Bautista

David Michael Bautista, Jr. was born on January 18, 1969 in Washington, D.C., to Donna Raye (Mullins) and David Michael Bautista. His father is Filipino, and his mother has Greek ancestry.

When WCW officials told him he'd never make it in sports entertainment, Bautista pushed himself to achieve his dream of being a Superstar. In May 2002, he made his debut on SmackDown using the ring name Batista, but it wasn't until a move to Raw and two victories over Kane that "The Animal" began to make noise in the WWE Universe. The wins impressed Ric Flair and Triple H, who were looking to align themselves with the industry's brightest new stars. After a lengthy search, they identified Randy Orton and Batista. Collectively the four Superstars became known as Evolution.

Batista earned his first championship alongside "The Nature Boy" when the duo captured the WWE Tag Team Championships in December 2003. As Evolution dominated WWE, Batista started to emerge from the shadows of Triple H and Ric Flair. By the time Batista won the 2005 Royal Rumble Match, World Heavyweight Champion Triple H viewed him as a serious threat to his title.

After a triceps injury at the hands of Mark Henry forced Batista to relinquish the title in January 2006, he vowed to return. Batista successfully regained the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series in 2006. Four months into his second reign, Batista faced the Undertaker at WrestleMania 23. "The Animal" took Undertaker to the limit, but was unable to stop the streak of "The Deadman" at WrestleMania. Though disappointed, Batista stayed hungry and always managed to keep himself in the championship hunt for the rest of his career.

At Bragging Rights in 2009, Batista shocked the world when he blamed Rey Mysterio for a loss to Undertaker, then attacked his former tag team partner. "The Animal" then became locked in a tense rivalry with another former friend, John Cena, over the WWE Championship. The grueling match at Over the Limit led to a wheelchair-bound Batista declaring "I quit!" the following night on Raw before fading from the WWE Universe in May 2010. Following his departure from WWE, he made appearances in the films, The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (2012) and The Man with the Iron Fists (2012). Then two years later, he was embarking on a career in Mixed Martial Arts when he joined MMA and won his first professional MMA fight. Then in January 2014, he made his long awaited return to the WWE before quitting a second time in June of that same year. He did this in order to promote Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and to continue work on his next film.
David Michael Bautista, Jr. is an actor, former professional wrestler, and mixed martial artist best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he was a six-time world champion and an international spokesman for the organization. David retired from the WWE to focus on his acting career in mid-2010 but in 2014, he returned to headline WrestleMania XXX (2014). He can be seen in the Marvel feature Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) where he stars as 'Drax the Destroyer.' The film follows an unlikely cast of characters including an American pilot and a group of futuristic ex-cons who go on the run with a highly coveted object and must join forces to defeat a cosmic force of epic proportions. The film was released on August 1, 2014 and he starred opposite Chris Pratt, Benicio Del Toro, Zoe Saldana and Djimon Hounsou. This fall he will shoot the Kickboxer: Vengeance (2016) directed by John Stockwell co-starring martial artist Alain Moussi and UFC fighter Georges St-Pierre. The remake of the 1989 Jean-Claude Van Damme film, Kickboxer (1989) is about two brothers David and Kurt Sloan; When David wins the Karate World Championship, a promoter lures him to Hong Kong, despite his brother's protestations that the man is a crook. When Kurt travels to Thailand to meet his brother, he discovers he has died and seeks his revenge. Bautista was recently seen opposite Vin Diesel in the Universal film Riddick (2013) and RZA's feature directorial debut The Man with the Iron Fists (2012), in which he played the villainous Brass Body and starred opposite Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu. His other film credits include The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (2012), where he played Argomael; the action film House of the Rising Sun (2011); and Wrong Side of Town (2010) opposite rapper Ja Rule. Bautista ha s appeared on television's Chuck (2007), _"Head Case" (2007)_, and Smallville (2001). He's appeared as himself on Iron Chef America: The Series (2005) as a judge, an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (2003); and MTV's Cribs (2000) showing his house and his cars. Bautista also made a cameo appearance on the Australian soap opera Neighbours (1985).
Professional wrestler David Michael Bautista Jr. was born on January 18, 1969 in Arlington, Virginia, and is best known by his ring name - Batista. He has signed on to World Wrestling Entertainment, and works in its RAW brand. A huge success in the arena, Batista a 4-time World Heavyweight Champion, 3-time World Tag Team Champion, 1-time WWE Tag Team Champion, and the winner of the 2005 Royal Rumble match.

Batista’s father, David Michael Bautista, is of Filipino heritage and his mother, Donna Raye, is Greek. The wrestler is proud to say that his paternal grandparents were from the Philippines as well, with his grandfather serving in the military and taking odd jobs just to feed his family. Batista has admitted to having a hard life, mentioning how at age nine, he witnessed three murders occur in his front lawn. When he was 13, he started stealing automobiles and at 17, was estranged from his parents. Despite living on his own, he acknowledged his folks, who he says taught him how to work hard. Since then, he became a bouncer for clubs until he got arrested for getting involved in a fight. He was sentenced to one year of probation. Batista then worked as a lifeguard, then harbored dreams of being a bodybuilder.

When he applied for the wrestling business, the WWF sent him to train with Afa Anoa’i’s school in the Wild Samoan Training Centre. Since then, he embarked on his wrestling career, beginning with a May 2002 episode of Smackdown. He was then known as Deacon Bautista, a heel enforcer for Reverend D-Von. He made his debut in a tag match with D-Von, teaming up against Faarooq and Randy Orton. Batista continued to become a driving force in the WWE, defeating opponent after opponent with his signature moves. However, he has had several injuries ever since. One of these was in 2008, when he was knocked out by Randy Orton with a punt to the head.

Batista has appeared on several other shows, commercials, and magazine covers. He has been seen on season 6 of Smallville, and played an extraterrestrial alien in Phantom Zone. He also represented WWE on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, along with John Cena and Ashley Massaro.
He is better known for his ring name “The Animal” in World Wrestling Entertainment. With his massive built and strong muscular body he loves to dominate his opponents in the ring. Along with many other distinctions he holds record of longest reigning World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history. He won World Heavyweight championship four times.
David Michael Bautista Jr. was born on 18 January 1969 in Washington DC. He is an American actor, mixed martial artist, actor and professional wrestler. In 2011 he retired from WWE and signed contract with MMA. He won his MMA debut on 6 October 2012 by defeating Vince Lucero.
Taming wild animals is best left to trained professionals. Taming “The Animal” is another matter entirely.

If Batista always appeared in control of his meteoric rise through the ranks of WWE, that’s because you’re not counting his tempestuous formative years. That what would ultimately bring the six-foot-six, 290-pound brute to the top was his ability to avoid the perils and violence all around him in his troubled youth.

He didn’t ask to be born into a rougher part of Washington, D.C. that delivered three early reality checks in the form of homicides committed on his parents’ front lawn. He cannot undo becoming estranged from his parents by age 17 or the assault charges he accrued and probation he served for unleashing his ferocious temper on two unruly patrons at a club where Batista worked as a bouncer.

But rather than let his past pull him down, Batista rose above it by setting a goal of becoming an athlete and entertainer. He trained under Afa at the Wild Samoan Training Centre in Allentown, Pa. and redoubled his efforts after a WCW scout told Batista he’d never make it — only to find himself thriving in the independent circuit shortly thereafter. Two years later, WWE finally came calling.

And in 2002, Batista answered that call in a beastly way. With a bit of refinement from Evolution colleagues Triple H and Ric Flair, The Animal developed from a self-described “muscleheaded goofball” to a six-time World Heavyweight Champion. His first World Heavyweight Championship win came at the expense of Triple H at WrestleMania 21 and lasted 282 days, which still stands as a WWE record for longest single reign in that title’s history. His resume includes winning two Royal Rumble Matches, handing Triple H his first loss in a Hell in a Cell Match at Vengeance in 2005, and wins over The Undertaker, John Cena and Randy Orton.

Batista departed WWE in 2010, but returned in January 2014 and immediately won the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match to earn a WWE World Heavyweight Title opportunity at WrestleMania 30. The Animal tapped out to Daniel Bryan in the Triple Threat main event, but the loss did little to curb his ego. In the weeks that followed, the arrogant Batista realigned himself with Triple H and The Viper in a reformation of their Evolution grouping. Together, the trio looked to take out The Shield.

However at Extreme Rules, Evolution was ultimately defeated in a showdown with The Hounds of Justice — an incredible battle between two of the most dominant factions in WWE history. Then, at WWE Payback, Rollins, Ambrose & Reigns shut out all three members of the legendary faction in a brutal No Holds Barred Elimination Match.

One night later on Raw, frustrated that he never got the one-on-one WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match he earned by winning the 2014 Royal Rumble Match, Batista abandoned his Evolution associates and quit WWE.
Batista eliminated John Cena to win the 2005 Royal Rumble in Fresno, CA.Much to the horror of evolution member and then champion Triple H who realised he would have to face Batista @ Wrestlemania 21 unless he could convince him to move to Smackdown and face then WWE champion J.B.L.After months of will he ? wont he ? Batista answered HHH’s question with a helacious Batista Bomb through a table .
At Wrestlemania 21 in Los Angeles, CA, Batista defeated Triple H to capture the World Heavyweight title.
At Backlash ’05, Batista defeated Triple H to retain the World Heavyweight title.
Batista defeated Triple H at the 2005 Vengeance PPV in Las Vegas to retain the World Heavyweight title in a “hell in a cell” match.
World Heavyweight Champion (2005–2006)
Batista won the World Heavyweight Championship on April 3 at WrestleMania 21. Batista won a rematch with Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash. 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 a Hell in a Cell match at Vengeance. Batista survived the Pedigree and won the match at Vengeance, retaining his title yet again. With this win, Batista became the first wrestler to pin Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match.
On June 30, Batista was revealed as the last pick in the 2005 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. JBL and Batista faced off at The Great American Bash where JBL defeated Batista by DQ after the referee saw Batista use a steel chair. They had a rematch at SummerSlam on August 21 in a No Holds Barred match in which Batista pinned JBL following a powerbomb on the steel steps. The feud culminated in a match between the two with Batista retaining the title in a Bull Rope match. Soon after retaining the title in a feud with Eddie Guerrero, WWE.com reported that Batista suffered a muscle tear in his back at the taping for the November 11 edition of SmackDown! due to a double chokeslam from Big Show and Kane. Plans had been made for Batista to defend the title in a Triple Threat match with Eddie Guerrero and Randy Orton on the November 18 episode, but the match did not take place due to the unexpected death of Guerrero on November 13, the date of the taping. Batista paid homage to Guerrero during the SmackDown! and Raw tribute shows dedicated to Guerrero’s memory.
Batista led Team SmackDown! against Team Raw in an inter-brand feud before Survivor Series. The feud saw Big Show and Kane chokeslamming Batista several more times in the weeks leading up to Survivor Series in an on-camera explanation for Batista’s injury. Batista ultimately helped his team win the match. After Batista saved Rey Mysterio from Big Show and Kane, it was announced that Mysterio would team with Batista to face the Big Show and Kane at Armageddon.
On the December 16 edition of SmackDown!, Batista and Mysterio defeated WWE Tag Team Champions MNM to become champions in a match they dedicated to Eddie Guerrero, and the clash with Big Show and Kane at Armageddon turned into a Champions vs. Champions encounter. Batista and Mysterio lost to Kane and Big Show at Armageddon. Two weeks later on SmackDown!, MNM defeated Batista and Mysterio after help from the returning Mark Henry to regain the WWE Tag Team Championships. During the interference, Henry attacked Batista, and performed his World’s Strongest Slam. The teams met again in a cage match that Henry also became involved in, and Batista and Rey were defeated again. On January 9, WWE.com announced that Batista tore his right triceps during a match with Mark Henry at a live event on January 6 in Verona, New York. WWE.com announced that, due to his injury, Batista was forced to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship at the SmackDown! tapings on January 13, two days after surpassing Triple H’s previous 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 January 12.
Pursuit of a world title (2006)
Batista made an appearance at No Way Out and told the crowd that once his arm had healed he would return to regain his World Heavyweight Championship. At WrestleMania 22, he interrupted a Randy Orton interview, putting SmackDown! on notice; the World Heavyweight Championship would return to him by WrestleMania 23. Batista made his official return during the July 7 edition of SmackDown! immediately calling out and entering into a feud with Mark Henry. At Saturday Night’s Main Event, Batista won a six man tag match with Rey Mysterio and Lashley taking on King Booker, Finlay, and Mark Henry. Henry was legitimately injured and was ruled out of the scheduled match between the two at The Great American Bash, thus further delaying a potential feud between the two after being delayed by Batista’s initial injury.
Batista accepted an open challenge from The Great Khali for The Great American Bash. Edge relinquished the title due to an injury the week before the PPV, and Khali became the new World Heavyweight Champion, winning a Battle Royal and eliminating Batista. Batista and Kane, Edge’s title opponent, faced Khali at The Great American Bash in a triple threat match where Khali retained the title. Batista received a disqualification victory against Khali at SummerSlam after Khali used a steel chair, thus retaining the title again. Batista finally claimed his third World Heavyweight Championship after eight consecutive attempts, by defeating Khali in a match that included Rey Mysterio at Unforgiven. His first challenge was from the Great Khali in a Punjabi Prison Match at No Mercy where Batista retained his title despite Khali having the majority of the offense. He won the match by leaping from the inner bamboo structure to the outer one, shortening his escape route and beating Khali to the floor.
After the return of the The Undertaker at Unforgiven, the duo reignited their feud at Cyber Sunday where the fans chose Stone Cold Steve Austin as the Guest Referee. Batista won via two Batista Bombs. The feud continued with a Hell in a Cell match at Survivor Series. During the match, Edge returned and interfered by giving Undertaker a con-chair-to. He then pulled an unconscious Batista on top of Undertaker for the pinfall to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. At Armageddon, Edge was entered into a Triple Threat Match, alongside The Undertaker, to challenge for Batista’s World Heavyweight title. This event would lead to the end of Batista’s third reign as champion, after Edge managed to score the pinfall and claim the World Championship.
Feud with Shawn Michaels; drafted to Raw (2008)
Batista appeared in the Royal Rumble, entering eighth, and was eliminated by Triple H. At No Way Out he was part of the SmackDown Elimination Chamber Match and eliminated Big Daddy V, but was last eliminated by the Undertaker after a Tombstone Piledriver. At WrestleMania XXIV he defeated Umaga in an interpromotional match, pinning Umaga after a Batista Bomb. After Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair at the same event, Batista began a feud with Michaels, calling him selfish and egotistical. The two faced off at Backlash with Chris Jericho as the guest referee. Michaels won after faking a knee injury and performing Sweet Chin Music. Batista then defeated Michaels at One Night Stand in a stretcher match, thus ending their feud.
On June 23, Batista was drafted from SmackDown to the Raw brand during the 2008 WWE Draft. Batista became a World Tag Team Champion for a third time on the August 4 edition of Raw when he teamed up with John Cena, his SummerSlam opponent, to defeat Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase for the title, but they failed to retain the titles against the former champions on the next episode of Raw. Batista narrowly defeated Cena at SummerSlam.
On October 26 at Cyber Sunday, Batista defeated Chris Jericho for his fourth World Heavyweight Championship in a match in which “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was voted in as the special referee. Batista’s reign, however, only lasted eight days when Jericho won back the title in a Steel Cage match on a three-hour special episode of Raw.
Feud with Randy Orton and The Legacy (2008–present)
Batista then entered a feud with former Evolution partner, Randy Orton; at Survivor Series, Batista led a team of himself, CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, Matt Hardy, and R-Truth to face the team of Randy Orton, Shelton Benjamin, William Regal, Cody Rhodes, and Mark Henry. In the end it was Orton that was victorious when he got a blind tag and pinned Batista after a RKO. His feud with Orton continued up to Armageddon where Batista ended up victorious after a Batista Bomb. On the December 15 edition of Raw, Batista was put into a handicap match against Orton’s Legacy stable (Orton, Cody Rhodes, and Manu) with John Cena as his partner. During the match, Orton struck Batista with a punt to the head. Batista was knocked out and put out of action indefinitely due to a (kayfabe) head injury. WWE.com later reported that Batista elected to undergo surgery to repair a hamstring tear. The hamstring was injured at SummerSlam, in the same match that former World Heavyweight Champion John Cena was forced out of action with a neck injury. He was expected to be out of action for 6–8 months.
Batista returned from his hamstring injury on the April 6 episode of Raw, to save Triple H, Shane McMahon, and Vince McMahon from The Legacy (Orton, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase, Jr.) Vince McMahon, then announced that Batista would take his place at Backlash, where he would team up with WWE Champion Triple H, and Shane McMahon, to face The Legacy. During the match, Batista had brought out a chair, but Triple H tried to stop him, so they would not get disqualified. This distraction however, cost Triple H his championship, after he lost it to Orton. The following night on Raw, Batista won a singles match against The Big Show due to a distraction by John Cena, to become the #1 Contender for the WWE Championship at Judgment Day.
Personal life of Batista
Bautista was married to a woman named Glenda in the early 1990s and had two daughters with her, Keilani (born in 1990) and Athena (born in 1992) before divorcing. Bautista married his second wife Angie on October 13, 1998, yet they divorced in 2006. Before the age of 40, Bautista had already become a grandfather of two grandsons: Jacob & Aiden by Keilani, his first daughter. During his marriage with Angie, Bautista became an avid collector of vintage metal lunchboxes. He admits his favorite is the 1967 Green Hornet lunch box, as it has Bruce Lee on it. This collection started when he bought Angie an ET lunchbox and she did not want to break it, so he bought a second one. Bautista revealed that he and Angie were separated in the August 2006 edition of WWE Magazine. He later revealed, in his autobiography, a relationship with WWE Diva Melina after the divorce from his wife in 2006, which led to a brief angle on SmackDown! during a feud with MNM.
In October 2007, his autobiography “Batista Unleashed”, a WWE Book, was released. In an interview about the book, Bautista claims “I didn’t want to tell my story unless it was honest,” and that “you have to go through three sets of lawyers: Simon & Schuster lawyers, WWE lawyers, my lawyers. Everything now being the way it is, you can be sued for the simplest thing.” One source of controversy was the mentioning of Chris Benoit, who was almost completely removed due to controversy. Bautista responded saying “I loved the guy. I despise what he did, but that doesn’t erase him from my life. I fought to keep him in there and glad they did.” When asked about his ex-wife, Angie, he says ” we have really become close again, which we really haven’t been in years. I really learned a lot about her, and she learned a lot about me from reading the book. She actually saw things from a different perspective from reading the book. So that was definitely therapeutic.”
He has numerous tattoos, including a large Chinese dragon on his back, red Kanji lettering on his upper left biceps which says “Angel” in tribute to his former wife Angie, a signature design on his upper right biceps, and a small Sun on his stomach which encircles his belly button. He recently added a tattoo on his arm of the flags of the Philippines and Greece merged into one. He has also made a cameo appearance in Perfect Strangers.