Dave Batista returned this past Sunday to face off against his Evolution stablemate, Triple H. The two would clash in a No Holds Barred match—the first match Batista has had in five years.

Catching up with Lilian Garcia on her podcast, Chasing Glory, “The Animal” discussed the preparation he undertook to ready himself for WrestleMania.

Reflecting on his time away from the squared circle, Batista remembered landing in New York adjust thinking “What the hell am I doing?”

“I was excited. I had been wanting to do this for years, but this is not the way things are done. 50 years old and you leave wrestling for five years and just come back and go to WrestleMania,” he laughed. “It’s super exciting, but I wish I was a little better prepared. I wish I was a little younger,” he confessed.

“I went and wrestled for the first time a few weeks ago, and I immediately felt beat up. It’s just all the jolting around. It might be one thing if I had some time to just get used to it, but when you don’t do it for years at a time and then you are being jolted around again…”

“The Animal” was candid on the toll training to return to the ring had on his body. He was open about feeling awful and beat up, admitting that actively wrestling requires a different type of cardio versus a regular workout. He also conceded nerves probably played a part, too.

“I consider myself to be in decent shape, so it has a lot to do with nerves too when you get in there and are in front of an audience. And for me, that’s always been my biggest struggle, being nervous.”

Batista has since announced his retirement from pro wrestling and is ready to return to his successful acting career. He will appear in the upcoming Marvel epic, Avengers: Endgame, reprising his role as Guardians Of The Galaxy member, Drax.

His movie, Stuber, with co-star Kumail Nanjiani, was advertised during the WrestleMania broadcast. Nanjiani made an appearance at the event in support of Batista.