whether you know dave bautista as a
fearsome WWE superstar or as a galactic
guardian named Drax you're probably a
fan dave bautista is a really likable
personable agreeable sort of person but
it's kind of surprising if you know very
much about what Dave Batista has been
through Batista was born in 1969 and
according to his book Batista unleashed
the Washington DC area he grew up in was
one of the nation's poorest at the time
as he was growing up crack cocaine was
about to hit the streets killings in the
neighborhood were common and according
to him life expectancy for children was
quote worse than in many third-world
countries
Batista casually mentions that three
people died on his doorstep before he
turned nine in an interview with the
Tampa Bay Times he elaborates on one
particular death where his mother found
a man dying of a gunshot wound outside
their house she called for help but the
officials took too long and the man
didn't make it
meanwhile Batista his sister and several
other children were playing outside
nearby they were so accustomed to
violent sights that they didn't even
shed a tear and after Batista's mother
saw it the family promptly moved to San
Francisco in his book Batista briefly
dwells on his lack of formal education
though he enjoyed wrestling in high
school his actual grades were far from
amazing by his senior year which he
didn't finish they were so bad that he
wasn't allowed to wrestle Batista says
not graduating from high school is
something he regrets especially because
he knows he absolutely could have done
it if he had tried whenever he bothered
to apply himself he got good grades and
his teachers were perfectly willing to
let him make up assignments however
young Batista just didn't care about
education and it remains a sore spot in
an interview with sport Bible in 2018
Batista admitted that if he could live
his life again he would focus on getting
an education
Batista might look like he was built at
a shipyard but he has a family just like
everyone else if maybe a slightly more
turbulent one Dave writes and Batista
unleashed that his dad a Filipino
hairdresser wasn't really prepared to be
a father
Bautista also had an older brother who
died in a car accident Dave's mother
Donna Rae managed to bring up her
children while also struggling with
poverty and family issues of her own
after separating from Dave's father she
started having relationships with women
which was a potential social problem
for a woman coming from a conservative
Greek American family in an interview
with the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation Batista says I never thought
of her as my mom the lesbian she was mom
an incredibly strong woman who always
did her best to keep me out of trouble
and keep me alive to drive home his Pro
LGBTQ stance he once even threatened
boxer Manny Pacquiao for making anti-gay
comments troubled youths tend to dabble
in crime and young Dave Bautista was no
exception on the podcast Anna Faris is
unqualified Bautista says his childhood
gang used to specialize in petty theft
they'd go down to the houses of kids
they knew and steal small stuff like
clothes and knickknacks they couldn't
afford we're always like stealing stuff
and stealing this stealing that and
police would pick us up and my mom would
have to come get us and beat the hell
out of me Bautista has since called his
youthful thieving ways kid stuff but
puberty turned him into a completely
different beast according to the Tampa
Bay Times Bautista grew large and
intimidating during his later teenage
years and ended up taking on a protector
role in his group he eventually ended up
with an imposing body that made a career
as a nightclub bouncer a pretty logical
choice
unfortunately Batista turned out to be a
bouncer of the splatter variety and he
roughed up unwanted clientele so much he
was once even charged with assault if
you've ever wondered what it takes to
get a body like Dave Batista's you might
not like the answer in the 2019
interview with the Tampa Bay Times
Batista says he spent his 20s in a state
he calls reverse anorexia despite being
a fresh father of two daughters he had
no real plans or ambitions so he got
stuck in a loop he worked all night as a
bouncer then spent hours at the gym and
by the time he got home he'd sleep all
day and start the cycle anew despite
weighing over 300 pounds and doing
virtually nothing but working and
lifting he felt he was never big enough
Batista spent 10 years on this schedule
which didn't do any favors for his
family's financial stability as he was
pushing 30 he realized he had wasted a
decade of his life and was in a
situation where he had to borrow money
just so he could buy Christmas presents
for his children and I realized that I
had accomplished nothing and I had no
future and I had nothing to fall back on
this bleak situation ultimately came
with the silver lining as the
impoverished Batista decided to try his
hand at rest
dave bautista entered the physically
grueling world of wrestling at a
relatively late age this may be why his
first star making tenure with the
company was marred by injuries that
sidelined him for months at a time
according to Batista unleashed his first
serious injury was a triceps tear that
sidelined him for seven months in 2003
bleacher report listed other notorious
mishaps in 2006 he was forced to vacate
his WWE World Championship because of
yet another torn triceps in 2008 a
similar terror occurred in his hamstring
sidelining him for what was supposed to
be six to eight months he came back in
four and had just enough time to capture
the WWE Championship before a biceps
injury forced him to drop the title the
very next day a lower back injury later
stopped him from completing a scheduled
circuit of shows in 2006 Batista
allegedly got into a real backstage
fight with fellow wrestler Booker T
wrestle view reports the fight took
place when the men shot an ad for the
upcoming SummerSlam bad blood had
supposedly been brewing for quite some
time because of Batista's bad attitude
his relatively quick rise to the top of
the food chain and lack of humility had
angered many of his colleagues
colleagues were also reported to be
quite happy with the way Booker T stood
up to Batista hugging and high-fiving
Booker afterward wrestle view also
reported that Batista confirmed things
had been escalating for a while it must
be noted though that the initial reports
of the fights legitimacy appear to have
come from the WWE itself and Batista and
Booker T were promoting their title
match at SummerSlam
according to Forbes there have been
allegations that Batista was aided by
every dishonest athletes best friend
steroids in 2007 the aftermath of the
Chris Benoit case led the WWE to take a
long hard look at the company's Wellness
Policy and an ESPN report eventually
linked Batista and a number of other
wrestlers to a large doping ring Batista
strongly denied the allegations and
insisted that he was both tested
regularly and operating quote in full
compliance with the WWE wellness program
while he ultimately avoided suspension
the cloud of steroid suspicion has
hovered over his head ever since
wrestling ink and bleacher report have
both reported on industry whispers about
past steroid use and some of his
injuries seem oddly consistent with the
one steroid users
we suffer according to sport sceeto
Batista has quit WWE twice in 2010 and
2014
his first departure was reportedly
because of a lack of movie opportunities
as Batista discovered WWE Studios
wouldn't offer him roles he asked if he
could go outside the WWE and audition
for other films but was allegedly told
to get dressed for a match Batista
handed in his notice and left the
company a year later and on his last
night
few people bothered to thank him or say
goodbye he made a comeback in 2013 but
creative differences soon drove him out
again he reportedly wanted a slow
build-up as a bad guy but the WWE
decided to strongly push him as a hero
and the fans didn't love him according
to Batista it didn't help that when he
pitched a cross-promotion with guardians
of the galaxy WWE Big Shots Triple H and
Stephanie McMahon basically laughed in
his face
Batista returned to the WWE one last
time in 2019 when he wrapped up his
wrestling career in a Wrestlemania match
against Triple H Batista lost the life
of a top WWE Superstar isn't an easy one
to mesh with private life and Dave
Batista has been less than successful at
it in an interview with sport Bible
Batista admitted that the year-round
grind of being on the road with the WWE
didn't do any favors for his marriage
according to Australian Broadcasting
Corporation he ruined two of his
marriages while he was on the road and
it wasn't just his constant absence that
was the problem
the superstar admits he was a prolific
cheater and that obviously also hurt the
people he loved the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation reports that
while Dave Bautista doesn't drink or do
drugs he was no different from his
wrestling peers who struggled with
addictions his drug of choice just
happened to be a little different
although he didn't realize it at the
time he was addicted to carnal pleasures
while touring with the WWE when the
naturally shy and timid man became
popular and suddenly had scores of girls
interested in him he says he was
completely unequipped to handle it in
Dovan head first
while he didn't think it was a problem
at the time he was eventually told that
his constant womanizing was a problem he
says he has since matured and changed
because he doesn't want to hurt his
business or be a bad role model for his
children Batista's role as Drax the
destroyer in guardians of the galaxy
propelled him to mainstream Fame but
according to Wired the dream gay
could get surprisingly nightmarish
Batista was terrified when he auditioned
his first day on set wasn't any better
because apart from his own nerves he was
unfortunate enough to start filming two
weeks later than everyone else when he
arrived the anxious giant had to
scramble to catch up when the
existential terror went away physical
discomfort took over the role required
buckets of makeup and body paint which
took four hours to apply and another
hour and a half to remove because the
fall upper body treatment didn't really
allow the actor to sit down he had to go
through the entire process leaning on a
saddle like perch however getting it all
put on wasn't as bad as having to Don
the Drax costume for many consecutive
days he says that by the third or fourth
day his skin started to get sensitive
and by the sixth consecutive dracs day
he just wanted to peel his skin off a
large muscular wrestler can often carry
the stigma of people assuming he's a big
stupid lug and Dave Bautista faces an
extra hurdle he's dyslexic in an
interview on Chris Jericho's talk his
jericho podcast Bautista says his
dyslexia has made things like table
reads for Avengers infinity war and
other films pretty difficult for him
still the wrestler has kept a sense of
humor about his condition and has been
known to reply to badly spelled Twitter
insults with friendly advice about how
to deal with dyslexia earthers have
hang-ups as it happens Bautista isn't
the only guardian of the galaxy who
deals with dyslexia according to the New
York Times his castmates oe Saldana is
also dyslexic and dyslexic advantage has
praised both stars for publicly speaking
out about their struggles check out one
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[Music]