David Michael Bautista Jr.Β (born January 18, 1969) is an American actor and retiredΒ professional wrestler. Regarded as one of his generation's most prolific professional wrestlers, he rose to fame for his multiple stints inΒ WWEΒ between 2002 and 2019.
Bautista began his wrestling career in 1999 and signed withΒ WWEΒ (then WWF) in 2000. From 2002 to 2010, he gained fame under theΒ ring nameΒ Batista, initially as a member ofΒ Evolution. He would go on to win theΒ WWE Championship twice, theΒ World Heavyweight ChampionshipΒ four times (with his first reign remaining theΒ longest in historyΒ at 282 days), theΒ World Tag Team ChampionshipΒ three times (twice withΒ Ric Flair and once withΒ John Cena), and theΒ WWE Tag Team ChampionshipΒ once (withΒ Rey Mysterio). He also won theΒ 2005Β andΒ 2014Β Royal Rumble matches and subsequently headlinedΒ WrestleMania 21Β andΒ WrestleMania XXX, with the former being one of the top five highest-grossing PPV events in wrestling history. Having largely stepped back from professional wrestling in 2020, he retired afterΒ WrestleMania 35Β in 2019.
As an actor, Bautista is known for portrayingΒ Drax in theΒ Marvel Cinematic UniverseΒ (2014β2023) andΒ RabbanΒ inΒ DuneΒ (2021) andΒ its 2024 sequel. Bautista has additionally starred inΒ SpectreΒ (2015),Β Blade Runner 2049Β (2017),Β Final Score,Β Master Z: Ip Man LegacyΒ (both 2018),Β Army of the Dead (2021),Β Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022),Β Knock at the Cabin, andΒ ParachuteΒ (both 2023).
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