David Michael Bautista Jr. (born January 18, 1969) is an American actor and retired
professional wrestler. He had several stints in
WWE between 2002 and 2019. In his acting career, he is most widely known for his portrayal of
Drax the Destroyer in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe since
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
Bautista began his wrestling career in 1999, and in 2000 signed with the then-
World Wrestling Federation (WWF, renamed WWE in 2002). From 2002 to 2010, he gained fame under the
ring name Batista and became a six-time
world champion by winning the
World Heavyweight Championship four times and the
WWE Championship twice. His first reign with the World Heavyweight Championship is the
longest reign for that title at 282 days. He has also held the
World Tag Team Championship three times (twice with
Ric Flair and once with
John Cena) and the
WWE Tag Team Championship once (with
Rey Mysterio). He was the winner of the
2005 Royal Rumble match and went on to headline
WrestleMania 21, one of the top five highest-grossing
pay-per-view events in professional wrestling history. After leaving WWE in 2010, he re-signed in December 2013, making his first appearance back in January 2014 and won that year's
Royal Rumble match. He headlined
WrestleMania XXX before again departing that June. In October 2018, Bautista made his second return to WWE and faced
Triple H at
WrestleMania 35 in April 2019, before retiring from wrestling. Altogether Bautista won a total of eleven championships throughout his wrestling career.
Bautista began acting in 2006. He has starred in the films
The Man with the Iron Fists (2012),
Riddick (2013),
Spectre (2015),
Blade Runner 2049 (2017),
Army of the Dead (2021),
Dune (2021),
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022), and
Knock at the Cabin (2023). He competed in his lone
mixed martial arts fight on October 6, 2012, defeating Vince Lucero via first round
technical knockout.
