10 Most Revealing Wrestling Shoot Interviews

9. Batista Says That John Cena Killed Wrestling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkndS227IGE It€™s pretty well known that Dave Bautista doesn€™t like the PG-13 direction of WWE€™s current programming, instituted to attract bigger and better advertising in summer 2008: he claims, after all, that it was the reason for him leaving in 2010 to pursue a career on the big screen. In this short clip from a phone interview with radio personality Chad Dukes on his show in December 2011, Batista goes further than he ever had before or since, claiming that the PG direction only works with Cena, who was loved by children and women, but hated by real wrestling fans. He calls him €˜Mr. Hokey€™, €˜Mr. PG€™, and specifically states that he €œkilled hardcore, edgy wrestling€ €“ one assumes he doesn€™t mean actual hardcore matches, but more the occasionally bloody drama and on-the-edge antics that characterised WWE and WWF€™s booking before the PG-13 direction. Batista graduated from WWE developmental in the infamous €˜Class Of 2002€™ with Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton and of course John Cena, and it can be argued that few people know Cena and the WWE of the last dozen years or so better than him. We€™re not sure you can legitimately blame Cena for the company€™s family-friendly direction, but he€™s certainly the poster boy for it.
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