Batista Confirms He Has No Plans To End In-Ring Retirement

Retirements have become a running joke in professional wrestling, with the vast majority of talents later returning to the ring after what is advertised as their last match.

Fans shouldn't expect Batista to follow in the footsteps of Terry Funk, however, as The Animal stated on The Tonight Show that he would never come back and "tarnish" his "storybook ending."

Batista is set to make his final appearance as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and the 54-year-old made the comments about his WWE status while addressing his Marvel exit.

"Yeah, it's weird. I don't know why it's news. This is my seventh film as Drax. And my third 'Guardians' [movie]. It was like our trilogy. That's kind of what we all signed up for, to do a trilogy. And I think this will be the last version of our 'Guardians of the Galaxy. It's the perfect exit. We all had those perfect character arcs and such a storybook ending. I constantly relate it to the way I ended my wrestling career. I ended it on a storybook note. And I would never go back and tarnish that. And it's the same with this," Batista said.

"With Drax, I just got to end the perfect way. And I would never sign up for another job as Drax just to get a paycheck. I would tarnish that, and I won't do it."

Batista retired at 2019's WrestleMania 35, losing a No Holds Barred Match to Triple H. The Animal wants to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2023.

H/T to Insider