Dave Bautista 'lost everything' after quitting WWE before taking up acting

Today, Dave Bautista is on his way to being - if not already - a household name, having appeared in major motion pictures like Guardians of the Galaxy, Glass Onion, and Blade Runner.

But it was a difficult climb to the top for the actor, who lost everything after ditching his WWE career.

Dave Bautista signed on to WWE in 2000 - at first just to make some extra money for his family - and it soon took off.

Going by the ring name 'Batista', he quickly became a six-time world champion, and was on-par with John Cena for a good chunk of his wrestling career.

Netflix

In the hopes of following in the footsteps of Cena and The Rock, Dave tried to negotiate with WWE to take a stab at Hollywood, but they couldn't seem to come to an agreement.

As a result, the actor decided to ditch WWE in 2010 to pursue acting - not because he had a particular passion for it, but just to prove that he could.

At first, though, the bold move didn't exactly work out in Dave's favour.

The actor told GQ that he burned through his wrestling money pretty quickly, and had to sell off whatever he could to make ends meet.

"I lost everything. I had to start all over," he confessed.

Dave had to start from the very beginning, hiring an acting coach with what money he had left and signing up for a few sub-par straight-to-DVD films.

He recalled trying his best to be 'picky and choosy' about the films he appeared in, despite being pretty stuck for options.

Eventually, the former wrestler managed to snag roles in films like The Man with the Iron Fist and Riddick, before he landed his big break - the part of Drax the Destroyer in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.

Marvel

Recalling the moment he found out he had gotten the job, Dave said: "I had to pull over because I was crying so hard," - he had been in his car on the way to the gym at the time.

"I turned right back around and walked into my house shaking to tell my wife I had gotten the role, and we were both standing there freaking out."

It was all uphill from there for Dave, who quickly became a high-profile name as a result of his Marvel appearance.

Dave has briefly returned to WWE once or twice since ditching the profession in 2010, but his success in the film industry has given him a brand new passion - acting.

"I’m obsessed with it," he said. "It’s this puzzle that I can’t figure out.

"You don’t know if it’s right, but sometimes it feels right. I don’t get those moments a lot, but every once in a while I do. And f***, to me, there’s nothing like it. It’s a natural high. It’s an addiction.”