Deconstructing Dave Batista
Batista doesn’t play well with others. He never has. From the time he left his mothers womb, Dave Batista has always been a loner. While the other kids were on the playground, or trading Baseball cards, Batista was usually somewhere else, causing trouble and receiving a fast education from the streets.
When it comes to following rules and developing interpersonal relationships, Batista has always struggled. Interestingly enough, much of what you see today is a direct result of his childhood. In fact, in order for one to truly understand Batista’s private, yet explosive nature, they must examine his early roots, where the seeds of his disposition were originally planted.
"My parents split when I was real young – I don’t think I was even a year old," Batista says. "So I spent most of my childhood with my mom, and while I was still very young, we moved from Washington DC to San Francisco because she wanted to move as far away from my dad as possible."
On the west coast, Batista’s mother was forced to work in inordinate amount of hours to keep herself and her two children out of poverty. With his mother out of the house most of the time, Batista began to roam the streets and find trouble at an early age. Even before he became a teenager, he was out of control. He shoplifted, stole bikes, fought regularly and ran away from home. His behavior became so bad that he was even kicked out of school.
"My mom couldn’t control me anymore," he says. "So at age 13, she sent me to live with my dad in Washington DC. I didn’t do anything major, like stealing cars or doing drugs, but she was a single mother, and she was never really home – you can’t watch your kids 24 hours a day when you’re a single parent – so my sister and I were given a huge window of opportunity, which we took full advantage of. We were just rotten little kids."
Batista’s father struggled to control the rowdy teen nearly as much as his ex-wife had. His father worked long hours as a hairdresser, and Batista’s wild ways and imposing physical stature were fast becoming more then he could handle. On some weekends, his father went away on excursions, and left his son with a small amount of money and the responsibility of watching their home. Before his father’s car made it’s way around the block, Batista was already organizing a giant house party. Even though he was truly never social, the party was a cover for chaos.
As he matured, he showed moments of promise. His natural athleticism led to his involvement in various high school activities, including football, basketball, wrestling, and track and field. Yet, Batista had trouble keeping his grades up, and by the time the second half of the school year came around, he found himself academically ineligible. It was around this time, that Batista started experimenting with weights.
"By my sophomore year, I was starting to get a little more muscular, and was putting on more weight," Batista says. "I took to it like a duck to water. I filled out really quick, and grew like a weed. And that’s also when I really feel in love with amateur wrestling."
"I did good in county – wide competitions, but by the time the regional ones came around, I was usually ineligible because my grades were barely passing – I got a lot of D’s," he says. "But more then anything, I think the reason I liked wrestling was because I found that I excelled at individual sports. I was always more competitive when it was just me involved, because I liked to push myself. I guess you can say I just wasn’t a team sport guy."
At age 17, during his senior year in high school, Batista moved out of his house, to live on his own. Less than a year later, he began working at nightclubs, in the greater DC area. Having largely grown up in the streets, Batista was well prepared for the altercations he saw night after night in the bars. Sometimes, he’d even get involved himself.
"A couple of times I hurt some people and got arrested for it," Batista says. "But it was always because the guy I’d beat the crap out of was only 200 pounds, whereas I was close to 300. When the cops saw the size difference, it didn’t matter who started it. In their minds, I was automatically the guilty one because I was so big."
While Batista regularly got into melees, there was one time things got so heated that Batista nearly did something he’d regret for the rest of his life.
"There’s this one fight that really stands out in my mind," he says. "Two guys were bullying around another one of our bouncers, who wasn’t very big, and they had him out on the curb and were pushing him around. Well, I stepped out, immediately started in on both of them, and beat the crap out of them to the point where they were both laying on the ground while I continued kicking the in the head. Next thing I know, their eyes are rolling back in their heads. It was then I realized they weren’t getting up.
"Finally, the police show up, the ambulance shows up, and I get put in handcuffs and thrown in the back on a squad car," he continues. "So I’m sitting there, ready to go to jail and scared out of mind, wondering if these guys are going to die or not. That moment was the point where I finally realized a few things. I realized my own strength and I realized that losing my temper could be a very bad thing. That night is not something I’m real proud of."
Fortunately for Batista, his victims recovered, and after spending one night in jail, he was released. Soon thereafter, though, both he and the nightclub faced charges from the victims, Batista was tried for assault and battery, which resulted in several fines and one year of probation, but from all the bad, came some good. The six-foot-5, 317-pounder learned a valuable lesson that changed his life, and when he returned to bouncing, he was better able to control his violent side. He also came upon the realization that when provoked, he was practically invulnerable – a trait that could translate into other occupations besides bouncing – and that surrounding himself with people who agitate him probably wasn’t the best idea.
As Batista continued to grow both physically and mentally, he started to feel like something was missing from his life. He yearned for a place where he could let it all hang out, a place where he could harness is physicality and get paid to fight. Batista knew there was only one place where this type of behavior was allowed – WWE.
So he joined former Wild Samoan Afa’s wrestling school in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and began training. Like most athletes with an amateur background, Batista progressed quickly, but it was his size, power, and aggressive nature that really separated himself from the pack. In short order, he was ready for WWE.
In early 2002, Batista debuted as D-Von Dudley’s personal enforcer, but within a few months, the man-monster violently turned on his boss and left him lying motionless in the ring. The reason for attack: Batista’s hatred of taking orders from others.
I wouldn’t say I’ve ever really been a leader or a follower," Batista says. "I’m just a loner. I never really hung with the crowd, so therefore I was never really in the position to follow or to lead. I just kind of kept to myself."
Upon moving over to Raw, Batista initially competed as a singles star, but within a month he was openly scouted by Ric Flair for a spot in a group that would be come to known as Evolution. At first, Batista was lukewarm to the idea of joining, but upon some deliberation, he realized that a role in the group might be beneficial to his career.
"I think it was the perfect move. Tailor made." Batista said of Evolution. "I fit my enforcer role to a tee, and the thing was, I don’t think one member was ever greater then the others – It wasn’t like Team Angle, where Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas were Kurt’s stooges. I saw this spot as an opportunity for me to learn from the best. I never looked it as me being second string. I just saw it as a teacher/student relationship."
At SummerSlam, Batista’s fellow Evolution member, Randy Orton, who was then, also in a learning role, captured the World Heavyweight Championship. The next night, he was unceremoniously dumped from the group by its three remaining members. For Batista, this was a wake up call. No matter how great he became, he realized, he would always have the glass ceiling over his head while in Evolution. Despite the warning, Batista remained loyal.
"I never worried, because I knew it wasn’t possible for me to be put in the same position Randy was," he says. "You see, I’m not the victim type – I’m more of the Predator. So I knew I’d never end up in that position."
In Late 2004, rumors of unrest in Evolution surfaced, and towards the end of the year, tensions between Batista and Triple H became noticeable to the viewing public. It became apparent that Batista’s marriage to Evolution was on borrowed time. Eventually, the chiseled volcano of Philippine and Greek dissent was going to erupt.
"I actually consider myself somewhat passive," Batista says. "I’m naturally intense, but it really takes a lot to piss me off to the point to where I’m out of control. I’m really not a bad-tempered person, but if or when you do get me mad, it’s really on."
There’s an old expression that says, "Some things never change." For Batista that couldn’t be any truer. From birth, he’s been the same person – his own person. Anyone who knows his history realizes that his fate rests on his own shoulders, alone.
"I’m not one to look into the future," says Batista as he looks off into the distance. "I’m more of a day-to-day kind of guy. But my time is coming, and it’s coming soon. ‘Nuff said."
02.05 source: Raw magazine, February 2005
