Batista Says WWE Legend Hulk Hogan Thought He Was "Making Fun Of Him"
"I didn't mean that at all".
The next time you're nervous, just pretend to be Hulk Hogan in the 1980s.
It worked for Batista, or at least it did until Hulk pulled him aside and asked if big Dave was deliberately taking the p*ss out of him. The answer was a firm no, but Batista only realised then that his own personal tributes to Hogan were coming across as parody.
Batista told Sports Illustrated that he began leaning on Hogan's influence towards the start of his career when WWE asked him to cut promos. Riddled with nerves, he channeled heroes of his youth like Hulk and Randy Savage. That helped him get through each promo.
The problem was that, after watching tapes back, Dave could see that it wasn't working. "This just isn't me - I'm not that guy", he said to himself. Years later, Hogan asked for a quiet word and wanted to know if Batista was trying to mock his trademark overblown style on purpose.
That wasn't it at all. Batista was just nervy and thought mimicking the first wrestling promos he watched as a teenager would be a good idea.