10 Insane Things WWE Stopped Wrestlers From Doing
3. Batista Quit Due To WWE's Refusal To Allow Him To Do Movies
When Batista departed WWE in 2010, The Animal's legitimate exit from the company came as a huge shock.
Speaking years later in an interview with MLW Radio Writer's Room, Big Dave revealed how the main driving factor behind his decision to walk away from WWE was the organisation wouldn't let him pursue acting roles.
As the six-time World Champion explained, he'd grown tired of WWE constantly selecting John Cena as the go-to guy when it came to the company's own WWE Studios pictures. So, Batista approached management to seek permission to audition for film projects outside of WWE. Dave says the response to that was, "You're our property. Get dressed for the house show and get to work".
It was then, in 2009, that the future Drax the Destroyer decided to inform WWE he was quitting, giving Vince McMahon's sports entertainment juggernaut a year's notice of his impending exit.
Interestingly, Batista also pitched to return to the company at SummerSlam 2014 for a match that would piggyback off the release of Guardians of the Galaxy. Dave believed a one-off return would be a great cross-promotional tool for the movie and WWE. Instead, Batista's idea was laughed at, with company officials thinking that first Guardians effort would tank.
That would be the same Guardians of the Galaxy that took home nearly $800 million at the global box office.