Batista Unleashed (32 page)

EDGE

When Edge came in and won the championship, he really was picking bones that night—Undertaker had been wiped out not just by me, but by Mark Henry, who’d come out afterward and made a statement. So the crowd really considered him a heel. He just had tons of heat.

Edge and I worked a lot together when I was in Evolution. He was a big babyface back then and we bounced around a lot for him. In 2007, the story came full circle, with him as heel as I chased the title, trying to get it back.

We hadn’t worked in a while, but the chemistry was still there. Actually, I’ve never seen Edge have bad chemistry with anyone. He’s just a great worker. I love working with him. Once you know you’re clicking with a guy, it’s easy. With the story line we built—him coming in and stealing the title that I was chasing—the crowd was already there. Undertaker and I had had three wars, and they were really mad that he came in and stole that away.

One thing I’ve always liked about Edge, he takes the crowd on a ride. He’ll go back and forth, back and forth, taking them up and down. That can make a real difference—it separates the men from the boys.

MOVIES

Since I got into this business when I was already older than most guys, I understand that my career isn’t going to stretch forever into the future. As long as I can stay in shape, I intend on wrestling. But I don’t want to get to the point where I’m just doing it to make a paycheck. I want to be able to walk away from this healthy and happy, with all my wits about me. I don’t intend on waiting until I’ve had one too many chair shots to the head.

There are other things I’m interested in. For one, I’m pursuing other aspects of entertainment. I’d really like to branch out and do some movies. I’m really big into superheroes and sci-fi. I can’t tell you how jealous I was of Triple H when he got the role of Jarko Grimwood in
Blade: Trinity
, the 2004 movie that pits Blade—a vampire hunter—against a group of vampires out to take over the earth. It’s the third movie in the series.

I did get a chance to appear on a television show,
Smallville,
the series that deals with Superman’s teenage years, before he heads to Metropolis. It wasn’t a very good experience overall, but I did like it because I’m a big superhero buff. And seeing all the details that went on with a production like that was pretty interesting.

I was real intimidated, because I’m not a professional actor. I do a little acting here and there on the show, but I was worried about how the other actors would be toward me. But Tom Welling, who stars as Clark Kent, was more than gracious. He was helpful and very polite, making me feel at ease and giving me a lot of tips.

The part itself was pretty one-dimensional—I was a bone-sucking monster. But in the script, at least, I had a few decent lines that made the character a little bit more interesting.

Of course, most of that got cut out. They even dubbed in a line that I never said, in a totally different voice.

We spent a whole day setting up an elaborate stunt where I threw Superman into a big cargo net and there was a real cool explosion. It made me look a little cool, because I was pretty much kicking Superman’s ass. But when it aired, all you could see was me throwing Superman up—then he flew over the crane and he came back down. All the cool effects of the shot were completely lost, and I looked like a little wuss.

I was hoping for a little more.

He was lucky to get out in one piece.

Another dream of mine is to own a nightclub. I’ve got a couple of friends who own nightclubs, and they’ve offered to go into business with me. One of them is David Kareem, who’s been a friend of mine since my bouncing days. Back then he was finishing up his education at the University of Maryland. He’s gone on now in the business and owns his own clubs. Every time we see each other, we can’t believe how far we’ve both come.

I wear a sentimental bracelet on my wrist all the time—people ask me about it a lot. It actually belonged to Dave. I always told him how much I liked it. One night he took it off and gave it to me.

“Here,” he said. “My father made that for me right before he died.”

It was a real sentimental gift. In return, I gave him my wedding ring, which I used to wear around my neck after my divorce. It cost me $26,000 and is completely covered in diamonds, but every time I looked at it, it kind of broke my heart. So I think I got the better end of that deal.

In some ways, it’s tempting to go and open a club right now. But so much of my time is focused on wrestling, I just wouldn’t be able to. I want to be hands-on. So I think I’ll wait until I leave the ring before taking them up on the offer.

I’ll definitely be hands-on. You never know, I might throw on the security shirt and stand at the door for a while. Bounce at my own nightclub. That’d be great.

FIRST LOVE

Wrestling, though, will always be my first love.

Triple H said something to me one time that made so much sense I’ve repeated it over and over. He said he wanted to branch out and do other forms of entertainment because it would help bring viewers into wrestling. I thought that just made so much sense. Wrestling really is where my heart is. It’s my passion. There’s nothing like the thrill of the live crowd. Coming out and performing in front of a wrestling crowd is just incredible. It’s a challenge every night to make the crowd stand up on their feet and scream and yell. I can’t tell you how thrilled it makes me to meet that challenge.

I hope I’ll always have a job in this business in one way, shape, or form. That’s what I hope for. When I hang up my boots and leave the ring, I hope that the company will keep me on in some aspect behind the scenes or working with younger talent. I love this company, and I’d love to always have a job here.

But otherwise, most of what I dream about the future holding are good things for my family. I want to be able to give my mom a good life, which she deserves. I don’t want her to worry about bills. She struggled so hard for us when we were young. She did her best to keep me alive and out of jail and off the streets. I want to return some of that. I’ll never be able to do enough for my mom.

Or my daughters. I have high hopes for Athena. I think she’s going to go far in life. And for my older daughter, Keilani, I want her to find happiness. I don’t know what she’s searching for or what she wants to do with her life, but I hope she finds it.

ROLE MODEL

One of the great things about being a celebrity is that you get a chance to help people in unexpected ways. Nobody told me about it when I started wrestling and it certainly wasn’t why I became a wrestler, but it’s just very cool.

If you recall, I said I spent some time in a group home when I was a kid. It happens that that group home is still around. A judge there invited me to come up and talk to some of the kids there recently. I did and it was just an awesome experience.

I was quick to point out that I haven’t been an angel in my life. I’m not a perfect citizen. If I can be a role model, it’s by helping people learn from my mistakes. This way, maybe they can bypass the errors I made. Learn from them. Avoid my problems. Because they may not be as lucky as I’ve been in the end.

Teenagers have to understand that there is a big world out there, with tons of opportunities. You can’t just live in your own small world and ignore everything else. You can’t ditch school or get into fights or whatever, just because it feels good at that moment. You have to have your eye on the rest of the world, and your future.

I tell kids to get out there and find that one positive thing in their lives that will make them happy. Start small, with one pursuit. Let it build.

For me, it was weight lifting. It was a way to feel better about myself. It took out some of my aggression. It was therapy, really. And it helped turn my life around.

A lot of kids will find that in sports, through athletics. Some will find that in books. Some will get what they need by educating themselves. Others may have a passion for entertaining people, acting or singing or dancing. Whatever it is, you want to find that one positive thing that you love and pursue it. That will keep you out of trouble.

HEROES

I still feel like the same guy I was ten years ago. A lot of times I feel insecure, or like a goof. I grew up really tall and kind of gangly; I always felt goofy and awkward. That’s why bodybuilding made me feel more confident.

But people now see me as a hero. That has everything to do with wrestling.

Part of it, I think, is the sports connection. We all look up to sports figures, guys who can do incredible things with their bodies. I understand that—baseball great Lou Gehrig, “the Iron Horse,” who starred for the Yankees in the 1920s and 1930s as a first baseman and played so many games in a row, shrugging off minor injuries, is my personal hero.

But there’s more to it than just the fact that wrestlers have to do wild things with their bodies. At its most basic, pro wrestling is all about good and evil. It’s really simple to see. Turn on a show and watch it with no volume. You’ll understand what’s going on because it’s so obvious from the way we tell the story in the ring.

People today need heroes. It doesn’t matter where they are in the world. They want to identify with good. And that’s why wrestling continues to be so popular, and so powerful a form of entertainment.

I went to the Philippines not too long ago. I’d heard from some Filipino people that I was very popular there. I am half Filipino and I’m proud of my heritage; I have a Filipino flag tattooed on my left shoulder. But I had absolutely no idea how popular I was there because of my background. When I got there, I was mobbed. Everywhere I went, thousands and thousands of people showed up for my appearances. It was unlike anything else I had experienced in the world. They stuck me on the roof of this car and paraded me around the streets of Manila. People by the thousands showed up, cheering and waving, just because I have Filipino blood. It was a proud moment for me.

A star.

And for them. Because I represent hope, good triumphing over evil, a guy overcoming bad stuff in his past to do the right thing and be successful at it.

That’s what people want. That’s what heroes are about—showing us the way we can overcome all the bad things that happen to us.

A PRIVILEGE

It’s awesome and flattering to be someone who gives other people hope. That’s truly a special privilege.