ring debut in atag teammatch teaming with D-Von againstFaarooqandRandy Orton,pinningOrton. Over several weeks, Orton tried to beat D-Von and Batista with different partners, but ultimately lost each time.[19]Batista suffered his first loss in a match againstRikishiafter D-Von accidentally punched him, allowing Rikishi to take advantage and pin Batista. Batista and D-Von argued over the forthcoming weeks, with Batista eventually turning on D-Von.[20]After splitting with D-Von, he signed withRawand was renamed Dave Batista (or simply Batista). He aligned himself withRic Flair[21]andfeudedwithKane, whom he defeated atArmageddon.[22]In January 2003, Batista joinedTriple H, Ric Flair and Randy Orton to form the villainous stableEvolution.[23]Batista, however, was sidelined for much of 2003 after he tore his righttriceps muscleat aRawlive eventin a tag team match against theDudley Boyz. While training after the injury, Batista re-tore his triceps, extending his stay on the sidelines.[24]Batista made his return on 20 October episode ofRaw, interferingin a match betweenBill GoldbergandShawn Michaelsand"shattering" Goldberg's ankle with a chair. After the interference, Evolution came out, and Triple H rewarded Batista with $100,000.[25]On 10 November episode ofRaw, Goldberg defeated Batista by disqualification when Triple H interfered.[26]AtArmageddon, Batista took part intwo matches; losing to Shawn Michaels in a singles match,[27]and winning atag team turmoil matchalong with Ric Flair to become one-half of theWorld Tag Team Champions.[28]By the end of the event, all four members of Evolution held every male championship on Raw, with Triple Hwinning theWorld Heavyweight Championshipand Randy Orton winning theWWE Intercontinental Championship.[29]They held the title until the 16 February 2004 episode ofRaw, when they were defeated byBooker TandRob Van Dam.[30]They later regained the title for a short period.[31][32]AtSurvivor Series, Triple H, Batista,Gene Snitsky, andEdgewere defeated byMaven,Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and Randy Orton in aneight-man elimination tag team match for control of Raw over the following month;[33]the members of the winning team would each be the Rawgeneral managerfor a week. Throughout the next two months, the relationship between Batista and Triple H began to deteriorate. After a loss to Chris Jericho, Triple H verbally insulted Batista. Batista teased leaving Evolution that night, but declared that he was still part of Evolution and that they tricked everyone.[34]Despite this ploy, Batista began behaving more like afan favoriteover the next few weeks in comparison to Evolution's villainoustactics. One particular moment saw Batista express disgust as Triple H and Ric Flair boasted about how they had intimidated and/or beat upJim Ross,Danny Hodge, andStacy Keibler. Regardless, he continued to show his loyalty to Triple H and Evolution by running down to the ring and assisting them in matches.As 2005 began, Triple H realized thepossibility of Batista becoming a threat to his World Heavyweight Championship. Triple H suggested that he not enter theRoyal Rumble, claiming that it would be selfish of him to do so, and to simply focus on Triple H retaining the title. Batista entered anyway and went onto win the Rumble earning the right to participate in the main event ofWrestleMania 21against the World Champion of his choice.[35]In an attempt to persuade Batista to challengeWWE ChampionJohn"Bradshaw" Layfieldrather than him,Triple H concocted a scheme to have Batistarun overin alimousineresembling the one used by Layfield. Initially, Dave did not want help from Evolution and wanted to confront JBL by himself. Triple H insisted that Evolution stick together and accompanied Dave anyway, saving him from the oncoming vehicle.[36]Batista became aware of the plot while sneakily eavesdropping on fellow Evolution members and signed a contract guaranteeing him a match with the World Heavyweight Champion Triple H at WrestleMania21, thus leaving Evolution and officially turning into a fan favorite. Batista initially pretended that he would sign with SmackDown!, givingTriple H and Flair the "thumbs up", but turned it into a "thumbs down" before attacking the pair. He emphasized his departure bypowerbombingTriple H through thetable used for the contract signing.[37]World Heavyweight Championship pursuits and reigns (2005–2008)Batista in September 2005 as theWorld Heavyweight Champion.Batista won the World Heavyweight Championship on 3 April in the main event of WrestleMania 21.[2][38]WrestleMania 21 received 1.09 million pay-per-view buys worldwide - the then-highest ever number of buys for any non-boxingpay-per-view. Batista's match with Triple H was described bysports journalistDave Meltzeras "the peakof one of [WWE's] best storylines in years"[6]Batista won a rematch with Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship atBacklash.[39]After Batista retained his title against Edge, he was betrayed by Ric Flair, who helped Triple H viciously attack the champion as Triple H challenged Batista to aHell in a Cellmatch atVengeance.[40]Batista won the match at Vengeance, retaining his title yet again. With this win, Batista becamethe first wrestler to pin Triple H in aHell in a Cell match.[41]Batista at a SmackDown! live event inCincinnati, Ohio.On 30 June, Batista was revealed as the last pick in the2005 WWE Draft Lottery; he made a surprise appearance while JBL was celebrating his victory in a six-man elimination match to win the new SmackDown! Championship.[42]JBL defeated Batista atThe Great American Bashby disqualification after the referee saw Batista use a steel chair.[43]They had a rematch atSummerSlamin aNo Holds Barred matchin which Batista pinned JBL.[44]The feud culminated in aBull Rope matchwith Batista retaining his championship.[45]Soon after retaining the title in a feud withEddie Guerrero,[46]WWE.com reported that Batista suffered a muscle tear in his back at the tapingfor the 11 November episode ofSmackDown!due to a double chokeslam fromBig Show and Kane.[47]Plans had been made for Batista to defend the title in a TripleThreat match with Eddie Guerrero and Randy Orton on 18 November episode, but the match did not take place due to the unexpected death of Guerrero on 13 November, the date of the taping. Batista paid homage to Guerrero during theSmackDown!andRawtribute showsdedicated to Guerrero's memory.[48]Batista led Team SmackDown! against Team Raw in an inter-brand feud beforeSurvivor Series. The feud sawBig Show and Kanechokeslamming Batista several more times in the weeks leading up to Survivor Series in an on-camera explanation for Batista's injury.[49]Batista ultimately helped his team win the match.[50]After Batista savedRey Mysteriofrom Big Show and Kane,[51]it was announced that Mysterio would team with Batista to face theBig Show and KaneatArmageddon.On 16 December episode ofSmackDown!, Batista and Mysterio defeatedWWE Tag Team Champions[52]MNMto win the titles in a match they dedicated to Eddie Guerrero, and thus Batista became a double champion.[53]and the clash with Big Show and Kane at Armageddon turned into a Champions vs. Champions encounter. Batista and Mysterio lost toBig Show and Kaneat Armageddon.[54]Two weeks later onSmackDown!, MNM defeated Batista and Mysterio after help from the returningMark Henryto regain the WWE Tag Team Championships. During the interference, Henry attacked Batista, and performed hisWorld's Strongest Slam.[55]The teams metagain in a steel cage match that Henry also became involved in, and Batista and Rey were defeated again.[56]On 9 January, WWE.comannounced that Batista tore his right triceps during a match with Mark Henry at a live event on 6 January. Due to his injury, Batista was forced to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship at theSmackDown!tapings on 13 January, two days after surpassing Triple H'sprevious mark of 280 days for longest reigning champion. In his book,Batista Unleashed, Batista said that he believed that Henry was"careless" during their match as he never gave Batista any warning that the move was coming. Batista went on to have successful surgery on his arm on 12 January.