:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/36170710/1024px-Batista_at_WrestleMania_XXX.0.jpg)
If last week was Dwayne Johnson week, get ready for Dave Bautista week.
With his big star-making turn as Drax the Destroyer ready to hit North American movie screens on Friday, August 1st, Batista is already busy on the public relations circuit hyping Guardians of the Galaxy. And as we saw with The Rock last week, that means that people will ask questions about WWE and pro wrestling, so we'll get lots of sound bites.
In an interview with London's The Mirror, the man we know as Batista in WWE was first hit with the question everyone is asking when it comes to Vince McMahon's company these days...what's up with Sting?
He admits that he doesn't know where Sting would fit in WWE's plans, especially considering that he's never met the man behind that character, he definitely hopes that he's coming to WWE.
I would hope so. I've been a fan throughout the years. We've speculated a lot, we've thought he was going to come to the WWE years ago so just speaking as a fan I'd like to see it.
Batista confirms that he is definitely coming back to WWE (as his alleged two year contract would indicate), but it sounds like he's viewing this as his last time with the company.
It's not 'will I go back?', it's 'when will I go back?'. Hopefully it won't be far too long...I realise my career is not going to be that long if I do go back just because physically... realistically, I'm 45 years old now, how much longer can I continue...? You do take a beating in professional wrestling. But I love it.
With age and experience taking its toll, and it looking more and more like a sure thing that Guardians will be a smash (early reactions have been universally enthusiastic - it's currently at 100% positive on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes; and Disney/Marvel has already announced a sequel for release in 2017), the Animal is thinking about how he wants to wrap up his career in the squared circle.
Triple H right now is the guy I really want to work with. I want to go back and that's hopefully that'll be my retirement program. Yeah, I'll have my WrestleMania retirement match with Triple H.
So, get ready to cheer and/or jeer Batista, perhaps for the last time, over the next year or so. The next time he "quits" WWE, the man who will soon be as synonymous with Drax as he is with wrestling could be leaving us for good.
Deal with it.