It’s been over 7 years since Batista’s last match in wrestling. He faced Triple H at WrestleMania 35 in a No Holds Barred match and retired from professional wrestling afterward. Since Batista’s retirement, many other WWE legends, such as John Cena and AJ Styles, have also hung their boots.
Some fans still believe that many of these wrestlers would return to professional wrestling if the money was right. That won’t be the case with Batista, however, it seems.
Also read: Matt Hardy Says WWE Used Hall Of Fame Offer To Keep Jeff Hardy From AEW
Batista Would Rather Go Broke Than Return To The Ring
Batista recently spoke to W.O.L.F. Gyms, where he discussed wrestling and filmmaking. In the interview, Batista compared what it is like being on a film set and being a wrestler.
Later in the interview, Batista explained why he walked away from WWE. For those who don’t know, he left WWE for the first time in 2010 and then again in 2014. The Guardians of the Galaxy star says that he didn’t like the direction WWE was heading in at that time, and it’s why he left.
“People always ask me why I got into wrestling and I always tell them I hate answering this because it’s not a glamorous answer. I got into wrestling because I wanted to make money because I was f****** desperate. I was poor. I had two kids and not a dime to my name. And after a while, I became obsessed with it and I would have wrestled for free because I just loved it so much. But making a good living at wrestling was kind of a side effect. And even when I left the company, I left on good terms. I left at the height of my career, but it was for the right reasons. But it was hard as f*** to walk away cause I walked away and I went broke. It was nice having that check come in every week, man. But I walked away because the company was heading in a direction that it just wasn’t right for me. It worked out. I was lucky that it worked out.
He says he would never return to wrestling ever again and would go broke rather than ruin his “storybook ending.”
“I walked away as champ. I walked away on top. It’s hard to walk away. Most people don’t walk away. It’s almost like a running joke when wrestlers retire because they never retire. They retire like five times. And there’s people like they always thought throughout these years that I would come back. I would come out of retirement. And I told them over and over, I won’t. I had a f***** storybook ending and I won’t s*** on it. I’ll go and do manual labor before I tarnish that. If I go broke again… I know what it’s like to be poor, I don’t like being poor but I know what it’s like and I will go f***** broke and be poor before I ever go back to wrestling. I will never wrestle again.”
You can watch the full interview below:
Also read: Hikaru Shida Thought She Could Retire After AEW All In 2023
For more on Batista and pro wrestling (WWE, AEW, etc.), you can check out this page. If you’re new to watching wrestling, check out our WWE streaming guide, which is updated for 2026.
Main image credit: IMAGO / WENN
Wrestling news reporter.
