Batista claims he would've said no to a trip to Saudi Arabia.
"The Animal" Batista had his final professional wrestling match at WrestleMania 35 against Triple H and it was after that match concluded that Batista took to social media to officially announce his retirement from wrestling. Batista had been asking for that final match with Triple H for years and it was finally put into motion in October of 2018. Batista has stated on various fronts and in a number of interviews that he would not disrespect his wrestling career by coming back to the sport as an in-ring competitor after retiring. While making the rounds on the media circuit to promote the 'Stuber' film, he spoke with GQ and talked about The Undertaker versus Goldberg match from WWE Super ShowDown.
Batista reiterated that he contacted The Undertaker and asked him was he sure he wanted to go through with the match. Batista then went on to say that he would've said no to a WWE Saudi Arabia show, no matter who he'd be paired with.
"I called man. I called Taker and said, 'Is there any way I could change your mind?' He laughed, and I knew I couldn't change his mind. He said it sounded good when we first started talking about it. I only saw highlights which were, you know, low lights. It was not good. It's just bad circumstances all the way around. I feel like Taker's there for the right reasons. I think he's there because he still loves it. But I wish that they would utilize him in the right way. I think a novelty match with Goldberg is the wrong way. I just don't think it's good for anybody and especially it's not good for the fans." Batista expressed. "I wouldn't have gone to Saudi at all. I don't care who they would've booked me with. I just would not have gone. But I loved my final match at WrestleMania, with Hunter. The fans wanted to see two old guys go to war. That's what we did. That's the way the match was designed."
The former 6-time WWE World Champion Batista wanted to break the stereotypes that were hovering over him from his time in wrestling as he went into his acting career. He said that there was a point where he removed everything WWE from his social media pages. With that came co-workers of Batista who were surprised to find out he was a professional wrestler.
"Oh yeah, way over the top. That is the stigma I was stuck with when I wanted to become a real actor. There was a point in my career where none of my social media contained anything that said WWE. I just wanted to completely remove myself from that world. Not because I was embarrassed or ashamed to have come from that world, but I needed people to lose that stereotype with me being a professional wrestler. Open their eyes, broaden their minds a little bit of who I could be. Then when I felt like I had finally established that respect, that credit, I started owning it. I had more than a few people when I went back for WrestleMania this year, more than a few of my peers in acting, who were surprised that I was ever a professional wrestler. They had no idea. To me, that's an accomplishment. That's a statement." He said.
During a recent podcast appearance, Batista shared that he and Triple H originally wanted a Hell In A Cell match for their bout at WrestleMania 35 and to check out Batista's full comments about that subject, click here.
