Following his match against Triple H at WrestleMania 35 on Sunday night, former 6x World Champion Batista announced he was officially retiring from pro wrestling, taking to his official Facebook account to reveal the news.
It was an old school match that felt like mid-2000s WWE and Ruthless Aggression all over again and while the match was viewed as somewhat slow by younger fans, it was a great reminder to longtime fans of how wrestling used to be. On an event like WrestleMania, which caters to over 50 years of wrestling fans, it definitely had its share of fans despite some negative feedback from younger fans used to more fast-paced action.
For Dave Bautista, the now Hollywood actor who spent 20 years in the ring as a pro wrestler, starting out in the indies in 1999 before signing with the WWE to a developmental deal in 2000. He went to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) where he would become part of one of the strongest developmental classes in WWE history, that featured John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, and Shelton Benjamin.
Batista made his main roster debut in 2002 as Deacon Batista, the muscle for Devon Dudley, a year later he was chosen to be the muscle for Triple H’s new faction Evolution. Over the next decade, he would become one of the WWE’s biggest Superstars, winning the WWE Championship twice and the World Heavyweight Championship on four occasions. He originally departed the WWE in 2010, following a huge storyline feud with longtime rival Cena.
He made his first return to the company in late 2013, where he aided Triple H’s authority in trying to derail Daniel Bryan on his epic run towards WrestleMania 30 in 2014. He left the company shortly after WrestleMania. He made his final return last year for SmackDown’s 1000th episode, which put into motion his final dream match, against his longtime mentor Triple H, which lead to his farewell match this past Sunday.
