Dave Bautista shares reason he’ll never return to wrestling after perfect Triple H ending

WWE legend turned actor Dave Bautista has said he has ‘dreams’ of a wrestling comeback but will never return to the ring.

The multi-time world champion and Evolution star is one of the biggest names of his generation in the grappling world, where he performed as Batista.

After a tentative beginning at the turn of the millennium, The Animal hit his stride as part of the legendary faction alongside Triple H, Ric Flair and Randy Orton.

Going on to become a huge singles star, the now 55-year-old held the WWE and World Heavyweight titles on four occasions, and twice won the company’s Royal Rumble.

Despite those glories, the man himself has said he has no intention of lacing up his wrestling boots for a comeback run.

His last match came in 2019, a WrestleMania 35 showdown against former mentor Triple H, who now effectively runs the on-screen element of WWE as Head of Creative.

That sendoff in New Jersey was the perfect ending to his career, says the master of the Batista Bomb, and he has no designs on doing anything to ‘tarnish’ it.

Speaking in an interview with Chris Van Vliet, he commented: “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.

“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. I will never tarnish that.”

Admitting he does still dream of the energy of performing for WWE, the veteran added: “It’s not that I don’t miss it.

“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 would just tarnish my storybook ending, and I’m just not willing to do it.”

Bautista went on to fine genuine mainstream success after ending his full-time career as a professional wrestler, starring as a villain in the 2015 James Bond film Spectre and multiple Marvel movies as Drax the Destroyer.

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Though he’s exceeded the star power of his WWE days, it seems a certainty that he’ll one day be inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame both as a solo star and as part of Evolution.

The Washington native revealed he had come close to being given the honour at a previous WrestleMania weekend saying: “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 [Triple H] asked me to do it… 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.”

After having to bulk up to 300lbs for a recent move role, Bautista also shared how he was ‘shedding the weight off’ thanks to a unique training method.