Diamond Dallas Page has never been just another one of the guys. His unique career trajectory has taken him on a start/stop path to superstardom, one that he refused to let pass him by despite critics and doctors telling him it would never happen.
As the subject of A&E’s latest “Biography: WWE Legends” series, DDP says this type of recognition is something he’s wanted for a long time.
“This is a really special thing because not everybody gets to tell their story,” Page tells Uproxx Sports ahead of his episode’s premier this Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on A&E. “They went all the way back to my childhood, which is pretty cool. The stuff that no one will have ever seen before.”
Throughout the biography, Page’s perseverance and relentless positivity is on display. His journey in the on and off path to pro wrestling’s main event is thoroughly detailed from an early age, infatuated with these larger-than-life stars.
His first foray into wrestling ended after three matches and a knee injury, when a doctor advised against the wear and tear on his 23-year-old body. With Page’s dream of wrestling done, he moved over to the night club life and eventually found himself in Fort Myers, Florida. An introduction to the Jake “The Snake” Roberts character on television, however, would alter his life forever.
“The booze, the broads, and the party took me in a whole different direction. I didn’t really stay on track. I forgot about my dream. Eventually saw WrestleMania, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I should have been a part of this.’ I was so mad at myself, I literally stopped watching wrestling because I left the dream,” Page says. “Then one night, I was flicking the channels and I see this guy walk through the curtain with a snake in a bag over his shoulder, and I’m like this guy puts swag in swag before there was ever such a word. And then his promo, that just took it to a whole different level and boom, it sucked me right back into the television as a fan.”
Six months later, Page says Roberts came into his night club in Florida, they partied, and the rest was history. Roberts shared Page’s name among other traveling wrestlers, and the nights of partying with wrestlers triggered DDP to start imagining a life for himself in the ring.
The episode details how Page got his start as a manager, making his way to WCW, what led to him transitioning into a performer, training at WCW’s Power Plant, and how Roberts’ debut in WCW helped guide him into the blossoming career he’d later embark on.
“Me and Kevin Nash are tag teaming, we’re at the bottom of the card,” Page says. “Me and Kev start driving him and he’s in the back having a few beers. We got to hang with Yoda. Then, when I tore my rotator cuff and they let me go, Jake came and lived with me for three months until he lost a 12-foot cobra at my house.”
When Page eventually worked his way back to WCW, he’d find support in the form of Roberts and the “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, who he called a mentor. He also credits the relationships he’d built with the likes of Scott Hall and Nash in how he’d climb the ranks and eventually reach the top of the mountain.
“I would say without Dusty Rhodes, there is no Diamond Dallas Page. Without Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, there’s no three-time world champion or Hall of Famer because both of those guys helped me so much,” Page adds. “I always tell people, they think it’s all about who you know or who knows you, when the reality is, it’s all about who’s willing to say they know you. Who’s willing to put their name on the line for you? And that’s what Scott and Kev did by (pitching my turn on the NWO).”
More than winning championships, putting the work in, and putting over his colleagues, DDP is proud of what he’s built with the DDP Yoga business post his wrestling days. The biography details how yoga saved his career when he blew his back out, and it’s fostered a change among former wrestlers that’s legitimately saved their lives.
“I was the guy who gave a fuck,” DDP says.
He’s helped others get jobs and gave back to the business, but he calls DDP Yoga “a different animal.”
“When you’ve abused your body like we do, people don’t realize. It felt like every single day, I was hitting the mat numerous times and one match with me could have been like you having four or five car accidents. You can’t fake gravity. You can’t fake the impact,” DDP continues.
“There will be broken necks, broken backs. That’s where DDP Yoga comes in. The body just gets so beat up. Later, you really feel that and that’s where it’s a big difference to show them a program that can help them get a really good cardiovascular workout, dramatically increase your flexibility, strengthen your core, all with minimal to no impact on your joints. What we do is real and we offer hope to a lot of people who think there is none.”
