Dave Bautista recounts failed WCW tryout and early wrestling training

Dave Bautista, former WWE champion, told WOLF Gyms that his first professional wrestling tryout was with WCW in Atlanta, where he was dismissed after the first stage and told he would never be a wrestler. He said the rejection left him “pretty crushed.”

Within a week he found a training camp in Pennsylvania affiliated with the WWE, borrowed money, moved there, and spent about a year training before earning a WWE tryout. He later signed a contract paying $650 per week, was sent to Louisville, Kentucky for further training, and ultimately debuted on television in 2002 as “Deacon Batista” before becoming a leading star of WWE’s Ruthless Aggression era.