Dave Bautista got very emotional when talking about former WWE star Shad Gaspard, who died after getting caught in a riptide in California on Sunday. Bautista, who was known as Batista in WWE, went to Instagram to pay tribute to Gaspard. He admitted that he and Gaspard weren’t very close but was still bothered by the loss of the 39-year-old former pro wrestler.
“I’ve been sitting here all day trying to figure out why this is bothering me so much, because Shad and I, we weren’t super close,” Bautista said in an Instagram video as he also said he’s not the type of person to mourn publicly. “I don’t want to make pretenses like we were. I’ve known him since 2006 and we’ve had some great times on the road and we would talk here and there. I’d see him all the time at Gold’s (Gym), everybody who knows him knows he was a common face at Gold’s, lifting people up and telling big stories.” Bautista went on to say that he knows why he’s upset about Gaspard. The former WWE Champion said Gaspard went after his dreams and was passionate about everything. And the fact he can’t live out his dreams bothers Bautista.
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“This is what I knew about Shad — Shad was a dream chaser. He went after everything he was passionate about in his life,” he continued. “Wrestling, films — last time I saw him, he was on the red carpet of the MTV Awards and couldn’t have been any more proud to be apart of Birds of Prey and we talked about it. And he was so happy, I don’t think he wanted to leave the red carpet. … I feel like he was just starting to make headway in films and now he’s gone. And he won’t ever have a chance to live out his dreams. And that bothers the s— of out me. So, if there’s anything that I can share with you about the loss of Shad Gaspard, it’s that dude was a dream chaser, you should be inspired by his journey and inspired by his final sacrifice. I send my thoughts and prayers to his family and all of my friends and his friends who are hurting over his loss.
Gaspard was swimming with his son when they got caught in a riptide with a group of swimmers. Lifeguards went to rescue them, but as they got to Gaspard and his son, Gaspard told the lifeguards to save his son first. Gaspard’s body was discovered on Wednesday after a three-day search.
