Batista says WWE “had taken this really PG turn, and there was nothing f*cking PG about me”
During an interview with Cale Owen, Dave Batista commented on what led to his first WWE departure in 2010…
“I root for John Cena. I like to see him being successful in films. It makes me feel good, you know. So I’ve never rooted against John Cena. I will never root against him.
But at the time, he was the face of the company, and they were really steering everything toward him. I got it. But while he was doing films and commercials and magazines and endorsements, I was working. I was picking up slack here and there, and it was a grind. I thought it was unfair, and I thought I should have those same opportunities within the company.
That’s the way I pitched it. I said, ‘I should have these same opportunities. I’m pulling the same houses, man. I’m picking up the slack. I’m grinding my ass off. I’m at the top of the company. I’m championing.’ Our careers very much mirrored each other up to a certain point, and it’s just that he fit the bill. He was a great face of the company. They made the right choice.
But it just didn’t sit well with me that I wasn’t getting the same opportunities, and I knew it was going to stunt my growth as an entertainer. So I said, ‘Well, if I…’ Because the company had taken this really PG turn, and there was nothing f*cking PG about me. Like, nothing. Not the way I wrestle, not the way I look, not my background, not my upbringing, nothing.
John Cena in that way couldn’t be any more opposite.
And so I was like, ‘You know, if I can’t have these opportunities here, and I understand why I can’t, well, I should be able to go and have them outside of the company.’
And they said, ‘Absolutely not.’
They said, ‘No. Yeah, I mean, we need you here. We need you doing this. You’re intellectual property. You cannot work outside the company unless it’s approved by us.’
And I said, ‘Oh, well then I’m going to let my contract run out, and I’m going to leave.’
And they said, ‘No, you’re not.’
Just watch me.
That’s why I left, and that’s why I didn’t go back until I landed Guardians of the Galaxy.”