WWE Legend & Hollywood Star Dave Batista was recently interviewed by WSVN’s Chris Van Vliet on a number of topics including his retirement from wrestling, his promo with Triple H prior to their WrestleMania 35 Matchup, tripping during his WrestleMania 35 entrance and his thoughts on AEW about whether or not he sees it as a legitimate competition for WWE. Below are the highlights from Batista’s interview with Chris Van Vliet:
On whether on not Batista sees AEW as a legitimate competition for WWE: “I don’t see it as legitimate competition. 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 have a production that is as big as WWE. I mean WWE already has 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”
On his promo with Triple H prior to their WrestleMania 35 Matchup: “We didn’t really figure it out, we didn’t talk about it, it wasn’t written out. So there were certain things we were looking for in that promo and there was something that I hadn’t said so he kept dragging it out and I wasn’t sure what it was so I have to keep escalating because once I went there, I couldn’t go back. So that’s why I kept screaming it louder and louder. I’m waiting for his cue and he’s waiting for my cue and we just weren’t getting there and finally, it dawned on me that I needed to say something in that promo and I can’t remember exactly what it was. That’s why it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. It wasn’t intentional.”
On tripping during his WrestleMania 35 entrance: “I tripped. I think one of my boots got stuck on the rope. There were a lot of different factors but at the end of the day, I just tripped. You know what’s funny is I was so worked up before that and after I tripped, I just had fun. I went out and I just started really living in that moment because I knew it was the last time I was going to be there. As I looked around, I saw Triple H’s parents and as soon as the lights went out I went over and I hugged them. That put me at ease, believe it or not, that tripping because I was in that car a lot longer than people think that I was in that car just sitting there getting cold. Also, I warmed up like three times before I actually went out. It was a long show. So I was cooped up in that car, I got out and I was terrified, I was nervous, I was cold again and I was worried about that. I was concerned about way too much other than our match and then after I tripped it all went away.”
On his retirement from wrestling: “This is a real wrestling retirement. I am done. My in-ring career is over. I would love to go back on the show because I love the company and I believe in the product so I would go back and go on the show. 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 work for another promotion.”
You can check out the entire interview in the embedded YouTube video below:
