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Dave Bautista Says Dune Validated His Decision To Retire From Wrestling

Professional wrestling is a business where retirement means almost nothing; countless stars have claimed that they won't be stepping back into the squared circle, only to renege on that promise when the lure of a hefty paycheck proves impossible to resist. However, that doesn't appear to be the case for Dave Bautista.

dave bautista

Professional wrestling is a business where retirement means almost nothing; countless stars have claimed that they wouldn’t be stepping back into the squared circle, only to renege on that promise when the lure of a hefty paycheck proved impossible to resist. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case for Dave Bautista.

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The Guardians of the Galaxy star officially announced that he was done with the grappling business following a brief comeback in 2019, with the 52 year-old wanting to end his in-ring career on his own terms. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bautista revealed that landing a part in a major production like Denis Villenueve’s Dune left him feeling vindicated that he’d made the right call.

“I left a career in professional wrestling to take a chance on myself because I fell in love with acting. It took me forever to get a job. So when someone like Denis calls me and says ‘I really want you to play this part’, that validates the sacrifice and the chance I took on myself.”

Bautista and Villenueve had worked together before, with the hulking actor surprising a lot of people with his performance in Blade Runner 2049, and he’s been determined to avoid the standard action-orientated roles that people usually associate with folks of his dimensions.

Army of the Dead‘s leading man has gone to great lengths to distance himself from ex-WWE cohorts Dwayne Johnson and John Cena, with a sizeable supporting role in a thought-provoking and critically acclaimed sci-fi epic like Dune definitely one way to prove he’s got just as much brains and dramatic talent as he does biceps and brawn.