Background
David Michael Bautista was born on January 18, 1969.
Actor professional wrestler bodybuilder
David Michael Bautista was born on January 18, 1969.
He went to the WCW Power Plant for a tryout, and in another bad decision, WCW decided that he would never make it as a wrestler. He was trained by Wild Samoan Afa and made his wrestling debut in 1997. Batista started off his career working for Afa's WXW promotion under the name Kahn. Shortly after, he signed a WWE developmental deal and wrestled in Ohio Valley Wrestling. While there, he was known as Leviathan and Demon of the Deep. He would debut for WWE in May 2002.
Batista made his WWE debut on the May 9, 2002 edition of SmackDown! He was the bodyguard for Reverend D-Von Dudley and held the collection plate. After a few months he left D-Von and SmackDown!. He debuted on the November 4, 2002 edition of Monday Night RAW and quickly aligned himself with Ric Flair. On the January 27, 2003 edition of RAW, Evolution was formed. The group featured Triple H, Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and Batista.
Batista missed 8 months in 2003 due to a tear in his biceps muscle. Several months after his return, Randy Orton was kicked out of Evolution. Over the next few months, Batista started to become a superstar. He went on to win the 2005 Royal Rumble and was guaranteed a title match at WrestleMania 22.
At WrestleMania 22, Batista won the World Heavyweight Championship from former Evolution leader, Triple H. Batista went on to defeat Triple H at Backlash and in a Hell in a Cell Match at Vengeance. The next night he was drafted to Friday Night SmackDown!.
Batista took his title to SmackDown! and immediately got into a feud with JBL which he dominated. In the summer of 2005, he signed a 5 year deal with WWE. After defeating JBL, he faced and teamed with Eddie Guerrero shortly before his death in the fall of 2005.
After tearing a lat muscle, Batista continued to wrestle. During this time, he briefly held the tag team titles with Rey Mysterio. While wrestling with this injury, he tore his triceps muscle and had to vacate the World Heavyweight Title on the January 13, 2006 edition of SmackDown!. Batista regained the title on November 26, 2006 at the Survivor Series.
Batista lost the title to the Undertaker at WrestleMania 23. He regained the title a few months later when he beat the Great Khali and Rey Mysterio at Unforgiven 2007. In December, he lost the title to Edge in a triple-threat match that also included the Undertaker.
In 2008, Batista was drafted back to RAW. Batista won the WHC for a fourth time when he beat Chris Jericho at Cyber Sunday 2008. He won his first WWE Championship at Extreme Rules 2009 by beating Randy Orton in a Steel Cage Match. He was stripped of the title following an injury. That fall he returned to SmackDown and turned on the fans and his friend Rey Mysterio. His new friendship with Vince McMahon resulted in gold as he beat an exhausted John Cena who just fought in an elimination chamber match at Elimination Chamber 2010.
Batista tapped out to John Cena at WrestleMania XXVI. After losing a Last Man Standing Match to John Cena at Extreme Rules '10, he would go on to lose his third straight match to John Cena at Over the Limit. That was an "I Quit" Match. Feeling disrespected by the WWE, he decided to quit the WWE the following night.
In WWE, he became a six-time world champion, winning the World Heavyweight Championship four times, and the WWE Championship two times. He is the longest-reigning World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history. In addition to these championships, Batista has won the World Tag Team Championship three times (twice with Ric Flair and once with John Cena) and the WWE Tag Team Championship once (with Rey Mysterio). Batista was also the winner of the 2005 Royal Rumble match.