It has been leaked and reported by multiple sources that Diamond Dallas Page will be entering the WWE Hall of Fame this Wrestlemania weekend.
Page is (or soon to be was) ranked #47 on our Notinhalloffame.com WWE list.
The first time that DDP entered the wrestling scene was as a manager in the American Wrestling Association in 1988. He would manage the tag team of Bad Company (Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka) to the AWA World Tag Team Champions, and while this was a promotion that was deep into its decline, it was still national exposure.
When the AWA folded, Page returned to Florida where he was a club manager and did sporadic work for Florida based independent promotions. Most notably his love of professional wrestling was evident as he drove his pink Cadillac to Toronto so that he could appear as the chauffeur for Rhythm & Blues at Wrestlemania VI.
Page would be signed by World Championship Wrestling in 1991 and would manage the Fabulous Freebirds and the Diamond Studd (Scott Hall), however he noticed that he was as large if not larger than the people he managed. In his late 30’s, DDP decided to train to become a professional wrestler. His peers scoffed at him. Fans ignored him. However a funny thing started to happen. He was getting to be pretty good.
By 1995 Dallas was a regular performer on Pay Per View and would win his first championship, the WCW Television Title. He would feud with Johnny B. Badd over the title eventually losing the belt to him and was forced to leave WCW when he lost a loser leaves town match to the Booty Man.
Page would be back shortly after and would win the “Lord of the Ring” at Slamboree 1996, however it was that winter when his star really began to shine. He was asked to join the New World Order by his friends, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, which he declined, setting him on track to become one of the top faces in the company.
1997 would see Page ascend to the main event where he feuded with Randy Savage and would later with the United States Title. He would also have a memorable and high drawing main event where he tagged with basketball star, Karl Malone against Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman. The only thing that Dallas Page hadn’t done yet was win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
At War Games 1998, Page would win the match to earn a title shot against Bill Goldberg at Halloween Havoc. DDP didn’t win, but he took Goldberg to what was believed to be his best match at the time. The following year, Page would win the title in a four corners match.
World Championship Wrestling would suffer a serious decline through horrible booking decisions, but Diamond Dallas Page remained a highlight of the company to the bitter end. He would win the Word Title twice more and the Tag Team Titles on multiple occasions prior to the organization being sold to the WWE.
Page had a lofty contract that he could have sat on and made money without wrestling. That wasn’t the type of guy that he accepted a buyout of his AOL contract. He would make his debut as the “stalker” of the Undertaker’s wife, Sara, and while Page was used poorly in the WWE, he did win a title (European) and competed at Wrestlemania.
He was forced to retire due to injury, and while he made sporadic appearances elsewhere, arguably his biggest contribution in wrestling and in lifestyle in general; DDP Yoga.
Dallas began yoga in the 90’s and found that it helped him so much that he developed a program called “Yoga for Regular Guys”. This would evolve into DDP Yoga, which has not just become a go to for professional wrestlers but has exploded into a huge workout phenomenon.
Going back to wrestling, this was the man who put a program that saved the life of WWE Hall of Famers, Jake “The Snake Roberts and Scott Hall. Had it not been for the efforts of Page, it is certain that Hall and Roberts would not have been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and very possible that those two would not be alive today.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Dallas Page last year and in our conversation with him, we know that he was happier when Scott Hall and Jake Roberts were chosen then when he was (or in that case, would have been) selected.
We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Diamond Dallas Page for this honor and we can not wait to see who will join him in the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame Class.
Diamond Dallas Page to enter the WWE HOF
- Written by Committee Chairman
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Published in Not in Hall of Fame News
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Read 2137 times
06 Jan
2017
2017
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