David Michael Bautista Jr was born on January 18, 1969. He is an American professional wrestler who goes by the name Dave Batista or Batista. He is currently with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), wrestling on its Smackdown! brand.

Bautista is of Filipino and Greek heritage. His Filipino father is David Michael Bautista and his Greek mother is Donna Raye Bautista. Bautista came from a poor family but he is not ashamed to admit it. His grandfather served in the military, worked as a taxi driver, barber and other odd jobs just to support the family.

Bautista is raised in the rough part of Washington, D.C. and he liked to get into trouble with authorities when he was young. After his parents separated, he spent a few years in San Francisco until his mother sent the troubled teen to a suburb in Virginia to be with his father. When he was 17, he was already living on his own.

Before his wrestling career, Bautista spent his days training and competing as a bodybuilder, and worked as a bouncer in clubs. Dave Bautista enrolled in the Wild Samoan Afa's wrestling school in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He saw sports-entertainment as "a way to make a living". Unfortunately, he failed his WCW tryout. That made wrestling his obsession so he completely changed his training and philosophies. It paid off.

Dave Bautista made his WWE debut on the May 9, 2002 edition of Smackdown! He was known as Deacon Batista because he was the bodyguard of Reverend D-Von Dudley and he held the collection plate. He left D-Von and Smackdown after a few months.

In November 4, 2002, he debuted on Monday Night RAW. He became a member of the group Evolution composed of Triple H, Rick Flair and Randy Orton.

Dave Batista's Wrestling Achievements

Ohio Valley Wrestling
OVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
World Wrestling Entertainment
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Rey Mysterio
World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Ric Flair
Royal Rumble (2005)[78]
Match of the Year (2007) vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 23
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
PWI ranked him # 1 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2005.
PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2005)
PWI Wrestler of the Year (2005)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Feud of the Year (2005) vs. Triple H
Feud of the Year (2007) vs. The Undertaker

David Bautista also guest-starred to the ninth episode of Smallville Season 6. It debuted on November 16. 2006. He played Aldar.

©2006 The CW Network, LLC.

References/Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Bautista
http://www.wwe.com/superstars/smackdown/batista/bio/
http://prowrestling.about.com/od/thewrestlers/p/batista.htm

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