Dave Bautista Reveals Why He Collects Things & What He Collects

SI Wrestling Staff | Sep 17, 2024

Inside Dave Bautista's Compound: Vintage Lunch Box Collection & Life-Sized Dinosaurs | On Display / Complex

Former WWE superstar Dave Bautista recently joined Complex for the debut episode of their new show 'On Display', where he discussed why he collects things and revealed what they are.

As the episode begins and the camera pans across rooms in his home, you can see just how much time and energy Bautista must have put into his collections, with rooms completely filled from floor to ceiling with items that are perfectly displayed in frames and glass cabinets.

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As the episode begins, Bautista touches on why he started collecting things.

I think it's a nostalgia thing, or it's probably something I couldn't afford when I was younger that I really, really wanted. It's like every poor kid, you dream off stuff you want this stuff, and now as I'm older, it's like now I can have it.

The episode focuses on two of his collections, vintage lunch boxes and life-sized dinosaurs, while also touching on others things he collects like pinball machines and Harley Davidsons.

When talking about his childhood lunch box, Bautista says:

Fat Albert was my first lunchbox. I wish it was in this good shape, didn't have the matching thermos or anything and that's the kind of cool thing about lunch boxes, because, the reason why a lot of them are hard to find is because when you're a kid you don't think about collecting lunch boxes, you use your lunch box to either, you know, take lunch to school or hit other kids with it.

He then goes on to explain why he started collecting lunch boxes as the camera shows off the very first one he purchased, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

The ET was the first lunch box that started the collection. 2003ish I was injured. I was in WWE and I got injured. I was home and had a lot of time, and that's when I discovered eBay. I was surfing a lot and that's when I really started really collecting.

His collection also includes a 1954 Superman lunch box, a $5,000 1965 Beatles lunch box which he purchased at auction, and an extremely rare 1957 "Toppie" lunch box worth a whopping $15,000, one of only twelve known to exist.

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Bautista then explains how he started collecting life-sized dinosaurs, as pictures of them are displayed from around his property.

So that's another ex-wife story. One year we were at Comic-Con and someone made a T-Rex for Chris Pratt, okay, my wife just flipped out she was like, oh my god, that's the coolest thing ever. I was like light bulb. So one year, for I think her birthday, I bought her a big Velociraptor, and I surprised her with it and she flipped out... so for bithdays and Valentine's Day I just started buying her dinosaurs.

Watch the full interview below.

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