Athletes - David Bautista

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	Athletes - David Bautista

David Michael ("Dave") Bautista (born January 18, 1969 in Arlington County, Virginia), better known by his ring name, Batista, is a Filipino-Greek American professional wrestler. Batista is currently working for the SmackDown! brand of World Wrestling Entertainment.

Early career

Before getting into professional wrestling, Batista worked as a bouncer in various clubs, and was once arrested for brawling with a man even though his actions were taken in self-defense.

Batista's wrestling career began when he met Curt Hennig (Mr Perfect) and Joseph Laurinaitis (Road Warrior Animal) at a bodybuilding meeting. He tried out at the WCW Power Plant but was told he would never make it in the wrestling business. He then went to the WWF who sent him to work with Afa Anoai. He wrestled in Anoai's WXW promotion under the name Kahn.

He made his Ohio Valley Wrestling debut in 2000, joining forces with Synn. During his tenure in OVW he used the name Leviathan. As a member of the Disciples of Synn stable he would go undefeated until being beat at an OVW supercard, Christmas Chaos by WWF's Kane (with help from Stone Cold Steve Austin). He would later go on to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship from 'The Machine' Doug Basham. After losing the belt to The Prototype, Synn felt Batista was getting too independent and "sold" him to Reverend D-Von to begin his WWE (then still WWF) career.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

David Bautista began his WWE career in 2002 as Deacon Bautista, a heel enforcer for Reverend D-Von on the SmackDown! brand. Batista made his WWE match debut in a tag match teaming with D-Von against Randy Orton and Faarooq with Batista pinning Orton. After splitting with D-Von (and defeating D-Von after a Batista Bomb), he went to RAW and was rebranded as Dave Batista (or simply Batista).

After establishing himself as a monster through a series of squash matches, including one where he maliciously and relentlessly attacked Tajiri, sending him to the hospital for a long recovery, he aligned himself with Ric Flair and feuded with Kane, getting a couple of wins over Kane. Batista's pay-per-view debut was at Armageddon 2002 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he defeated Kane.

Evolution

In January 2003, Batista joined with Triple H, Ric Flair, and Randy Orton to form the stable Evolution. However, Batista was sidelined for much of 2003 after he tore a biceps at a house show, then later tore his right tricep while running with his wife. He made his return on the October 20, 2003 episode of RAW, interfering in a match between Goldberg and Shawn Michaels match and "shattering" Goldberg's ankle by inserting it in a folding chair and then jumping off the second rope on to the chair. On the November 10, 2003 episode of RAW, Goldberg defeated Batista by disqualification when Triple H interfered and attempted to hit him with a sledgehammer.

At Armageddon 2003, Batista took part in two matches, losing to Shawn Michaels in a singles match but winning a tag team turmoil match along with Ric Flair, eliminating the Dudley Boyz to become one-half of the World Tag Team Champions, in which all three male championships on RAW were held by members of Evolution, with Triple H holding the World Heavyweight Championship and Randy Orton winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship. They held the titles until the February 16, 2004, episode of RAW, when they were defeated by Booker T and Rob Van Dam. They later regained the titles for a short period.

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