Ohio Valley Wrestling’s illustrious Class of 2002 continues to get smaller. The quartet of Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Dave Bautista is down to just one full-time competitor, that being Orton. Lesnar has been away from the ring for over a year, his in-ring future unknown. Cena is gearing up to hang up the jorts, as he will embark on a year-long retirement tour in 2025. Bautista is the only one of the four that put a hard stop on his career, officially retiring from competition in April 2019. Bautista, who competed for WWE as Batista on a full-time basis from 2002 until 2010, quietly rode off into the sunset after his match with mentor Triple H at WWE WrestleMania 35, quite the opposite swan song to the 12-month symphony Cena is about to conduct.
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Dave Bautista Discusses John Cena’s Upcoming Retirement
And a quiet swan song was all he ever wanted.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Dave Bautista shared love for John Cena, emphasizing that there is no real-life bad blood between himself and his former WWE rival.
“I get along with John. I respect John a lot, [and] a lot more than people think I do for some reason,” Bautista said. “I think the internet and fans have built this rivalry between us, which there really isn’t.”
On the topic of wrestling retirements, Bautista, a relatively reserved individual behind the scenes, noted he “couldn’t do” a Cena-esque farewell tour to cap off his wrestling career.
“This is how we’re different: I would never do this. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t,” Bautista noted. “I feel it would feel disingenuous to me to go around, but I see his point, where he wants to go around and he wants to personally thank all the fans. There’s just something in me where I couldn’t do it. I would feel uncomfortable.
“To me, accolades feel uncomfortable,” Bautista continued. “I could never be the type of babyface who was saying good stuff because I wanted to get the crowd to cheer for me. I couldn’t be that guy. I love and respect what he’s doing with his whole tour, but we’re just different that way.”
Bautista hung up his boots in April 2019, confirming on social media that his WWE WrestleMania 35 bout against Triple H was indeed his final match shortly after the show ended. He is set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame at a later date, once his filming schedule cooperates with the timing of a future ceremony.
“I went out the way I wanted. I retired the way I wanted. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it,” Bautista added. “I announced my retirement on Instagram, and I knew I was going to do it. I just didn’t want to tell anybody I was going to do it because I didn’t want anybody to say, ‘No, no, you got to come in. You have to give a speech to the fans.’ I don’t know, just something about it would have felt false to me. I couldn’t do it.”
