Dave Bautista (Batista) Says John Laurinaitis Wanted To Fire Him When He Was In OVW

Dave Bautista proved the doubters wrong.

Dave Bautista proved the doubters wrong.

Dave Bautista signed with WWE in 2000 and trained at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). He went on to become one of the top stars of his generation, as he won the world title six times. Bautista later transitioned to Hollywood, but he returned to WWE a few times before he retired in 2019.

Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Bautista reflected on the beginning of his journey in WWE. He noted that John Laurinaitis, who worked as the director of talent relations, wanted to fire him when he was in OVW.

“It was a long, long road. A lot of people didn’t believe in me. Even when I was in developmental camp down in OVW, there were people with the WWE, John Laurinaitis, who wanted to fire me [laughs], but I just kept digging in and digging in and digging in until I finally got my real first opportunity with Evolution, and I had access to Triple H and Ric Flair, two of the greatest professional wrestlers ever, and I wasn’t gonna blow my shot. So I had blinders on. I put everything else on the back-burner and focused on my wrestling career,” Bautista said.

Bautista went on to note that being in the same OVW class as Randy Orton and John Cena, among others, helped him and pushed him to be his best.

Bautista recently said that he would still be involved with WWE if he wasn’t acting. Check out his comments here.

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