Lillian Garcia welcomes Batista to the show. This interview was recorded just prior to Batista’s WrestleMania match with Triple H.

Batista says he’s very excited for his return to WrestleMania and this is a match he’s wanted for a long time. He does wish that he was a bit more prepared and that he was a bit younger. He says he got in the ring a couple of weeks ago and wrestled around with a trainer at the Performance Centre and he immediately felt beat up.

He thinks he’ll be okay mentally when he gets in the ring, but he’d feel more comfortable if he knew what they were going to do in the match. He has an idea of what Triple H wants to do but nothing has been mapped out yet.

He has no idea why everything is left to the last minute like this in WWE, but he notes that everyone’s busy all the time. In this case, he’s obviously very busy and so is Triple H. They live in different cities and it’s hard to get together. They were able to meet up in Orlando a couple of times and once with Michael Hayes, but they only discussed psychology of the match. He hasn’t locked up with Triple H at all in preparation for this match.

He says that it was very important for him to face Triple H one last time because Triple H did so much for him. He thinks Triple H made him a star by putting him over clean three times, and also by letting him ride with him and letting him pick his brain. He always wanted to go out on his back, and he thought this was the only way he could really thank Triple H.

He says it was kind of his idea to create some tension between himself and Triple H during Evolution’s reunion at Smackdown 1000. He convinced Vince McMahon to work this in because he really wanted to see whether fans were still interested in him and Triple H. After the show Triple H told him, “get in shape motherf***er”, so he knew then that Triple H felt the energy too and wanted to do the match.

Unfortunately, just a little while later he got a text from Triple H, informing him that he’d torn his pectoral muscle. Batista was disappointed and thought maybe this match was never meant to happen. However, leading up to ‘Mania he received another text, and Triple H said he’d be back in time for a match. The bout was back on.

He says that Triple H really pushed his return for this match. Apparently Triple H was only cleared to return to the ring a couple of weeks ago, so he’s risking a lot to give Batista this moment, and Batista really appreciates that.

Garcia wonders why Batista would risk everything to come back to the ring for one more match. Batista says he’s been asked that a lot, but says it’s like having a loved one die without having a chance to say goodbye. He really needs closure from his wrestling career because he wasn’t happy with how his last run ended.

He tried not to take the fan reactions personally during that last run, but it really did hurt him. He wanted to be a heel during that run and McMahon wanted him to be a babyface, and it simply didn’t work. He says it killed him to have to leave when he did to promote Guardians of the Galaxy.

Speaking of Guardians, Garcia asked Batista about the upcoming Avengers: Endgame film. Batista says he honestly doesn’t know how much of the film he’s going to be in. He knows he will be in the film at some point, but doesn’t know which scenes or how much his character will be used. He has 4 movies coming out this year, and Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will be happening as well.

Batista says his marriage fell apart recently and that’s been hard on him. He really loved his wife but they simply became different people and drifted apart. He’s looking forward to spending more time with his son in the future however.

Batista says he’s not sure if he can compare his rise in Hollywood to The Rock. He points out that there’s something special about Rock and he’s on another level. He doesn’t think anyone can really be compared to Rock. He notes that he’s also looking for different roles than we see from Rock. Batista loves drama and takes pride in being able to portray a variety of characters.

He also says he wasn’t inspired by Rock’s success in Hollywood because while Rock was crushing it, he had no intention of becoming a movie star. He fell into the movie business by coincidence and then became addicted to it.

He says he starved for three years while he was pursuing a career in Hollywood. Steve Austin warned him about taking quick roles for money because once you do that you’ll be pigeon-holed into those roles. Batista waited out those offers and soon the bigger roles came. He admits it was difficult to turn down money when he was borrowing cash and selling his cars to pay his bills.

Batista says his ultimate goal is to produce and then direct films. He thinks he’s a story-teller at heart but admits that his skills may be better served producing than directing. He hopes to produce award-winning films in the future.

Getting back to his ‘Mania match with Triple H, Batista says he just hopes they both make it out healthy. They’re both the type of guys to go out and put everything on the line without holding anything back, and they’re planning a very physical match for two 50-year olds who haven’t been in the ring for a long time.

He hopes that the fans see that they’re going out and putting everything on the line for their entertainment, when neither of them really need to at this point in their careers. He hopes they have fun and are entertained.

Batista says that win or lose, this is it for him. He thinks he’ll have closure this time around. He admits that maybe some things could have been done better in the build for this match but he’s also content with how things were done. He’s also received a lot of positive feedback about the build. He knows this won’t be the best match of his career, but they’re going to give it their all and he hopes that they have a good match.

Batista hopes to go into the WWE Hall of Fame soon. He notes that McMahon reached out to him about it a while ago but he wasn’t ready to be inducted then. He wanted closure from the business and to hang his boots up the right way.

That sums up today’s episode of Chasing Glory. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!