The WWE has seen many of its wrestlers graduate to careers in Hollywood, but officials are hoping Dave Batista will hold off on his jump to show business for at least a little longer.
The wrestler was just in the wildly successful Guardians of the Galaxy , which is one of the biggest grossing movies of the year with $314 million domestically.
The 45-year-old Batista earned particularly good reviews for his role as Drax.
“I just can’t imagine anyone else doing the role but Dave Bautista; he is exactly what I imagined as Drax,” the film’s director James Gunn said in a statement.
“He is able to do the emotional aspects of that character, the humorous aspects of that character, the physical aspects of that character and talk like a Shakespearean oddball. Dave is able to do all of that and it comes so naturally, plus he’s this physically big, huge bald guy,” he added.
The on-screen talent could mean big Hollywood potential for Batista, leading many to believe he is done with his days in the ring. Batista’s age and history of injury only add to the speculation.
But WWE officials hope that Batista will be around for at least one last run, which includes a fight in Wrestlemania 31 and a possible feud with Tripe H.
“It’s also expected Batista will be returning for a run toward WrestleMania, perhaps ending up as his farewell run, because he noted that at 45 (he’ll be 46 early next year), he knows his time is limited and was looking at doing a program with HHH for Mania as his farewell,” Dave Meltzer noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter .
But if Batista does return to the WWE, it’s likely he comes back as a bad guy. As Bleacher Report writer Sharon Glencross noted, his run earlier this year as a babyface fell flat.