DDP Compares WWE HOFer To Sylvester Stallone In Terms Of Storytelling
On the latest episode of the DDP Snake Pit podcast, Diamond Dallas Page and AEW's Jake Roberts paid tribute to WWE and WCW wrestling legend Ricky Steamboat. DDP in particular had huge praise for the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion, declaring him the most underrated wrestling Hall of Famer in history.
"I think he's the most underrated Hall of Famer of all time," DDP said. "The most underrated of all time."
DDP further put over Steamboat, crediting him for setting the standard when it came to selling and storytelling. DDP talked about watching some of Steamboat's famous matches during his WCW run, and how he used those matches as inspiration for his feud with good friend Marc Mero, then known as Johnny B. Badd.
"I put Ricky, especially when it comes to selling and storytelling, in the same spot as Sylvester Stallone," DDP said. "When you watch that first Rocky, you're moving in the chair, like, when you're feeling it. I watched when Steamboat and Mach (Randy Savage) had that WrestleMania match. Me and Marc Mero were working together at the time, and for some reason, there was a period in wrestling where there weren't a lot of false finishes. It pretty much went right into the finish, there was a couple 'boom, bump' and then the guy went over.
"I watched that match over and over again, and then I watched Steamboat and Flair. It was very much the same thing. The storytelling as they got into it, these guys worked together a thousand times. And that's what Ricky had with the greats like Macho Man, and he had it with Ric Flair.
"But me and Mero were working together and if you go back to anything me and Mero did, I can't remember if it was 95 or 96 (pretty sure it was 95 into 96), I watched those tapes. And I watch it and I watch it, and then I call Mero up. I'm like, 'Marc, let's watch this. Watch what they're doing here.' They (WCW) didn't put us on Nitro. We're doing the 6:05 show or 9:05 in the morning on Saturday or Sunday. But they let us — Terry Taylor would let us be the dark match. So every night, every Monday, we're on TV and we get to go. And there was some point in the time of us working together were all of a sudden you almost heard the whole crowd go 'one, two, oh!!!!' I looked up and I go 'we got them!' And I learned that from Steamboat. Me being the heel and trying to get Marc more of that babyface, and later, I stole that stuff and flipped it around and used it."
To quote this article, please credit DDP Snake Pit and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription