Dave Bautista Didn’t Care About Merchandising In WWE: ‘I Didn’t Want That Money’

Dave Bautista says he wasn’t someone who cared a lot about merchandise when he was in WWE, noting that he left ‘a lot of money on the table.’ The WWE alumnus was a major star in the company, but he said in an interview with Cale Owen for W.O.L.F. Gyms that he didn’t care about things like t-shirt sales despite knowing how profitable it is.

Bautista talked about how while he was part of WWE, all he cared about was his actual work and entertaining the fans. You can see highlights below:

On Not Having Interest In Merchandising:

“I’ve been very particular not to whore out myself over these years that I’ve been in entertainment. Like, I don’t sign up for s**t. I’ve been offered to be in gym business before. [I’ve] been offered to be in supplement business, all this s**t, everything you can think of. Clothes, alcohol, whatever. And I typically say no because if it’s not something I’m personally interested in I don’t believe in, I just [couldn’t] care less.

“Same reason like, I wasn’t a big merchandise whore when I was wrestling. Because I just didn’t care, you know? I didn’t care if people had my t-shirts. What I cared about was entertaining people. I wanted them to have a good time. I wanted to feel like when they paid for their ticket, they got their money’s worth. And I wanted to have a good match. I didn’t care if people were booing me or cheering me; I didn’t need to be the good guy. I just wanted to have a good match; I wanted people to have quality entertainment. That’s all I cared about.”

On What Drove Him As a Wrestler:

“I was obsessed with wrestling when I was there, because it was — I do this thing where I just like, things I can’t figure out and I become obsessed with trying to figure them out. And wrestling was very that much that, because it wasn’t about the physicality of wrestling. It was about the psychology of wrestling, because it’s what creates that roller coaster. This is what I loved about wrestling, and it’s different every night everywhere you go. It’s always different. So, it’s like a puzzle you have to figure out every night. And that’s what I loved about it.

“And so, I didn’t care about like, selling merchandise. These guys who — and they’re making money off their merchandise; I didn’t want to make a living that way. I wanted to make my living wrestling. That’s what I loved. I didn’t want to sell people two t-shirts for 50 bucks. I didn’t care; I didn’t want that money. It didn’t mean anything to me. I left a lot of money on the table; I could care less. Because I didn’t want to hawk cheap merchandise.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit W.O.L.F. Gyms with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.