Dave Bautista on why he 'gave up' on WWE action figure collection

Dave Bautista "gave up" collecting his own WWE action figures.

The 52-year-old actor - who debuted for the company in 2002 and lost to Triple H in his retirement match two years ago at 'WrestleMania 35' - has had his likeness used for a lot of merchandise over the years, and there's one item he still likes to show off to "make people laugh".

Asked about the figure in question and his own collection, he told USA Today: "There's so many wrestling action figures that I gave up after a while.

"The particular one that I think that you saw in the picture was one where the had actually flips.

"It's like me with a normal face and then it flips and I have this angry, red face. So, I pull it out once in a while just to make people laugh."

Meanwhile, the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' actor - known to professional wrestling fans by his stage name Batista - recently insisted the door is firmly closed on his in-ring career.

Appearing at Zack Snyder's 'Justice Con' last month, he said: "It's hard to convince people that I'm actually retired. You have no idea how tough that discussion is.

"When professional wrestlers retire, they don't really retire. They kind of retire.

"But, you know, when the pay cheque's big enough or the event's big enough, they come out of retirement.

"It's just not that way with me. I exited the business in such a storybook way, I'd never go back.

"I would never take away from that. I am just done, man. I really got to finish on my own terms and nothing is going to take away from that."

Instead, Bautista - who will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in the near future - is focusing on his acting career.

This week, it was confirmed he will appear alongside Daniel Craig in the upcoming 'Knives Out' sequel.

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