“Bodybuilding Saved My Life”: Millionaire Actor Dave Bautista Survived His “F***ed Up” Childhood by Pumping Iron, Revealed Earlier This Year

David Michael Bautista Jr, famously known as Dave Bautista, is a retired professional wrestler and an American actor. Bautista is widely known for his role as ‘Drax, the Destroyer’ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Bautista participated in WWE events from 2002 to 2010, in 2014, and also from 2018 to 2019.

WWE had also named him the second-best World Heavyweight Champion of all time. However, Bautista had once revealed that he loved bodybuilding more than wrestling as it saved him, in a way.

Dave Bautista revealed how bodybuilding saved him

The famous Hollywood star is a renowned wrestler and is also known for his well-built physique. Earlier this year, in a candid interview with Mr. Olympia president Dan Solomon, Bautista revealed that he liked bodybuilding more than wrestling.

Bautista confessed that the sport had also saved his life as a kid. In the interview, Bautista disclosed, “I don’t say this lightly, but bodybuilding saved my life”. Bautista explained that he had a “f***ed up” childhood and ended up hanging out with the wrong people.

However, as soon as the wrestler joined the gym, he fell in love with training. “I just didn’t have anywhere to channel all my anger and aggression. When I found a gym, it became therapeutic for me,” stated the Marvel star. Soon bodybuilding became Bautista’s ultimate goal as he started training for the sport. Unfortunately, Bautista realized that bodybuilding was not his “cup of tea”.

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The actor confessed, “When I got out of high school, all I wanted to do was be a bodybuilder. [But I] didn’t have what it took to be a professional bodybuilder.” Nevertheless, this did not let Bautista down. He continued to train in the gym to become a professional wrestler instead.

A brief about Bautista’s wrestling career

Bautista began his wrestling career in 1999 and joined the WWE circuit in 2000. 2002 to 2010 were some of the glorious years for Bautista as he became a six-time world champion. Notably, he won the World Heavyweight Championship four times and the WWE Championship twice.

He also gained the nickname “Batista” for his achievements in the ring. Bautista also held the World Tag Team Championship thrice and the WWE Tag Team Championship one time.

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In total, Bautista won 11 championships throughout his wrestling career. He later retired from WWE in 2019.