I briefly met DDP at the comic convention last year in Calgary and he was going on about his yoga deal there, too. I'm glad that wrestlers like him and Trish Stratus can find success after WWE, actually, without having to crawl back begging for a job again. Plus he hosted that Nitro DVD, so obviously he's on good terms with them, too.Hi,This story is 100 percent open on the website and will be accessible.Thanks much!
Wrestling doesn't have to end in tragedy for its participants if they take care of themselves, save/invest their money, and get out when they feel they can't do it anymore. There's so many options open to them now. Movies, TV, or even just a regular 9-5 job.
ReplyDeleteI'd really like to see wrestling fans expand their idea of post wrestling "success" to include jobs outside Hollywood. Not everyone can make themselves into a movie star like Rock, and there's no shame in not being able to. Nor does it mean they'll have to come crawling back to WWE for a paycheck.
DDP also has appeared on a few Legends Roundtables. On the "celebrities" ep, he and JR got into it b/c JR was flat out against Arquette. DDP tried to defend him as best he could (saying how Arquette refused the title as much as possible, how he donated any money associated with it to PIllman's wife), and also really talked up Malone. To be honest, while I think DDP was overselling things, I did find JR to be a tad too stubborn. I haven't watched the 2nd half yet, which is about musicians as the celebrities, but in the 1st half he made it clear that he wasn't a fan of Cyndi Lauper being involved, which I think is really interesting since from what I can tell, by all accounts she was considered to be a really good addition both in terms of coverage and just in terms of how she interacted with everything.
ReplyDeleteJR was right about Arquette though. True he donated his paycheck to Pillman and others but that doesn't change the fact it was an awful idea.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I was concerned the DDP character was boring and in the ring he was buttpiss, but the dude himself seems incredibly likable and the classic "wanna have a beer" type. I'm glad he found a life after wrestling.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge DDP fan. I thought he was one of the brightest stars in WCW's history and a real admirable story within the wrestling business. Here was a guy who was a manager but had the passion to get into the ring himself. While a terrible wrestler at the start, he probably had a job for life due to his friendship with Bischoff...and yet Page wouldn't settle for being terrible, he actively busted his ass to get better.
ReplyDeleteSo, when he starts getting his 'friend of Bischoff' push, Page actually comes out of it as a legitimate star. He is a better worker, has a great finisher and becomes genuinely over since his 'common, hard-working guy' gimmick is the perfect counter to the nWo. Along the way he gives us no shortage of great matches with Savage, Raven, Benoit, Sting, Goldberg, Hogan....Page's habit of choreographing his bouts basically ensured that he could get a good bout with anyone until his body started to break down around 2000.
I'm not sure if it's the fact that he was Bischoff's pal or the fact that he started out as such a terrible wrestler, but I've never gotten the amount of the hate that Page engenders online. I thought he was an all-around success story and a thoroughly entertaining pro wrestler.
Presonally, I think he was definitely overselling on Arquette but JR (and maybe Piper and Hayes?) were trying to lump the Rodman/Malone stuff into the Leno/Arquette stuff which is silly, as that did huge business for WCW and is Top-5 in terms of the top selling wrestling PPVs of the 1990s.
ReplyDeleteI understand the temptation to say "well see, that's just another example of why WCW lost the battle, they took the focus off of the young wrestlers" with the benefit of knowing WCW went out of business, but it's kind of like saying that Mr. T's WrestleMania appearance at WrestleMania 1 led to the WWF's decline in 1990. The WWF was defenitely charging ahead in terms of ratings, but WCWs ratings were still on an upward tick, live attendance was higher than it ever was, house shows were strong, etc.
Yeah, I had never really thought about it, but in the end it is a pretty great story.
ReplyDeleteHis early years were unremarkable, with his most notable contribution to wresting being him chauffeuring the Honky Tonk Man and company at WrestleMania VI. He toiled in anonymity for several years in WCW before hitting his stride in a series of surprisingly excellent matches against Johnny B Badd, where I think most people figured Badd would be the breakout star. He had some good matches against Eddie Guerrero and was making a solid contribution to the midcard before the NWO stuff happened and by then
he was a pretty polished pro -- the perfect time to breakout as a star.
After a great run, he gets out of wrestling relatively unscathed and has had no run-ins with the law and doesn't seem to spend his days in a one-bedroom apartment downing cocaine and Somas.
DDP's Yoga for Regular Guys is a pretty good idea, assuming he can get the regular guys to go for it. I think the main thing that turns people off of yoga is the whole hippie spiritual mumbo jumbo, but in reality it's pretty intense. I have really intense back & shoulder pain on some days and after doing just a few minutes of yoga I feel great. So give DDP credit for having some business acumen. I get the feeling a lot of wrestlers who leave the business and go on to less impressive jobs are really just suffering for lack of imagination.
ReplyDeleteNot seen much evidence of the universal internet hatred for Page of which you speak (probably because RSPWFAQ is the only online wrestling website I ever visit), but if that's the case, said haters are seriously fucking ill-informed. Page may never have been an HBK standard wrestler, or an Austin level draw, but he was always one of my favourites. Him winning the title at Spring Stampede 99 (one of my favourite PPVs ever, as it happens) is such a fantastic moment - the sight of almost everyone in the arena replicating his diamond hand movement as he holds the title aloft (upside down actually, I believe - he's also featured in a Botchamania entering a match with his US title upside down as it happens, so it was clearly a habit) post-match is just fucking epic*. The fans totally loved his schtick, he had charisma oozing out of every pore and was a fucking great worker when he wanted to be. I'm happy to admit to being a total DDP mark, and I will personally murder anyone who criticises him with my bare hands.
ReplyDeleteFrom the interviews with Page I've seen, heard and read, he comes across as a ***** fellow too. His discussion of his match with Goldberg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHcJi47_bpQ) is definitely worth a listen. I really think WWE should get Page on commentary - his passion for and knowledge of the business is a real delight, and he clearly genuinely loves his fans too.
*Of course, they immediately turned him heel, had him job to Sting and win the title back in the course of a single night, and ultimately lose his title to Kevin Nash a month later, but hey - this is WCW we're talking about.
But the kids liked him and he didn't do drugs or cheat on his wife so obviously he's perfect.
ReplyDeleteLOL
ReplyDeleteIt just kills you that you're not the target audience anymore doesn't it?
Cry more, maybe Vince will listen to the internet minority. Lord knows every time he does you guys stopped bitching...right? Oh...no...I guess not.
I HATED DDP growing up, mainly because I thought he looked like white trash and his attitude was goofy to me. He also felt a little "pushed down my throat", and he was always booked to look great in matches, where a lot of deserving guys got de-pushed. And apparently he came across really needy to a lot of wrestlers from what I've heard. Plus his wife was unacceptably hot compared to him- it annoyed me that a trashy tattooed goofball could have KIMBERLY PAGE, and being a teenage virgin made it all the worse. And I know he got a bad rep on the net from fans and writers alike (I assume a lot of bitter wrestlers with a bone to pick also took shots at him to Meltzer and stuff).
ReplyDeleteHowever, age has warmed me to him. He had a positive attitude, never fucked up notably, and had some GREAT matches with sub-par opponents (granted, due to pre-match planning, but you don't see fans jumping on Randy Savage for the same thing). I don't mind him nearly as much. I'm still no huge fan, but I can appreciate him.
I'm actually one of the youngest people on the Blog. Seriously, I didn't watch the Attitude Era at all, because I was in elementary school.
ReplyDeleteAnd I like Cena for his talent, not for his rolemodelship, I just dislike you and will take any opportunity I can to mock you.
So I have my own troll now? Yay!
ReplyDeleteMy very own follower. This will be good times.