Dave Batista, the six time winner of the WWE Championship, addressed pleanty of issues when he spoke to the MLW Radio's Writers Room recently and one of the important ones was his decision not to partner Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules that drew a lot of flak.
He said that he had nothing against Bryan and addressed the issue head on, "I did the thing with Daniel Bryan. Let me tell you the reason I was pissed about the whole thing, the reason why, because I didn't want to work with him at the next pay-per-view. I wanted to work with [The] Shield. I wanted to do the Evolution thing, so it wasn't anything against Daniel Bryan and it wasn't because I loved Evolution so much. I wanted to do the Evolution thing and that's what kills me. So the first thing, the whole Daniel Bryan thing, I love Daniel. Everybody gave me a lot of grief over that and I was one of the first guys way back when saying 'Daniel's great! You've got to do something with him!' They wanted me to job him out. The only time we ever worked together and I was like, 'he's way too good for that!' And people, they gave me all this s--t about being so anti-Daniel Bryan and I just didn't know where it came from."
Batista also said, that he harbours regrets for not having been in top physical shape back in 2014. "I wish I could've been in better shape. I should've been in wrestling shape and I really wasn't for a few different reasons. One, I was injured coming back. I had a really bad Achilles' tendon injury, but also, I had really stayed away from the weights and the really strenuous working out for years because I was trying to conform and I wanted to be an actor. I wanted to look like an actor and I wanted to blend in and fit in, so I was really against it. I wanted to get away from that muscle bound look. The fans always kind of respected me for that look. That was something I carried with me and set me apart and I didn't give them that. And I really wish I had. Now when I look back at pictures I really am embarrassed about the shape that I was in. I should have been in better shape for that."
