SPORTbible Chats To WWE 2017 Hall Of Fame Class Member Diamond Dallas Page

Diamond Dallas Page is an inspiration in every sense of the word.

Not only was he one of the top stars in WCW in the 90's, winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championships on two occasions and putting on a whole host of show-stealing matches, he is all about helping others.

When Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Scott Hall, two of his closest friends in the wrestling business, were suffering from addiction and battling demons, he allowed them to stay with him and through yoga, helped them turn their lives around. The comeback stories were captured in the award-winning 'The Resurrection Of Jake The Snake' documentary.

His 'DDP Yoga' program continues to produce remarkable results for people of all walks of life and it has also prolonged the careers of a whole host of WWE's top stars.

DDP's glittering career, coupled with his work in helping motivating others means that he will be deservedly inducted into the WWE's Hall of Fame this year, which is the ultimate honour for a professional wrestler.

Before he is inducted into the Hall of Fame by Eric Bischoff on Friday in Orlando, SPORTbible had the pleasure of chatting to DDP about his Hall of Fame induction, his career, his WWE documentary, getting back in the ring and dishing out Diamond Cutters, the performers he enjoys watching and how DDP Yoga is producing such amazing results.

SPORTbible: Congratulations on getting inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. Where were you when you got the news and how did it come about?

DDP: The really cool part is they [WWE] were filming 'Positively Living: Diamond Dallas Page' - the WWE three DVD set and the first thing they do now is the biopic, which is really cool - I loved Eric Bischoff's and I loved Scott Hall's, that's the two I've seen so far and I thought "Wow these guys are going to do something really sweet!" and they did. While we were filming in my hometown, we're right at the end of the day, I've got one more shoot and then I'm gone, right before we get ready to shoot the producer Michael hands me the phone and says "Boss wants to talk to you". So I pick up the phone and it's Triple H and I'm like "Hey bro!" - we had a bit of small talk about the DVD, how it's going and I'm assuming that he's calling me back because I left him three other messages over the last month and I'm assuming this is the call back. But the screwed up part is I can't remember what I want to ask him!

And when you've got someone as busy as Triple H, who never stops - I don't know when he sleeps, you better have the question ready that you wanted to ask him. I'm racking my brain and I'm half-assed listening to what he's saying - he starts to talk about when we got together, if you remember I went from a manager to a wrestler when he was just breaking in as 'Terra Ryzing' so we were right next to each other as we were training. He started to talk about being 22 years old and being like "What's this 35 year-old guy even thinking to do this?". He's talking and I'm still trying to think about what I want to say to him, then it hits me because he keeps talking about my career. At some point I realise this is THAT phone call and my eyes got all welled up, tears roll down down my cheek and I couldn't really talk. I got to the end of it and I was just like "Thank you bro, I love you man".

I handed the phone to the producer and he said "What do you think?" and I said "I knew you guys were filming me, I wish you were filming him [Triple H], what he just said was awesome!" and he says "Yeah, we were filming him at the same time, this is going to be the end of your DVD". What better way to finish my biopic than the live call of me going in [the Hall of Fame]. They had been talking about it for a while, how they were going to get a live call, how they were going to get a live emotion from somebody but to do that, there would have to be a camera on like there was on me. Because it was October, I never once thought he was calling me about the Hall of Fame, not even for an instance until he started talking about in detail about my career and putting me over and then I was like "Oh wait a minute, this is it" and these guys are filming me and it was amazing.

SPORTbible: What else can you tell us about the 'Positively Living' film and what footage will fans be able to see?

DDP: I've seen 'Positively Living', there was only one copy and they sent it to me. Now they've got it out for some of the people who will review it and the only reason I know that is because one of the guys I interviewed with said "Without question, best biopic they've ever done" and they've done some really good stuff. He said his wife who is not a wrestling fan watched the whole thing, loved it and got teared up. When you can grab somebody emotionally, like we did with 'The Resurrection of Jake The Snake', that to me is the money. When you can get someone emotionally involved in your journey, that's pretty sweet.

One of the really cool things about 'Positively Living', in the states you can pre-order it now, I'm not sure about the UK, is that it drops on April 4, which is right after Wrestlemania and the day before my 61st birthday so what a birthday present! Last year my birthday present was when they brought me in for Wrestlemania in front of 101,000 people just to get the pop, hit the Diamond Cutter and then I'm out of here! That's how I want to end my career. Wrestlemania 6 I'm driving my pink cadillac, Wrestlemania 33 I'm getting inducted into the Hall of Fame. Wow. I haven't even said that until now and I'm writing my speech, which I pretty much have, but what I just said there, is pretty crazy. I've been very blessed on so many levels.

SPORTbible: A star-studded class this year that includes the likes of Kurt Angle, The Rock n Roll Express, Beth Phoenix, Teddy Long and Rick Rude. What it is like to be on the verge of being inducted alongside such an esteemed list?

DDP: Oh my God! I don't know how much you know about The Rock n Roll Express but those guys were The Beatles in the 80's, women, little girls went crazy over them and they were having matches that were believable and they were wrestling the Road Warriors. They were both 200 pounds a piece and they were out their tearing it down, so those guys got recognised. And then Teddy Long, he was a trailblazer - he was one of the first black guys coming in and setting up the rings and then got to be a ref and then worked his way to running the show with Smackdown. Me and Teddy were both managers at the same time and were in a tag match in 1990 or 91, that's how far me and Teddy go back. Me and Rick Rude rode the road together a lot and I've got a lot of Rick Rude stories that I could never tell but they are classic - two of them are insane!

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And of course Kurt Angle. There's been a lot of great 'wrestlers' who have made the transition - all the way back to Frank Gotch and Verne Gagne but I don't think anybody did it better than Kurt Angle, winning the Olympic Gold with a broken neck then coming out and just making an unbelievable name for himself. Beth Phoenix - I texted her as soon as I saw her come over, I love her and her husband Edge [Adam]. I just a put a tweet out, they are the first couple of the Hall of Fame - husband and wife. What are their kids going to be like?!

SPORTbible: You had an illustrious career in WCW and later WWE - so many great memories for you but when you look back, which ones stick out in your mind?

DDP: New Orleans is probably at the top of the list, where I put the NWO shirt on. The air was like sucked out of the building and then I dropped the two leading members of the NWO, no-one had dropped them and the roof exploded! That was being put in a spot where it was like 'this guy could ignite, this guy could maybe move up the ladder here' - that was all I needed. And if you knew how hard it was to get it to happen, because nobody believed in my idea; me turning on the NWO. The powers that be did not see me in that position and Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, they fought for it and it took ten weeks. They started the angle one week, it was supposed to happen three weeks later, two weeks later; they put it on and off TV so many times it was like it was never going to happen so that moment finally coming together, I know that moment is what started it all for me but Randy Savage taking the Diamond Cutter at Spring Stampede in the middle, that's what made me and I've got a great story that I'll share about that at the Hall of Fame.

The friday night before, we didn't wrestle on Saturday nights before pay-per-views because they wanted everyone fresh in there, so they would bring everyone in a day early, Arn [Anderson] comes in and says to Randy "So what are you gonna do tonight?" and it's just me and him in the locker room, we're in the main event, we're tying up our boots. We hadn't gone to the 22,000 seat arenas yet, we were so hot that 11,000 people, they couldn't fit another person in the building. You've got to understand, I was getting my ass kicked every night. I may be taking on Savage but here comes the NWO and DDP is either going to get laid out or I'm gonna hit a couple of Diamond Cutters and escape through the crowd - that's the finish. But this night Randy says "I think I want to take the Diamond Cutter" and we went out there, he beat the crap out of me and made me fight back from everything, for most of the time he was on top.

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And finally I blew my comeback, he stopped me in the middle of it and went to slam me and said "Diamond Cutter!" and I fucking hit him, we dropped back, I flipped him around and hit him with a Diamond Cutter and the roof exploded. The rumbling, they're banging their feet, they're getting louder and louder and the refs counting "Five!" "Six" "Seven" "Eight" and I just roll over him and lay my arm across him and the 1-2-3, it was the loudest pop I've ever heard. It was so loud, they were screaming at the top of their lungs and it didn't last for like 30 seconds, it kept going!

I've got my arm over Randy and we're just listening to all that - it was like God put a code of silence over us so I could hear what he said and he goes "Well I guess we know what we're doing for Spring Stampede" and I just thought to myself, "Is he fucking with me?!". Nobody beats Randy unless Randy said it was okay. For us to be voted 'Feud of the Year' in 1997, that year was just crazy magic for me.

SPORTbible: You were obviously a big part of the brilliant Jake The Snake documentary, a film that detailed Jake getting back on the right path after battling his demons. Scott Hall's journey was also heavily featured and it all culminated in the two being inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2012. How was it for you seeing two of your closest friends go from such a dark place to turning their lives around and getting the recognition they deserve?

DDP: It was amazing. Again it was my birthday, right on my birthday I got to induct Jake [Roberts] - talk about a birthday present! And to see Scott go in too. Again, my first moment is in New Orleans with Scott taking the Diamond Cutter and Kevin [Nash] getting backdropped over the top as I took off through the crowd. Scott Hall, I helped him by creating the 'Diamond Studd' which literally became Razor Ramon and came back and became Scott Hall again in WCW. I helped all that facilitate and he helped me, it's part of what we do - we're bros and we take care of each other.

Jake, I'm just writing in my induction speech and I talk about the first time I met Dusty [Rhodes] and I talk about the first time I met Jake and it was in my nightclub in Fort Myers, Florida. We became drinking buddies but our real friendship didn't really blossom until he came in to WCW and then I got hurt and he took me under his wing. I always say without Dusty Rhodes there is no Diamond Dallas Page. Without Jake the Snake Roberts, there's no three-time world champion and there is certainly not a WWE Hall of Famer so any time I could help Jake out, it was big to me. I tried to help him a bunch of times but he wasn't ready and you gotta be ready to get help, you gotta be ready to put the work in and I guided those guys but I didn't do the work, they did.

Jake is doing a twelve-day road trip through Texas and every day he is doing his show, his spoken word and he does a signing after that. Jake is probably making more money than he's ever made because he never made the big money but because of him turning his life around, I don't think there's anybody more loved than all the boys as Jake and Scott and the reason is because they were so great at what they did but they also were human and fucked up a lot. A lot of people want to see that comeback story and I don't think there's been a better comeback than the one Jake has done and to have been a part of it, our movie The Resurrection of Jake the Snake, right now on Netflix we are the second highest rated sports documentary and we're the number one highest rated biopic by the fans. It blows my mind when I talk to someone who's a wrestling fan and hasn't seen it.

SPORTbible: DDP Yoga was obviously a huge factor in Jake and Scott's resurgence and is producing such amazing results for people of all walks of life. What can you tell us about the programme, why you set it up and how is it producing these results?

DDP: Because there's so many people that do it and with the app, the DDP Yoga Now app, people can get it instantly and the younger generation, 28 and younger, they don't want the DVDs, they just want the app and the app is so extensive - it's not just workouts. I've been doing a live workout for over a year and a half and I never do the same workout twice. The live workout could be beginner, intermediate or it could be advanced or it could be a chair workout. It could be me with a huge group of people, it could be me by myself or me with four different people - every time I do it, I do it differently. Right there alone there's about 80 different workouts just online then you've got DDP Yoga for kids, DDP Yoga for mammas, we've got the DDP chair warrior warrior workouts which are really for disabled vets, the elderly, people who are really obese and really beat up because you need a chair and you saw in the movie the Resurrection, both Jake and Scott using them.

Arthur Boorman, the disabled vet that I helped not just walk but run again, he was the one first starting out with the chair workouts. It's everything from sitting in a chair and not getting up to the crazy psycho workouts I do once in a while.

And then there's all these amazing cooking shows that show you these amazing recipes. They are so simple, they taste amazing and they are healthy. Then there's all the motivational stuff on the DDP Yoga Now app. Every Monday, 'Motivational Monday' - there's so many different things that we put up there and the tracking from the weight to the measurements on your body, your pain index, your blood sugar, your blood pressure - we track everything.

SPORTbible: What have been some of the inspiring stories and transformations you have come across through DDP Yoga and your motivational talks?

DDP: Oh my god it never stops! We have so many, every week we come out with another one. There's this great story about this man or this woman and how they overcame whatever their obstacle was with DDP Yoga. Whenever anyone tells me "Man I'm so depressed, inspire me", the first thing I ask is "So who have you helped lately?" and nine times of of ten they'll go "What?". Who have you reached out to and helped? I don't care whether it's the little old lady across the street, going to an old folks home and reading to old people who can't see or going to a children's hospital and playing a game with some of those kids who are dying of cancer but you never know it by the smile on their faces. When you help somebody, you feel good about you. Jake [Roberts] is helping so many people and that's why he feels so great about himself and he's the best example I can give of it.

When I see my mentor and buddy taking a guy who meets in San Antonio, Texas, who's 550 pounds and he brings him on the road with him, moves him into his house in Las Vegas and now he's down to 180 pounds in a year because Jake's got him organic juicing, eating better and doing DDP Yoga. Alex and Jake, they both did a chair workout with us and at this point this is the second time he worked out with me and he picked it right it up and he was still 470 pounds at the time. No-one can tell me they can't do the workout, not the way I've made it. If you really wanted to change, if you really wanted to just change your life, but own your life, you put the work in, it's as simple as that.

SPORTbible: You yourself are in incredible shape for your age and that's allowed you to make a number of in-ring appearances for WWE over the last couple of years. How much have you enjoyed getting back in the ring and dishing out a few Diamond Cutters?

DDP: God it was so much fun, I've got to thank Michael PS Hayes because he booked all that because he knew I was going to blow the roof off, they [the fans] hadn't seen me in 13 years - they saw me do the little thing with Heath Slater but when I went out there, I had no idea what was going to happen. I was certain that Randy Orton was going to be the next guy through the door and he was going to hit me with the RKO and I'm done but he never showed up which I loved because I was like "Hey legend killer, you haven't killed me yet!".

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When I was going to the truck, nobody sees you because when you're there for the Rumble no-one knows except for the guys you're working with and of course that was Fandango, I love that guy, Cody Rhodes, who I've known since he was seven years old, and Bray Wyatt, one of my favourite guys. Him and [Randy] Orton are two of my favourite guys to watch.

Cody sent me a text that it is very apropo that I would be the first to be fed to you and it was funny because he didn't understand that when I slid in, I wanted him to beat me down and then he goes to slam me and I pull him and turn him into the Diamond Cutter - it didn't really make sense to him at the time but he didn't disagree or argue with me, he was just like "Ok dude if that's what you want". He sent me a text later on and said "You know I didn't really get it in the beginning but I totally understood it when it was happening, great call". Beat him down, go to slam me and BANG! That's the Savage Diamond Cutter.

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Then the off the top rope one, Kanyon or Eddie Guerrero was the first to take that one and then go for the clothesline, I duck it, hook you and spin you and bang you - I never did that on TV, that was the first time anyone had seen that one and Bray [Wyatt] took it like the stud that he is.

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SPORTbible: And finally, how much of the current product do you get to watch these days and who are your favourite superstars to watch?

DDP: I watch periodically. I love the girls, if Charlotte Flair ain't her daddy's daughter I don't know who is because that woman is spectacular, she is mind-blowing as far as what she can do. I love the Boss [Sasha Banks] and also Becky Lynch and I love Nikki Bella, she got there working her ass off and she's coming off a broken neck - these girls are amazing today and I would've loved to have seen Madusa in her prime. I would love to have seen Charlotte vs Madusa, I can't even imagine those two studs out there just killing it.

And the other guys, I'm a big fan of John Cena and I don't understand the people who don't like him because he's the total package, when it comes to being able to talk he's as a good as anyone ever but his workrate out there, he works his ass off - 'I've never seen him phone in one match ever and there's plenty of times he could do it but he doesn't. He's carried that company on his shoulders for over ten years and forget all that, it's all the charity work he does because there's nobody who does more.

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Goldberg, I'm so happy the push that they gave him and it makes total sense because you don't want to expose anything before Wrestlemania and really couldn't have got in that ring and done anything more than he's done in those first couple of months because he had to get his ring rust off, he's not wrestled in fifteen years so it was beautifully booked and now I think he'll go out there and have a pretty good match with the Beast [Brock Lesnar]. Personally, at 49 I think I could probably do it but I sure as hell wouldn't want to go near him now!

Words by Josh Lawless

Featured Image Credit: DDP Yoga

Topics: DDP, Diamond Dallas Page, WWE