David Michael Bautista, Jr. (born January 18 1969), better known as Dave Batista or by the ring name Batista, is an American professional wrestler. Batista is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), wrestling on its SmackDown! brand, where he is the reigning World Heavyweight Champion.

Batista is a three-time world champion, three-time tag team champion, and the winner of the 2005 Royal Rumble.

Bautista is of Filipino and Greek heritage. His year of birth was disputed for several years. His website originally listed him as being born in 1969, while several contradictory news reports claimed that he was actually born in 1966. In March 2006, Batista stated in an interview that he was born in 1969. He confirms the same in his autobiography "Batista Unleashed".

Batista tried out at the WCW Power Plant but was told he would never make it in the wrestling business by Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker. He then went to the WWF who sent him to work with Afa Anoa'i. He wrestled in Anoa'i'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 was called Leviathan. As a member of the Disciples of Synn stable he went undefeated until being beaten at an OVW supercard, Christmas Chaos by WWF's Kane (with help from Steve Austin). He later went on to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship from 'The Machine' Doug Basham. After losing the belt to The Prototype, Batista left OVW for WWE.

He began his WWE career on the May 9 2002 episode of SmackDown! as Deacon Bautista, a heel enforcer for Reverend D-Von on the SmackDown! franchise. Batista made his WWE match debut in a tag match teaming with D-Von against Randy Orton and Faarooq with Batista pinning Orton after using his spinebuster. Over a sequence of weeks, Orton tried to beat D-Von and Bautista with different partners, but ultimately lost each time to Bautista's spinebuster. Bautista suffered his first loss in a match against Rikishi after D-Von accidentally struck him with a punch, allowing Rikishi to take advantage and pin Bautista for the win. Bautista and D-Von started to argue over the forthcoming weeks, with Bautista eventually turning on D-Von. After splitting with D-Von, he was fired by D-Von and signed with RAW and was re-branded as Dave Batista (or simply Batista). He aligned himself with Ric Flair and feuded with Kane, whom he defeated in his pay-per-view debut at Armageddon 2002.

In January 2003, Batista joined with Triple H, Ric Flair, and Randy Orton to form the stable Evolution. Batista, however, was sidelined for much of 2003 after he tore his right triceps at a house show in a tag team match against the Dudley Boyz. Batista re-tore his triceps while training and faced another setback when after his second surgery to reattach his triceps he suffered an infection that required a third surgery to clean out the infection. He made his return on the October 20 2003 episode of RAW, interfering in a match between Goldberg and Shawn Michaels and "shattering" Goldberg's ankle with a chair. After the interference, Evolution came out, and Triple H rewarded Batista with $100,000. On the November 10 episode of RAW, Goldberg defeated Batista by disqualification when Triple H interfered.

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. By the end of the PPV, all four members of Evolution held every male championship on RAW, with Triple H winning 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. After SummerSlam 2004, Batista began a losing streak which lasted most of the year. During this time, Batista was pinned by mid-card wrestler Maven on one occasion.

In late 2004, after Randy Orton defeated Chris Benoit for the World Heavyweight Championship, Triple H evicted him from the group, claiming that the title which Orton held was rightfully his. It was Batista who delivered an electric chair to Orton after Triple H gave Orton a "thumbs up" before turning it into a "thumbs down."

At the 2004 Survivor Series, Triple H, Batista, Gene Snitsky, and Edge faced-off against Maven, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and Randy Orton in an 8-Man Elimination Tag Match for control of RAW over the following month; the members of the winning team would each be the RAW general manager for a week. They lost, causing unrest within Evolution. In the first week following Survivor Series, Triple H offered Maven a spot in Evolution (rather than have Maven challenge him for the World Title) which was turned down.

Throughout the next two months, the relationship between Batista and Triple H began to deteriorate. After a loss to Chris Jericho by disqualification, Triple H verbally insulted Batista. Batista teased leaving Evolution that night, but declared that he was still part of Evolution and that they tricked everyone. Still, Dave began behaving more like a face in the next few weeks, despite Evolution's heelish tactics. One particular moment saw Batista express disgust as Triple H and Ric Flair boasted about how they had intimidated and/or beat up Jim Ross, Danny Hodge, and Stacy Keibler. He continued to show his loyalty to Triple H and Evolution by running down to the ring and assisting him in matches.

As 2005 began, Triple H realized the possibility of Batista, much like Randy Orton the year before, becoming a threat to his World Heavyweight Championship. Triple H suggested that Dave not enter the Royal Rumble, claiming that it would be selfish of him to do so, and to simply focus on Triple H retaining the title. Dave entered anyway and went on to win the Royal Rumble, last eliminating John Cena, earning the right to participate in the main event of WrestleMania 21 against the World Champion of his choice.

In an attempt to persuade Batista to challenge WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield rather than him, Triple H concocted a scheme to have Batista run over in a limousine resembling the one used by Layfield. Initially, Dave did not want help from Evolution and wanted to confront JBL by himself. Triple H insisted that Evolution stick together and accompanied Dave anyway, saving him from the oncoming vehicle. Batista became aware of the plot while sneakily eavesdropping on fellow Evolution members and signed a contract guaranteeing him a match with World Champion Triple H at WrestleMania 21, thus leaving Evolution and officially turning face for the first time in WWE. Batista initially pretended that he would sign with SmackDown!, giving Triple H and Flair the "thumbs up," but turned it into a "thumbs down" before attacking the pair. He emphasized his departure by powerbombing Triple H through the table used for the contract signing.

Batista went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship on April 3 2005 at WrestleMania 21. Since this event, he has used the infamous "thumbs up, thumbs down" gesture before he performs the Batista Bomb on his opponent. Batista once again faced Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash. He retained the title but continued to feud with Triple H. Along the way, he even helped commentator Jim Ross gain an upset victory over Triple H on RAW. After Batista retained his title against Edge, he was betrayed by Ric Flair, who helped Triple H viciously attack the champion as Triple H challenged Batista to Hell in a Cell at Vengeance 2005. Batista survived the pedigree and won the match at Vengeance, retaining his title yet again. With this win, Batista became the first wrestler to pin Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match.

On June 30 2005 Batista was revealed as the last pick in the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery, making a surprise appearance while John "Bradshaw" Layfield was celebrating his victory in a six-man elimination match to win the new SmackDown! Championship. JBL and Batista faced off at the Great American Bash on July 24 2005 where JBL defeated Batista by DQ after the referee saw Batista use a steel chair. They had a rematch at SummerSlam on August 21 in a No-Holds-Barred match in which Batista pinned JBL following a powerbomb on the steel steps. The feud culminated in a match between the two on the first episode of SmackDown! broadcast after the show moved to Friday nights, with Batista retaining the title in JBL's signature bull rope match.

Soon after retaining the title in a feud with Eddie Guerrero, WWE.com reported that Batista suffered a muscle tear in his back at the taping for the November 11 2005 edition of SmackDown! due to a double chokeslam from Big Show and Kane. Plans had been made for Batista to defend the title in a triple threat match with Eddie Guerrero and Randy Orton on the November 18 episode, but the match did not take place due to the unexpected death of Eddie Guerrero on November 13 2005, the date of the taping. Batista paid homage to Eddie Guerrero during the SmackDown! and RAW tribute shows dedicated to Guerrero's memory.

Batista led Team SmackDown! against Team RAW in an inter-brand feud before 2005's Survivor Series. The feud saw the Big Show and Kane chokeslamming Batista several more times in the weeks leading up to Survivor Series in an on-camera explanation for Batista's injury. Batista ultimately helped his team win the Survivor Series main event. After Batista saved Rey Mysterio from a double team attack by RAW's reigning World Tag Team Champions, Big Show and Kane, it was announced that Mysterio would team with Batista to face Big Show and Kane at Armageddon 2005, a SmackDown! exclusive pay-per-view.

On the December 16 edition of SmackDown!, Batista and Mysterio defeated WWE Tag Team Champions MNM to become champions in a match they dedicated to Eddie Guerrero, and the clash with the Big Show and Kane at Armageddon turned into a Champions vs. Champions encounter. Batista and Mysterio lost to Kane and Big Show at Armageddon when Kane pinned Mysterio after a chokeslam, and two weeks later on SmackDown!, MNM defeated Batista and Mysterio after help from the returning Mark Henry to regain the WWE Tag Team Championships. During the interference, Henry attacked Batista, and performed his World's Strongest Slam.The teams met again in a cage match that Henry also became involved in, and Batista and Rey were defeated again.

On January 9 2006, WWE.com announced that Batista tore his right triceps following a match with Mark Henry at a live event on January 8 in Verona, New York. The following day, WWE.com announced that, due to his injury, Batista was forced to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship at the SmackDown! tapings in Philadelphia on January 10 (aired on January 13), two days after surpassing Triple H's previous mark of 280 days for longest reigning champion. Later that night, Kurt Angle won a battle royal to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. Dave went on to have successful surgery on his arm on January 12.

Batista made an appearance at No Way Out 2006 and told the crowd that once his arm had healed he would return to regain his World Heavyweight Championship. At WrestleMania 22, he interrupted a Randy Orton interview, putting SmackDown! on notice; the World Heavyweight Championship would return to him by WrestleMania 23.

Batista made his official return during the July 7 2006 edition of SmackDown! in Philadelphia immediately calling out and entering into a feud with the man who put him out with the arm injury, Mark Henry. At Saturday Night's Main Event, Batista won his first televised match since his return, a six man tag match with Rey Mysterio and Lashley taking on King Booker, Finlay and Mark Henry. In a bizarre twist of fate, Mark Henry was legitimately injured and was ruled out of the scheduled match between the two at The Great American Bash, thus further delaying a potential feud between the two after being delayed by Batista's initial injury.

Batista put out an open challenge to replace the injured Henry, which was answered by Mr. Kennedy. Batista lost this match via DQ for failing to stop choking Mr. Kennedy into the turnbuckle with his boot, but continued to attack Kennedy resulting in a laceration on his forehead so severe that it exposed his cranium and required 20 stitches to close. Batista lost another match with Kennedy via count out in a rematch on SmackDown! before finally defeating Kennedy by pinfall on the August 4 edition of SmackDown!.

During this time Batista tried to regain a world title, facing both Big Show for his ECW World Championship during an ECW show, and King Booker for his World Heavyweight Championship during SummerSlam and SmackDown!. Batista won these matches but not the title as the contests ended via disqualification. Batista continued on as a top contender to the World Title, competing against King Booker on several occasions while feuding with Finlay, before finally defeating King Booker to regain the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series 2006 at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center, the same arena where he surrendered the title in January.

At the beginning of the new year, Batista successfully retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Mr. Kennedy at the 2007 Royal Rumble. Two months later at WrestleMania 23, Batista lost the championship to the winner of the Royal Rumble match, The Undertaker. They continued to battle over the title to a stalemate in a subsequent Last Man Standing match at Backlash 2007 and a Steel Cage Match on the May 11 episode of SmackDown!, after which Edge took advantage and won the title from the Undertaker by using his Money in the Bank title opportunity. Afterwards, Batista challenged Edge unsuccessfully for the World Heavyweight Championship at Judgment Day, at One Night Stand in a Steel Cage Match, and at Vengeance. The loss at Vengeance stipulated that Batista could no longer get another chance at the World Heavyweight Championship while Edge remained champion.

Batista accepted an open challenge from The Great Khali for The Great American Bash. Edge relinquished the title due to an injury the week before the PPV, and Khali became the new World Heavyweight Champion, winning a Battle Royal and eliminating Batista. Batista and Kane, Edge's title opponent, faced Khali at The Great American Bash where Khali retained the title. Batista received a disqualification victory against Khali at Summerslam after Khali used a steel chair, thus Khali retained the title again. Batista finally defeated Khali and Rey Mysterio, at Unforgiven to claim his third World Heavyweight Championship after eight consecutive attempts. His first challenge was from the Great Khali in a Punjabi Prison Match at No Mercy. Batista retained his title despite Khali having the majority of the offense. He won the match by leaping from the inner bamboo structure to the outer one, shortening his escape route and beating Khali to the floor.

* Finishing and signature moves ** Batista Bomb / Demon Bomb (Sitout powerbomb) ** Spinebuster ** Spear ** Repeated turnbuckle thrusts ** Multiple powerbombs ** Running front powerslam ** Running clothesline ** Suplex powerslam ** Spinning side slam ** Diving shoulder block

* Managers ** Synn ** Reverend D-Von ** Ric Flair

* Nicknames ** "The Demon" - as Leviathan ** "The Demon of the Deep" - as Leviathan ** "Guardian of The Gates of Hell" - as Leviathan ** "The Animal"/"Evolution's Animal"

* Theme music **"Voodoo" by Godsmack - with Synn (OVW) **"Line In The Sand" by Motörhead - while part of Evolution ** "I Walk Alone", a remix of the production theme with lyrics by Saliva - used since June 2005

* Signature Taunts ** Batista enters and crouches slightly as if he was seated and holds his hands out like he is holding a large, mounted gatling gun. He then pretends to fire the pantomimed weapon as his pyro goes off to follow suit. ** Batista has used a "thumbs up, thumbs down" gesture before delivering the Batista Bomb ever since his WrestleMania 21 match against Triple H. This is a reference to the gesture Triple H used against Randy Orton when he kicked Orton out of Evolution (leading to a brutal assault). Batista took this gesture from Triple H when he feigned signing to SmackDown!. Before doing his "thumbs up, thumbs down", he often shakes the ring ropes violently which he has acknowledged he took from the Ultimate Warrior. ** Batista frequently bangs his head or chest with his open hand, usually his left. Frequently this is used to illustrate his animosity, thus earning him the nickname The Animal.

* Ohio Valley Wrestling ** OVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) * 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 award in 2005 ** PWI Wrestler of the Year award in 2005 * World Wrestling Entertainment ** World Heavyweight Championship (3 times, current) ** WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Rey Mysterio ** World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Ric Flair ** Royal Rumble (2005) * Wrestling Observer Newsletter ** Feud of the Year award in 2005 - vs Triple H

In 2005, Batista gave two controversial interviews to the British tabloid newspaper The Sun. In the first interview, Batista, then wrestling on the RAW brand of WWE, criticized SmackDown!, stating, "I've watched their tapings live and it seems like a lot of the guys couldn't care less. There's a lack of passion and pride." In the second interview, Batista acknowledged that his statements had attracted considerable backstage heat from members of the SmackDown! brand. He then went on to claim, "there are guys on both shows who are lazy, couldn't care less and show no dedication." He then criticized rival wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, claiming, "I've also seen clips of their car wreck matches with A.J. Styles doing his stunts. That's not wrestling. Wrestling is storytelling." In April 2006, Styles responded to Batista's comments, quipping, "I think it's funny that a guy who takes a bump and tears his back tells me that I don't know how to wrestle."

Batista's backstage problems continued at a 2006 SummerSlam pay-per-view commercial shoot, it was reported that Batista got into a real-life fistfight with Booker T. The incident was reported on WWE.com, with both men telling their sides of the story. The fight was believed to stem from the idea that Batista considered himself to be better than the rest of the roster due to his main event status and relatively quick climb to achieve it. It is believed that Batista provoked the fight, though Booker appeared to get the upper hand until they were pulled apart by JBL, Kurt Angle, Finlay and various others at which time Batista landed a punch on Booker that caused considerable swelling. Booker swore revenge, but the two seemingly put it behind them.

In August 2007, Batista was accused of anabolic steroid use after an ESPN article released the names of wrestlers that were clients of Signature Pharmacy of Orlando, one of many pharmacies under investigation for filling illegal prescriptions. Batista released a statement denying ESPN's allegations and was reportedly furious over the report. He denied ever being a customer of Signature and stated that he has been "tested regularly by the WWE, and I am in full compliance with the WWE Wellness Program." The WWE reportedly suspended ten wrestlers named in the controversy, though Batista was not one of them.

Batista's father is Filipino and his mother, a lesbian, is Greek. His grandparents were also from the Philippines as his grandfather served in the military, worked as a taxi driver or barber and other odd jobs to feed the family. Batista says he is not ashamed to admit he came from a poor family. He has publicly admitted to having a hard life where, as before he was age nine, three murders occurred at his front lawn. As young as age 13, he was stealing automobiles. By age 17, Batista was considered estranged from his parents and on his own, despite admitting later that "I am proud of my parents. They are good, honest, hard-working folks. They taught me the values of working hard." Batista became a regular bouncer for clubs until he was arrested after a fight that left two badly injured patrons, one of which could be found lying in the street. After a trial, Batista was sentenced to a years' probation. Batista was also a lifeguard before he had dreams of becoming a bodybuilder. He credits bodybuilding as possibly saving his life. On October 16, 2007 his autobiography "Batista Unleashed", a WWE Book, was released.

Before the age of 40, Batista already became a grandfather (two grandsons: Jacob & Aiden by his first daughter, Keilani- Batista Unleashed: pgs 212, 235, 238). He married his second wife Angie on October 13 1998 and has two daughters (Keilani & Athena - Batista Unleashed: pgs 43, 44) and one step daughter from a prior marriage (with a woman named Glenda- Batista Unleashed: pg 43), but Batista revealed that he and his wife were separated in the August 2006 edition of WWE magazine. During this time, he dated 2006 Diva Search contestant Rebecca DiPietro. He also claims to have had a sexual relationship with WWE Diva Melina after the divorce from his wife in 2006, which led to a brief storyline on Smackdown! during his feud with MNM.

Batista is an avid collector of vintage metal lunchboxes. He admits his favorite is the 1967 Green Hornet lunch box, as it has Bruce Lee on it. This collection started when he bought his ex-wife Angie an ET lunchbox and she did not want to break it, so he bought a second one.

He has numerous tattoos, including a large Chinese dragon on his back, red Kanji lettering on his upper left biceps which says "Angel" in tribute to his former wife Angie, a signature design on his upper right biceps, and a small Sun on his stomach which encircles his belly button. He recently added a tattoo on his arm of the flags of the Philippines and Greece merged into one.

In addition to wrestling, Bautista has been in several commercials and on several magazine covers. He was shown breakdancing in a commercial promoting WWE SummerSlam 2004 where he did his take on a "floor routine", a routine that arguably mocked the floor routines shown at the Olympic Games. He was also on the cover of the April 2005 Flex Magazine.

Moreover, Bautista has acted and has guest starred in several television shows as both himself and in-character as Batista. He guest starred in the eighth episode of Season 6 of the American drama action/adventure, CW Network television series Smallville, playing a extraterrestrial alien named Aldar that escaped from the Phantom Zone, who sucks the bones out of people for nourishment. Along with John Cena and Ashley Massaro, Bautista appeared representing WWE on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in January 2007, giving the kids of the family whose house was renovated WWE merchandise and eight tickets to WrestleMania 23.

In August 2007, he taped an episode of Family Feud with John Cena, Candice Michelle, Mr. Kennedy, King Booker, Layla, Maria, Michelle McCool, MVP, and Queen Sharmell, which is scheduled to air in November.

* Official Website * Official Myspace Site * WWE.com Profile * Batista/Leviathan Interview on Genickbruch.com