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| Batista |
Early life
Batista was born the son of David Michael Bautista, who is Filipino and Donna Raye Bautista, who is Greek. His parents separated (and eventually divorced). His paternal grandparents were also from the Philippines as his grandfather served in the military, worked as a taxicab driver, barber, and other jobs to feed the family. Batista says he is not ashamed to admit he lived in poverty.
He has publicly admitted to having a hard life where, as before he was age nine, three murders occurred on his front lawn. As young as age 13, he was stealing automobiles. By age 17, he was considered estranged from his parents and on his own, despite admitting later that "I am proud of my parents. They are good, honest, hard-working folks. They taught me the values of working hard." Batista became a regular bouncer for clubs until he was arrested after a fight that left two badly injured patrons, one of which could be found lying in the street. After a trial, he was sentenced to one year of probation. He was also a lifeguard before he pursued a career in bodybuilding. He credits bodybuilding as possibly saving his life.
Professional wrestling career
Batista tried out at the WCW Power Plant, but was told he would never make it in the wrestling business by Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker. He then went to the World Wrestling Federation, who sent him to train with Afa Anoa'i's school in the Wild Samoan Training Centre.
Ohio Valley Wrestling (2000–2002)
He made his Ohio Valley Wrestling debut in 2000 under the ring name Leviathan, where he immediately joined forces with Synn. As a member of the Disciples of Synn stable, he went undefeated until being beaten at Christmas Chaos by Kane with help from Stone Cold Steve Austin. He later won the OVW Heavyweight Championship from "The Machine" Doug Basham before losing the belt to The Prototype (John Cena). A few months later, Bautista left OVW after he was promoted to World Wrestling Entertainment.
World Wrestling Entertainment
Batista appeared in the Royal Rumble 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. At WrestleMania XXIV, he defeated Umaga in an interpromotional match. 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 Special 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.
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| Batista |
On 26 October 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 guest 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.
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. Batista was pinned by Orton, winning the match for his team. His feud with Orton continued up to Armageddon where Batista defeated Orton. On the 15 December edition of Raw, Batista was put into a handicap match against The Legacy 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 six to eight months.
Batista returned on the 6 April episode of Raw, to save Triple H, Shane McMahon, and Vince McMahon from The Legacy. 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 Big Show due to a distraction by John Cena, to become the number one contender for the WWE Championship at Judgment Day. Batista went on to defeat Orton in a rematch at Extreme Rules in a Steel Cage match to capture the WWE Championship. However, on the 8 June edition of Raw, Batista was to vacate the title due to a staged brutal attack by Orton and the Legacy. It was later revealed that Batista had suffered a legitimate torn left biceps. Legacy was given on-screen credit for his injury.
It was announced a few weeks before the Trish Stratus-hosted Raw that Batista would be making a career-altering announcement come that show. Batista returned on the 14 September episode with his arm still in a vice and began his announcement. Randy Orton, assuming Batista was announcing his retirement, then came out and stated that it was he who ended the career of Batista. Batista then went on to remove his arm vice, as it was a fake just to lure out Orton, and proceeded to attack Orton. He then announced that he will not be retiring, but moving to SmackDown instead. Later that night, he defeated Orton in a no-holds barred match which was to be his last match on the Raw brand.
Batista defeated Chris Jericho in his return match to SmackDown on 18 September; the following week, he defeated Jericho's tag team partner The Big Show. These two victories culminated in a tag team match against Jeri-Show with his partner Rey Mysterio at WWE Hell in a Cell for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, in which Jeri-Show won. After winning a slot in a World Heavyweight Championship Fatal-four way match for WWE Bragging Rights, Batista turned heel by attacking Mysterio, who was in the match, after Batista blamed him for not being able to win the match. After several encounters with Mysterio throughout December, Batista would become the number one contender for The Undertaker's World Championship at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. At the event, Batista would win the match as a result of an illegal maneuver, which resulted in SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long reversing the result of the match. The Undertaker would win and retain the championship in the restarted match.
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| Batista |
Pursuit of mixed martial arts career (2011)
On 16 June 2010, Batista attended Strikeforce: Los Angeles, having previously registered an interest in competing in Mixed martial arts. On 21 June 2010, Batista announced to TMZ.com that he would be embarking on a MMA career. Batista has announced that he and Strikeforce have agreed on a price and are negotiating a contract. Though in April 2011, Batista announced to TMZ.com that negotiating a contract with Strikeforce fell through when Strikeforce was bought by Zuffa, LLC.