There’s always temptation to return.
The in-ring career of six-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dave Bautista came to a close at WrestleMania 35 in 2019. He fell in defeat to Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque in a No Holds Barred match.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet about the end of his in-ring career, Bautista said he never wants to tarnish that. It’s not that he doesn’t miss wrestling because there’s always temptation to come back. He expressed that he does not want to mess up that last moment because it happened how he wanted it to.
And 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 and I will never tarnish that. 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… It’s always temptation (to go back) because I miss it and every time I hear my music, I want that feeling again! It’s like a drug… It’s pure adrenaline. I will never get that anywhere else… That’s the thing is I just have to come to terms with my time has passed.
As far as a potential WWE Hall of Fame induction, he reiterated that he was supposed to go in-in 2023 but couldn’t because he was filming in South Africa. He said he’ll eventually be inducted.
Eventually, I will (be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame). I want to and there was a good opportunity for me to go in a couple of years ago and I agreed to do it. Hunter asked me to do it and I said, ‘Yeah. Of course.’ But it was here in L.A. and I thought it was perfect. It was storybook because I won my first title here in L.A., and we just couldn’t figure it out because I was working on a film. I was in South Africa, so logistically, we just couldn’t make it happen but yeah, I’m still open to it and one day I would like to.
The 2023 Hall of Fame class was headlined by Bautista’s former partner, Rey Mysterio. The two held the WWE Tag Team Titles together.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Chris Van Vliet with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
