WWEditorials Ep. XIV: The Animal. The Actor. The Evolution.

THE EVOLUTION

In Dave Bautista’s career of acting and wrestling you can see a complete change. His passion has been admitted to change to acting, but the love for professional wrestling will always been in his heart. Also stating that the energy of being in front of a large audience will always be a great feeling.

The reaction to the return of Dave Bautista to WWE in 2014 was unsurprisingly not a positive one. News had sprung loose that it was close to a guarantee that he would waltz in after years away from the ring, win the Royal Rumble, and move on to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Randy Orton at WrestleMania XXX. Due to that, a crowd that likely would have welcomed his return decided to react in a hostile manner; the allegedly guaranteed title victory, as well as the fervor in favor of the unassuming hero of the masses Daniel Bryan, was being screwed out of his rightful place in the spotlight.

Bautista wins the Royal Rumble match as expected, garnering a very negative reaction and making the WWE Universe push for Bryan to get his shot harder than ever before. The choice was made to include Bryan in the WWE Title match at WrestleMania, and the rest is history. One piece of the story that had been reported multiple times as rock solid fact was that Batista was agreeing to return to wrestling in exchange (other than money, of course) for a run with the WWE Title.

That never happened, and when Big Dave dropped Triple H like a bad habit and left WWE in mid 2014. They seemingly acknowledged that there were rumors to that effect, as one reason he cited for his departure was that he was told that a reign as WWE Champ was guaranteed and creative differences.

Although many fans were looking forward to seeing Bautista in the ring it would prove to be a good decision. Later in the months that followed it was rumored he would be cast as the villain Mr. Hinx in the latest film “SPECTRE” alongside Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes, Naomi Harris, Lea Seydoux, and Ben Whishaw. SPECTRE follows James Bond (Daniel Craig) in another mission shrouded by mystery and the past that comes back to haunt him. The film re-introduces the iconic villainous organization SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion) as the root to all of Bond’s troubles in past films of the franchise.

Dave Bautista may be the nicest guy ever, but his SPECTRE henchman Mr. Hinx is a pesky and monstrous pain for Daniel Craig’s James Bond in Spectre. Hinx chases 007 through the snowy mountains of Austria and they have a hellacious fight aboard a speeding train in the new 007 film. Hinx is a clear highlight of SPECTRE, and the character is drawing comparisons to another beloved Bond henchman: Goldfinger’s rotund bruiser Oddjob, who spoke mainly with his fists — he only says four variations of “Ah” — and was also played by an ex-wrestler, the late Harold Sakata.

Bautista describes Hinx as more of an ominous combination of Oddjob, Jaws (the Bond villain played by the late Richard Kiel in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker), and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator.

A one-word role might sound like a cakewalk, but Bautista didn’t see it that way. Having no lines to memorize didn’t alleviate any of the stress of stepping into the Bond series, of which Bautista has been a lifelong fan.

“The pressure is always stepping on stage with actors who are just so well-established. It’s a scary thing,” says Bautista, who performed his own fight stunts in the film. “I haven’t been around the block that many times, especially not on big projects. Dialogue makes things easier. When you start bouncing dialogue off of other actors it becomes comfortable, it becomes conversational. When you don’t have that luxury, you worry.”

—Dave Bautista on ‘SPECTRE’

SPECTRE is currently out in theaters now!

For a number of years Dave Bautista has experienced the come up many people would give anything to experience. His transitions from professional wrestling, MMA, and acting hasn’t been an easy adjustment, but the time he’s been able to spend to settle himself into each venture has gained him great receptions. In 2002 was the year that started the storied career of Dave Bautista. Some look at him a simple meathead with lack of talent and others see potential that can be molded into a tremendous actor for years to come. He’s already being looked at as Hollywood’s strongman. Not to be typecasted, not to be second guessed there could be a lot that will be the big test for Bautista, which is a lead role. The ultimate test for any actor/actress proving that you truly belong in the glimmering lights of the red carpet. Only time will tell as those who’ve followed Bautista in his careered life has seen the animal, the actor, and evolution of Dave Bautista.