Dave Bautista Names The Warlord As His Favorite Wrestler Growing Up
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Dave Bautista’s favorite wrestler was not Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Randy Savage, or Ricky Steamboat.
His favorite wrestler wasn’t even Hulk Hogan or Andre The Giant. No, Bautista’s favorite wrestler was none other than The Warlord.
“When I was a kid, Warlord was absolutely my favorite wrestler and it was because he was the most immense human being I had ever seen in my life, he was massive,” Bautista told SPORTbible. “I was just awestruck by him. I was mesmerized by him.
“Later on, when I was actually in wrestling I realized that he wasn’t the most technical wrestler, but when I was a kid my memories are nothing but being awestruck, seeing him in excitement, waiting for him to come out.”
The Warlord wrestled for Jim Crockett Promotions until 1988. During his time with JCP, he won the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Titles with Ivan Koloff and the Barbarian. He and Koloff signed with the WWF, debuting in 1988 as mercenaries for Tito Santana.
Bautista has been promoting his new film Final Score, which was released on Sept. 14. He recently stated that he misses wrestling daily, but hasn’t been invited to take part in SmackDown 1000.
