Batista Would ‘Go Broke’ Before Wrestling Again, Says AEW Isn’t ‘Legitimate Competition’ To WWE

Dave “Batista” Bautista decided to double down on his retirement and talked about the competition between WWE and AEW in an interview to promote his latest movie (Stuber, scheduled for release in United States theaters on July 12).

In the interview with Chris Van Vliet, Bautista insisted that his match against Triple H at WrestleMania 35 is the final one of his career.

“This is a real wrestling retirement. I am done. My in-ring career is over,” Bautista said.

“I would love to go back on the show because I love the company, I believe in the product, so I will go back on the show, and if they ask me to go in the Hall of Fame, I will. … But I will not have another wrestling match. I will go broke before I have another wrestling match, and I will not go and wrestle for another promotion. It’s not going to happen.”

Bautista likely won’t have to worry about going broke thanks to his booming acting career, which includes a role as Drax the Destroyer in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers series of movies.

The 50-year-old comments also suggest that a move to AEW is out of the question, but he still offered his perspective on the up-and-coming promotion and how it will fit into the wrestling landscape.

“I don’t see it as legitimate competition [to WWE],” Bautista said.

“I see it as competition, which is great. There should always be competition. But until they actually produce one of their own major stars, until they actually have a production that is as big as WWE … I mean, WWE has already got the next three generations of Superstars because they have NXT camps all over the world now. They’re so far ahead of the game that I don’t see any real competition. Not even close.”