Dave Bautista Is The Next Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Big Show Says

Seven-time world champion Big Show believes that Dave Bautista is the next Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson of Hollywood. The former WWE World Tag Team champion is convinced that the six-time world champion Dave Bautista has what it takes to follow in the footsteps of The Rock as Hollywood’s biggest actor

Big Show, whose real name is Paul Donald Wight II, spoke with TMZ about Bautista’s rising profile in Hollywood. Big Show told TMZ that it is only the beginning for Bautista’s acting career after his role as Drax in the hugely successful Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).

Bautista will be appearing in the sequel of Blade Runner later in the year. He is also set to reprise his role as Drax in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) after receiving rave reviews for his role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).

Bautista would consider Big Show’s endorsement and comparison with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a huge compliment. Dwayne was the highest paid actor in Hollywood in 2016, grossing $64.5 million that year.

Big Show has also done well as an actor, having appeared in multiple feature films, including Jingle All The Way and Star Trek: The Enterprise (2001-2005). He has also appeared in multiple TV series, including Burn Notice (2007- 2013), Psych (2006-2014), and Royal Pains (2009-2016). He played a lead role in the WWE Studios comedy film Knucklehead (2010). However, he told TMZ that he is proud of Bautista’s achievement and that he would also love to see more action as an actor.

Following Bautista’s success in Hollywood, WWE fans have lately raised a clamor that they would love to see the star in the WWE ring again.

Bautista’s wrestling career took off in 1999 under the ring name Deacon. He first signed to WWE in 2000 as Batista and rose quickly to fame after joining Ric Flair, Triple H, and Randy Orton in Evolution. He won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship four times and WWE Championship two times. He held the record for the longest reign as World Heavyweight Champion. He also won the World Tag Team Championship three times — two times with Ric Flair and once with John Cena. He won the WWE Tag team Championship once with Rey Mysterio.

He won the 2005 Royal Rumble match and headlined WrestleMania 21.

Big Show Says Bautista's the Next Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson of Hollywood https://t.co/9brCrwUhW6

— TMZ (@TMZ) July 1, 2017

Always working. Always getting better. Training with #DoddRomero… #GiantInTheGym pic.twitter.com/AjJ626Ts3C

— Paul Wight (@PaulWight) June 30, 2017

He eventually retired from WWE in 2010, but stage a brief comeback in 2013-2014, when he won the 2014 Royal Rumble and headlined the main event of WrestleMania 30.

“I don’t miss WWE. I miss wrestling, I just don’t miss dealing with the company and its bullshit,” the outspoken champion said in a recent Chris Jericho podcast, according to Bleeding Cool. “Yeah it’s the b***s**t man, it’s just too much b***s**t.”

When Jericho asked him about what he would like to do if he returned to WWE, he said he would love to team up with Triple H.

“I’ve talked to [Triple H] about it and I’ve talked to Vince [McMahon] about it,” he answered.

“I said I would come back and run a whole program with [Triple H]. That’s the only thing I’m interested in doing. They’re just not interested in it, you know?”

His time away from WWE has produced a wrestling challenge from an unexpected source.

Dave Bautista recently recalled being challenged to a wrestling duel by Chris Pratt, the former funny and chubby guy from the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation who rebranded as a muscle guy for his roles in Zero Dark Thirty and Guardians of the Galaxy. According to Bautista, Pratt, who had been an amateur wrestler when he was younger, challenged the WWE six-time world champion to a wrestling match.

“He called me out one night, during filming the first Guardians, and he sent me this long text in the middle of the night. It started off telling me how much he loved and admired me, and how he [considers] me a friend,” Bautista told Men’s Journal.

“Then out of nowhere it started talking about how he thought he could take me in a wrestling match, because of his wrestling background.”

“Let’s get together and have a match, Just you and me, nobody has to know,” Pratt texted, according to Bautista

“I saw him the next day and I asked him about it. He was like, ‘What text?'” Bautista said.

“Apparently he had been drinking that night and didn’t remember sending it at all. We both started laughing. He felt so bad.”

[Featured Image by Rob Kim/Getty Images]