Ex-WWE superstar Batista has admitted that he actually wasn't really into wrestling, only trying it out because he was struggling financially and saw it as an avenue to make some money.
For someone who didn't really like wrestling, The Animal has done pretty well for himself. But he's also revealed that what was simply a way of making some cash turned into an obsession, especially after he was told how poor he was at the end of his tryout.
In a 2017 issue of the Muscle & Fitness magazine, Batista revealed having worked as a personal trainer before quitting out of frustration as his clients' enthusiasm simply didn't match his.
He revealed that his choice to become a wrestler was part of a "process of elimination" in which he asked himself what he was qualified for. "Wrestling was really smoking hot at that time," he was quoted as saying. "It seemed like all the guys on TV were huge. I thought I could fit that mold."
“I become obsessed with things, and then I just pursue them until I become obsessed with other things,” Batista, a recent guest on Live With Kelly and Ryan said on the show. “I actually wasn’t [into wrestling] at first. I actually got into it because I was broke and I was looking for a way to make money."
He tried out for WCW first but was ripped apart by the man running the tryouts.
“And so I went to a tryout, and they told me that I was horrible, and to leave, and never come back, and I’d never be a professional wrestler," he recalled. "I needed that. That just made me mad, so it made me want to pursue it, and then I just became obsessed with it.”
A subsequent tryout with WWE went much better. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The 50-year-old's obsession with wrestling saw him become a six-time World Champion and has since opened new doors for him as he's now a big Hollywood star. It goes to show that not everyone will have the same story or motivation for choosing a profession but it pays to do whatever you do to the best of your ability, no matter what it is.