Diamond Dallas Page On MJF’s Star Power, His Admiration For Darby Allin (Exclusive)
Photo Credit: Lee South/AEW
Diamond Dallas Page caught up with WrestleZone’s Dominic DeAngelo and “The Master Of Positivity (and DDPY)” had plenty to say about some of the up-and-coming stars in AEW, including his adversary, MJF.
It was back in mid-January when DDP returned to the ring, marking the sixth decade he has tied on a pair of wrestling boots. Page gave some info as to how his body handled his return to hitting the canvas, including laying down his one-of-a-kind delivery on his patented Diamond Cutter a week before his triple tag match.
“When Butcher came through that clothesline, I ducked it and I gotta pull him to Cutter and that sonovabitch is huuuge, I mean he’s a big 300-pounder and turning him, now I haven’t done that. Now remember, not like I’m doing Diamond Cutters every week anymore…far and few between and I always loved that version when I saw him come with the clothesline, I figured that’s what I’m doing and I ducked it, Cut him, pulled him and when I pulled him cause he’s so damn big and I am 64 – I’m still a Ferrari but I got 900,097 miles on me, you know? So when I pulled him into the cutter, I didn’t tear a muscle in my back but I super strained one, which turned into a spasm and then Blade came at me and I flipped it into the Cutter off of the slam and when I did that, my back was already really hurting me and I just said, ‘The hell with it, I’m laying out flat and this thing’s not going to not look good because of that,’ and I hit that, boom, boom, got up there and that was the end of it. That week like ‘Oh my God, my back…'”
Dallas details that his back pain wasn’t his spine, but the spasms he encountered. He went to his doctor, Ted West, who helped with that. Once he started feeling better, he began making plans for the match the next week, including his big top rope spot.
“I thought, ‘Man, if I go off the top rope today,’ now I’ve never done that. Totally foreign to me. ‘You know let me climb these ropes,’ out there on the arena and I’m just playing around with them and I thought, ‘Man, I could do this. I got this,’ and I ended up going up a couple times, didn’t go all the way to the top, the one foot on top didn’t take both feet up there and finally I did that. I thought, ‘I feel comfortable with this, I’m gonna do this. It’s gonna be great. I’m gonna be Mando Guerrero. Not Eddie, Mando was the first person I ever saw do that.’
DDP saw Mando do that first hand during his time as a manager for Bad Company in Verne Gagne’s AWA and thought doing the same thing at 64 years young was a great way to pay homage to the man.
“Here I am getting ready to do that same thing. That would have been ’88, this is 2020, so that would be 32 years later you know, that I’m going off and what happened was I felt really good in those ropes,” said DDP, who decided to climb the ropes one more time when no one was at the arena. He noted that when he went to climb up, he slipped and strained his knee, then looked around and saw a guy spraying the ropes with disinfectant. “That shit just happens,” said Dallas. “You lose a little part of your body every single time you ever get into that ring.”
2 months away from 64 baby! 💥#DDPYWORKS DDP💎
📷: @DocuSteve pic.twitter.com/fvMzqkkaev— Diamond Dallas Page (@RealDDP) February 1, 2020
Page knows that the awe-inspiring moves that the young talent does nowadays can take a toll on their bodies, but has a great appreciation for what they add to the wrestling business, including a star like Darby Allin.
“The impact that these guys and I’m a big Darby Allin fan, and I’m like, ‘Dude, sell more. Sell more!”
DEANGELO: “He’s a great seller too. He’s a great seller.”
PAGE: “He’s a great seller! I mean he’s great! If I was agenting his match, I would go, ‘Okay, cut this, this and this out and sell, but everybody’s trying to get everybody so they can get their shit in, but he’s great. I love that kid. Now here’s a kid, when I was on the boat, Jericho cruise, Both big workouts that I did he was right there on stage with me. Him and Priscilla [Kelly], his girl. Both there working out with me on stage, he comes in the [DDPY] Performance Center. We worked out together a bunch of times. Cause he needs to, he really needs to.”
Dallas adds that even though the two are at odds, MJF does the DDPY program too, and just like Allin, sees plenty of squared circle upswing in one of wrestling’s hottest heels.
“He’s so far ahead of the curve. Very Ric Flair-esque, Dusty Rhodes-esque, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts-esque in his abilities. The Rock, Austin. He’s got that thing, you know?”
“I honestly believe that he will be the biggest thing in the business in the next two to three years,” says the WWE Hall of Famer.
DDP realizes that they death-defying moves and spots are what is a strong part of the attraction today in wrestling, and he thinks MJF presents a great balance of the two distinct styles.
“That’s a big part of what today is. I’m so glad I’m not part of that generation, just physically, I’m watching it I’m like ‘Oh my God,’ but that kid’s got both, he’s pretty much a ground soldier, but he can get all his heat just by talking.”
That being said, he knows that there’s an audience for both.
“Like for some of the people who get like, ‘Oh, man. They’re not selling anything, they’re just doing all these big moves,’ it’s like, ‘listen to the crowd,'” DDP stated.
“To me, there’s two types of wrestling moves: there is the high-impact, daredevil-esque moves, just mind-blowing precision. You know the Bucks, The Bucks, they created their own thing. They’re the only ones ever to have like a deal with Hot Topic with their t-shirts cause they were selling everywhere and you know me, I appreciate marketing machines. They’re out there putting their body on the line every time they go out there and they’re so entertaining and the people they so love them for the way they put their bodies on the line and then you go to a match where like Dustin and Cody and there’s a lot of storytelling going on there, still with some big bumps and I think the fans, they love both. They love both as far as the storytelling and the amazing athleticism that these guys have and again, for me, starting at 35, my career taking off at 40, some of those things that I’d have started at 23 I’d have been doing all that crazy stuff too (laughs), but I love all those guys. I hope they don’t have shortened careers because of the impact, but I know that they’re human, and that’s where my DDPY program comes in a lot.”
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)
Plenty more from this interview, including DDP’s thoughts on Drew McIntyre, his daughter Lexi Nair taking hold of the interview mic in AEW and one fantastic Dusty Rhodes story. Check out the entire conversation between DDP and Dominic below:
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Feel like you can fine-tune the impact your body takes in everyday life? Check out DDPY by going here and perhaps consider throwing your hat in the ring at participating in his “Positively Unstoppable Challenge” in which documenting your six-month transformation could sack you $1,000,000.