Dave Bautista
David Michael Bautista Jr. (born January 18, 1969) is an American actor and retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He rose to fame for his several stints in WWE between 2002 and 2019.
Dave Bautista | |
|---|---|
Bautista in November 2019 | |
| Born | David Michael Bautista Jr. January 18, 1969 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1999–2019 (wrestling) 2006–present (acting) 2012 (MMA) |
| Spouses | Glenda Bautista
(m. 1990; div. 1998)Angie Bautista
(m. 1998; div. 2006)Sarah Jade
(m. 2015; sep. 2019) |
| Children | 3 |
Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Batista Dave Batista Deacon Batista Khan Leviathan |
| Billed height | 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) |
| Billed weight | 290 lb (132 kg) |
| Billed from | Washington, D.C. |
| Trained by | Afa Anoaʻi Marrese Crump |
| Debut | October 30, 1999 |
| Retired | April 8, 2019 |
| Martial arts career | |
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) |
| Weight | 265 lb (120 kg; 18 st 13 lb) |
| Division | Heavyweight (265 lb) (MMA) |
| Team | Gracie Fighter Tampa Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu |
| Rank | Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Cesar Gracie |
| Years active | 2012 (MMA) |
| Mixed martial arts record | |
| Total | 1 |
| Wins | 1 |
| By knockout | 1 |
| Losses | 0 |
| Other information | |
| Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog | |
| Signature | |
Bautista began his wrestling career in 1999 and signed with WWE (then WWF) in 2000. From 2002 to 2010, he gained fame under the ring name Batista, initially as a member of Evolution. He would go on to win the WWE Championship twice, the World Heavyweight Championship four times (with his first reign remaining the longest in history at 282 days), 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). He also won the 2005 and 2014 Royal Rumble matches and subsequently headlined WrestleMania 21 and WrestleMania XXX, with the former being one of the top five highest-grossing PPV events in wrestling history. He retired from wrestling after WrestleMania 35 in 2019.
As an actor, Bautista has starred in the films The Man with the Iron Fists (2012), Riddick (2013), as Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and its sequels Vol. 2 (2017) and Vol. 3 (2023), the James Bond film Spectre (2015), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), My Spy (2020), Army of the Dead (2021), as Glossu Rabban Harkonnen in Dune (2021) and its sequel (2024), Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022), and Knock at the Cabin (2023). He reprised the role of Drax for Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). He competed in his sole MMA fight on October 6, 2012, defeating Vince Lucero via first round technical knockout.