DDP is a former WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and he’s also a WWE Hall of Famer. Nowadays Diamond Dallas Page is a bonafide legend both inside and outside of the wrestling ring, but when he joined WWE during the Invasion angle in 2001 he was trying his best to establish himself as a star in a new company.
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It seemed like DDP was set for big things, as he went right into a feud with The Undertaker when he debuted. But The Undertaker made short work of DDP, and the feud didn’t do much to establish him as a star. During a recent interview with The Mirror, DDP noted that there was a legitimate heat on the WCW guys when they joined the company, and the feud was designed for Taker to go over.
“No, more than anything, it was designed like that, like beat down the WCW guys. There was a lot of heat that was before us when we first came in there. But bear in mind this was 15 years ago. It is was it is and it lasted a long time. But now when I’m there, forget about it. Ever since I did The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 1, after that I was back in, because they loved what I did. Then they kept bringing me back to do it and we kept selling DVDs. They don’t even do DVDs any more, but I see I’ve got one, Scott Hall’s got one, Eric Bischoff’s got one… I was so happy just to have it and see it on the shelf. I really can’t wait until it gets to the WWE Network, so people can really see it.”
Despite the fact that things didn’t work out that great for DDP during his initial run with WWE, he’s on good terms with the company now. The Hall of Famer has worked with WWE on a few projects, and he’s also been brought back for on screen appearances.
When asked about his involvement with the 2015 Royal Rumble and the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32, DDP had nothing but good things to say about his experience.
“Yeah I just couldn’t believe it. Vince picked me for that. He only wanted to pick guys who can work and he picked me and Tatanka and gave me my entrance music. And it was huge. It was two days before my 60th birthday. I don’t remember if it was $20,000 or $30,000 for me to do it, but I’d have done it for nothing! Ha ha. Because walking out in front of 101,000 people… one of my buddies got a pic of me throwing up the Diamond Cutter sign and that whole three tiers of the stadium throwing up the sign. No one knew I was going to be doing that, I kept my mouth shut because I always do, and it was an awesome pop. I saw Stephanie [McMahon] and Hunter together and I came up behind and just hugged them both, like ‘thank you so much for the birthday present!'”
