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BANG!
Say that one, four-letter word to any wrestling fan across the globe and he/she will immediately think of Diamond Dallas Page – the world famous superstar and former WCW heavyweight champion.
‘DDP’ as he is known throughout wrestling circles was in New Orleans this week for Wrestlemania XXX’s festivities.
The former world champion took a little bit of time out of his busy schedule and sat down with Sports Editor Casey Gisclair to give his thoughts on his career and several other topics.
DDP shared the inside scoop on his newest endeavor, DDP Yoga, which is helping several athletes throughout the world of sports.
CG: DDP welcome to New Orleans, Sir! It’s definitely a great weekend for Wrestlemania, isn’t it?
DDP: Thank you, it’s a pleasure to be here. It’s definitely the best time of the year to be a wrestling fan. This Mania will be special.
CG: I want to start out by talking about your career, man. Through watching WWE Network, I’ve enjoyed watching some of the old matches in your career. Did you guys understand at the time how special those moments were?
DDP: I’ll be honest with you. I really did. I knew it from the beginning. I’ve been around wrestling since I was a kid. So I knew immediately that there had never been anything at all like what we were doing. We were hot. We were absolutely red hot. It was a special time and a special era, and we had so many Hall of Fame guys in their primes. It was an incredible era. But you talked about the WWE Network. How you like it so far?
CG: I absolutely love it. It’s definitely a great thing to watch at night time when I’m bored.
DDP: Listen, let me tell you something. The Network is unbelievable. I don’t even know what else to say about it. You pay fricken $9.99 a month and you get all of the pay per views. That alone is worth it. You also get to see NXT, which his where all the young kids are competing. Everything soon will be like this. All of TV will be through the Internet someday. Vince McMahon, what can you say about him? He’s Vince. He’s a genius. He’s just way ahead of the turtle on this one. Typical Vince.
CG: So take me back to those days. Who was your favorite guy to work with in the ring during the prime of your career?
DDP: Well, my favorite feud was with (Randy) Savage. That was epic. But if I was going to get in the ring and have a tear-down match, I would want to work with Sting, because anything involving him had people invested so deeply in the match. I loved working with Kanyon. I loved working with Raven. Scott Hall was another one. I really enjoyed any guy that I could get in there and tear it down with. I enjoyed anyone the crowd would react to. The people always reacted to me. But if they could react to the other guy, too, then it was even better.
CG: One of the reasons why you had such fan interest was because of the Diamond Cutter. Tell me about that move. How did it become your own?
DDP: Well actually, John Laurinaitis did a version of it up in Japan, but his was different – it didn’t come out of nowhere. It was a one-handed neckbreaker. So he gave me that and then William Regal gave me a hold called the Crovatte, which was based on leverage. In that move, if I went to the mat, it didn’t matter if the other guy did or didn’t, but he was coming with me. Then, I looked at Jake and saw how he hit his DDT out of nowhere within the blink of an eye. So I took all three of those things and made it my finishing move. The reason why you guys all love that move so much is because it came out of nowhere and it surprised you. So that’s the story of that. It was a great finisher. It’s a big reason for my popularity, because the fans love to be surprised.
CG: So I know your career as an active competitor is over, and you’re doing the DDP Yoga now. Tell me about that. What exactly is it that you do?
DDP: Well let me start by saying this. I’m a guy that wouldn’t have been caught dead doing yoga the first 42 years of my life. But when you start wrestling at 35 and your career takes off at 40, you sometimes try different things. That was in 1997, and then in 1998, here I am. I’m DDP. I’m on top of the world. But then I blew my back out. I went to three specialists and they all told me that I was done. So around that same time, yoga was introduced to me, and I said to them, ‘Nah ahhh, I ain’t doing that.’ But that was pretty ignorant of me. I did more research and I saw that a lot of athletes were getting into it. But I just didn’t like all of that spiritual mumbo jumbo – that stuff doesn’t work with me. I respect it, but it’s not what I do. In DDP Yoga, I get rid of that mumbo jumbo and I add in rehabilitation techniques. I’ve had surgery in both shoulders. I’ve had surgery in both knees. If there’s anything that I know, I know rehab. So I mixed the yoga positions – and you notice, I didn’t say ridiculous words like posture or pose – with rehab and different techniques that I picked up from old-school calisthenics. It’s all about flexing your muscles and engaging your muscles as you move from one position to the next. So your heart rate gets jacked up because of this and the body works really efficiently. Remember this, and put this down: DDP Yoga is kick ass cardio. It will dramatically increase your flexibility with minimal joint impact. In less than three months of doing this, I was back in the ring. They told me I was done and I was finished. By age 43, I was back and I was the heavyweight champ of the world. So obviously, I’m not dumb. I wanted to make that part of my full-time workout. I don’t work out anymore. All I do is DDP Yoga. I’m 225 pounds and I’m shredded. I stand 6-feet, 5-inches, and I’m about to be 58. It’s a great feeling.
CG: Wow. That’s a great thing. Congratulations on that progress. Now, I know you’ve been helping guys like Jake the Snake Roberts and Scott Hall with the DDP Yoga, as well. Tell me about those stories.
DDP: Let me start out by saying this – without Dusty Rhodes, there is no DDP. But without Jake the Snake Roberts, I’d have never been in any main events or anything. I got with Jake about 18 months ago. When I saw him, he was about 300 pounds. He was so bloated, beaten up and broken down that he could barely get out of a chair. When Jake came to me, our goal was to get Jake back to respect Jake. We wanted to get him off the coke and off the crack. We wanted to cut out the booze and the pills and everything he was doing. I’m not a rehab guy, but I just show you how to heal your body. When your body feels better, your mind will feel better. We got him doing DDP Yoga and we started filming this movie called ‘The Resurrection of Jake the Snake’. And in the beginning, it was like what are you guys doing? This is a waste of time. But our goal was to get Jake healthy. But our big pie in the sky goal was to get Jake in the WWE Hall of Fame. And here I am 18 months later. I’m in New Orleans right now, and on Saturday night on my birthday, I’m going to see Jake and another one of my guys, Scott Hall, get on that stage and get their place in the Hall of Fame. It’s amazing, man. It’s humbling.
CG: Tell me about Hall’s journey and story with DDP Yoga. What is his story with your program?
DDP: When Scott got to my house, he rolled into my house. He literally rolled in. He was on a wheelchair. He couldn’t walk. And guess what? Anyone in New Orleans will see him now. Anyone at home will see him if they have the WWE Network. He’s not in a wheelchair anymore, is he? He’s not on the booze and the drugs anymore, is he? He’s doing amazing. DDP Yoga took two guys who were going to be statistics (Jake and Hall), and instead they are now righting their lives and will walk across the stage and get into that Hall of Fame on Saturday night. I cannot tell you how happy that makes me, man. It’s an absolute kick ass feeling.
CG: Well, DDP, thanks for the time. I feel like I learned a lot today about DDP Yoga.
DDP: Yeah, don’t be like me. Have the courage to try it. Go on Facebook and read what people say. I can control what’s said on a commercial, but I can’t control what people on social media have to say. Their comments speak for themselves. You can’t fake the impact that this is having on people and in changing their lives.
Former wrestling world champion Diamond Dallas Page poses in his signature Diamond Cutter pose during a photoshoot for his newest venture, DDP Yoga. The multi-time champion spent time with Sports Editor Casey Gisclair this week to discuss his career.
