5 reasons why Batista retired at WrestleMania 35

Well, it's now official. Batista has announced his retirement from pro wrestling/sports entertainment and WWE

@WWEUniverse Thank you for letting me entertain you. I love this business and whether you cheered me or jeered me, I’m grateful for being a small part of your life. I am officially retired from sports entertainment and I am grateful for every second of my amazing journey ✌🏼

— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) April 8, 2019

Triple H gave him what he wanted in the form of a WrestleMania match. The two would put on quite a long match and it turned out to be a no-nonsense contest that just involved two bitter rivals trying to rip each other's heads off.

The stipulation of the match was not just No Holds Barred, but if Triple H lost, he would have to retire from pro wrestling for good. What many didn't realize was that Batista was seemingly ready to retire himself.

So he did what any old school wrestler would and he put someone over on the way out. While some would probably argue that he could have done so to a younger star, the reality is that Batista had no interest in wrestling the younger talent. We explain why and more with these five reasons for Batista retiring.

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#5. He was only ever interested in facing Triple H

Here's the reality of it. Batista during his time away has been very open about his love for wrestling and desire to get back in the ring. However, what he was really open about was the fact that there was only one program that interested him - against Triple H.

He probably felt like he needed to have one last program with him. For more reasons than one, he was unable to get that program, primarily because Triple H was more focused on putting over younger talent three years in a row.

It certainly gave all of them a big rub, and this year, Triple H didn't have a program tailor-made for him. This was perfect timing and they capitalized with the Batista vs Triple H feud. Now that he's done with that, he probably sees no reason to continue.

Read Full WWE WrestleMania 35 Results & Analysis

#4. Hollywood career

Even though Batista is approaching 50 years old, his Hollywood career only seems to be growing. He's spent a good part of the last 8-9 years busy building an acting career and after landing a breakout role with Guardians of the Galaxy, his stock has only continued to rise.

Since then, we've seen him feature in a whole lot of popular films and that's the career path that he's going to choose. We don't blame him at all, because he's achieved essentially everything there is to achieve in the business. He's won multiple world titles, headlined multiple WrestleManias, won the Royal Rumble and teamed with and squared off against the very best in the business.

With all his goals and targets in wrestling fulfilled, it's time for Batista to continue to build his profile with Hollywood. Expect Big Dave to start landing much bigger movie roles by the year.

#3. Probably wasn't a big fan of the comeback

When Batista came back to WWE, it was on Ric Flair's 70th Birthday. He would play spoils to the party because he attacked the Nature Boy before he could even come out for his celebration.

While there was a lot of intrigue when Batista asked Triple H "Do I have your attention now?", the segment a couple of weeks later certainly squashed a lot of seriousness with the feud. The "Give me what I want" segment became a meme and the overall build really wasn't that great, especially considering that they only had one real face-to-face interaction. Batista's second appearance was just three words and it's possible that in his final programme, Batista wasn't really satisfied with the way it went.

Knowing how critical wrestlers are towards themselves, it's also highly possible that Batista wasn't as satisfied with the match as he should have been.

#2. Wanted to leave on his own terms

Not many people realize this, but leaving on one's own terms is always the best way to go in wrestling. It helps to close the book on a great story while being on great terms with WWE. Here's what Batista had to say about the storybook ending to his career.

You can be assured about the fact that Batista will walk out of this run a much happier man. It's more than likely that he went into his program knowing very well that it would be his last. If that is the case, then Batista deserves nothing but respect.

He's had one of the most legendary careers and was a staple of WWE's Ruthless Aggression Era. There was a period of time where his popularity even exceeded John Cena's. He can walk away with absolutely no regrets, because he's done it all and won it all!

#1. He understands that he's too old for the game

Wrestling is not an old man's game

One of the biggest issues with many part-timers is that we don't know what their end game is. Even when they're clearly past their physical prime, they just keep going no matter how obvious the signs of them being past their prime are.

The Undertaker is the best example of this. His body seems to have clearly indicated that he needed to retire around 2014. Yet, he's carried on and on and each passing match continues to be a glaring example of why he needed to retire a long time ago.

Batista, as we mentioned, is approaching 50 by the end of the year. He's known for a while that he's far past his physical prime, but even then, he impressed quite a bit upon his return.

With that being said, self-awareness is extremely important in such cases and Batista probably knows that from an age perspective, he's done.

We'd like to thank The Animal for the glorious career he's had and all the entertainment he's provided.