Dave Bautista Reaffirms WWE Retirement, Won't "Tarnish Storybook Ending" to Wrestling Career

Batista officially ended his wrestling career in 2019. The six-time world champion wrestled longtime mentor, friend, and rival Triple H at WWE WrestleMania 35 in what was quietly his retirement match. Batista had long professed his desire to go out on a match against Triple H, as the current WWE Chief Content Officer was responsible for bringing Batista into WWE and gave him the platform to become the global superstar that he is today. Batista and Triple H teamed with each other in the early 2000s stable Evolution and wrestled one another in the main event of WWE WrestleMania 21 , an event that concluded with Batista officially entering main event status as WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Batista Reaffirms Retirement, Won't Tarnish "Storybook Ending"

Don't expect to see another Batista Bomb ever again.

Speaking to Chris Van Vliet at The Killer's Game press junket, Dave Bautista reaffirmed his retirement status, declaring that he does not want to "tarnish" the ending to his wrestling career.

"I was really proud of it. It was the way I wanted to go out. It was like a dream for me," Bautista said. "It's so perfect. It's such a romantic way. 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."

Batista has not appeared on WWE programming since that retirement match in April 2019. His last opponent, Triple H, has also since retired from in-ring competition, as heart complications forced him to officially end what was a largely part-time wrestling career in 2022.

"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 said. "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. It was great."

Bautista stars in The Killer's Game alongside WWE superstar Drew McIntyre. The film hits theaters on September 13th.