Diamond Dallas Page Talks To Us About RAW Return, Conversation With CM Punk, DDP Yoga, More
As noted earlier, I spoke with "Diamond" Dallas Page earlier this week about his return on RAW this past Monday night. Here is the full interview. Also, make sure to learn more about DDPYoga by clicking here.
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When he found out about the appearance: "I found out about a couple of days before. Johnny Ace called me up and asked if I could make it. I was in Louisville at a Fright Night fanfest — I do a lot of those because I was Billy Ray Snapper in Devils Rejects, which was like the Reservoir Dogs when it comes to horror. So I was working for five straight days, then I had to catch a flight at 4:00 in the morning to go to Laredo [the site of last night's RAW]. I had already been up early the past three days with no sleep, but it was worth it."
The crowd reaction to his return: "If I didn't know they were on a tight time frame and [if] it was all about me, I would have really taken some time there. But I know they were on a time frame so I didn't want to do that... I can get my sh-t across and do what we needed to do because sometimes less is more. That time that we [Page and Slater] had, that little moment back and forth, and they [fans] started chanting 'DDP,' and I gotta tell ya, I was a little set back by it. I mean, the pop that I got when I came out was amazing. They started chanting 'DDP' and it got louder and louder... I was like, 'Wow.' Maybe I did make a real impression to some people... maybe I did do something right over all those years. Because you can't make people do that, you know?"
Criticism from some fans for not wrestling a match: "Those same people that complain about me not wrestling a match are the same people who would complain that I went too long, or I didn't do this, or I didn't do that. Those are the reasons that my critics could never carry my jock. [laughs] If I would have come out and squashed [Slater], what would that have proved? If I would have had a match, they would have said, "Come on, three weeks in a row," blah, blah, blah.
How his angle with Heath Slater was done: "I think the way they did it [the angle] with Doink was awesome! I thought it was great booking. Michael Wallstreet [Rotundo] was the agent on that, Johnny [Laurinaitis] came out there and we walked through it. I had a couple of different ideas and Johnny was the one who came up with the whole thing at the end and I just came up with how I'm going to do it. Michael came back with the handshake thing because he knew I did that [with Scott Hall on WCW Monday Nitro] ... you've seen many people do that, but you never saw anyone do it before I did that with Scott Hall. I wanted to bring something back from the old school, you know? And Heath did it great.
If people backstage were talking to him about wrestling or DDP Yoga: "It was a combination of things, because a lot of guys grew up watching me. One of the things Heath said was, 'I'm getting to actually work with a lot of the guys I grew up watching.' That's the same with baseball — any athlete.
"The feeling is much different than it used to be. They really created something for the guys. I mean, Johnny [Laurinaitis] does a team meeting thing and it's fun. I was like, 'Wow, this is a pretty interesting comradery thing.' You know?
"With me, you know, Sheamus came up to me and we hadn't talked since WrestleMania. Chris Jericho, he's amazing. I couldn't afford Jericho, he's a million dollar guy, but he's barked about DDP Yoga because it really helps him and it's the only workout that he does. So, when I have Sheamus come up to me and say, 'You know, Chris [Jericho] really puts this over. Can you tell me more about it?' Well, you know what? I'm sending it to them. [Laughs.]
"Then Tensai comes up to me and he's like, 'Dude, I've been tweeting. You going to get back to me? I need a program.' Guys start dropping by and they see where my body is at. A lot of the guys see what my body looks like when walk, when I move around. They're like, 'f–k. He's 56? He's doing something right.'
"Then I get into it with eating. So much of how your body feels has to do with what you put in your mouth. Nobody ever really believes it until they do it. When I show some of them, they say, 'Oh, my God.' The worst thing you can be is injured. You get that hot angle and all of a sudden, you're hurt. When Randy Savage was dropping those elbows on me, I pissed blood 13 out of 16 weeks. My ribs were f–ked up and so was my kidney. But you didn't think I would quit then, did ya? [Laughs.] I was doing the impossible, I'm going to work through it. When it comes down to your knees, or your back or your hips — it's a different animal, you know."
After the reaction he received, if he got the bug to go back: "No. [Laughs.] Not at all... There's only one thing that would make DDP come back and that would be to work with [Randy] Orton and that will never happen. That's the only thing I would do something with because it makes sense. That's something we could really get a ride out of. In the end, who would come out on top? That's a no-brainer. [Laughs.] But what we could do in the middle with how we got there would be really interesting. I'd have to really be putting my ass on the line because I'd be going out there and I'm not 46 anymore. I'm f–king 56 and I know it. The reason I feel as good as I do is because I just do a Diamond Cutter here or there. [Laughs.]
"And I live the gimmick. I don't tell people to do s–t I'm not doing. I won't even tell people to do something until I've done it and I believe in it. That goes with food and everything; workouts, ice bags. I was sitting in the back and [Dolph] Ziggler had a baggy of ice because that's what they do — they take a baggy and then take plastic and wrap it around you. I go, 'Zigg, can I give you an idea?' He said, 'Sure.' I said, 'Have you ever seen a blue ice bag? You use it for like a hot water bottle. You don't need to have it leak or dripping down all over you. You put it on your back, your leg.' He's like, 'Thanks, I'll check that out. You're the best.' [Laughs.] You know I was the first guy ever to ice his body in professional wrestling?"
If he would be interested doing more one-off matches: "No, no. I mean, it would depend. It'd have to be him and I'd have to see how I felt after that. But I dreamed of doing that as soon as WCW went away. As we all know, mine wasn't the greatest run. When you hear all those people chant like crazy — imagine if it was 10 years ago and I came in like that. It would have just blown up."
If he spoke with CM Punk, who said DDP Yoga wasn't real yoga: "Actually, I saw him. I go, 'Dude, thanks so much for mentioning DDP Yoga in the thing.' And he goes, 'It's all part of it, yo.' I love that fact that he said it's not real yoga. That was the best part. Because I always say it's not yoga! Different animal. I just put yoga in it because I have some yoga moves in it and I wrote a book called Yoga For Regular Guys. So I was stuck to yoga no matter what. So, I used the best parts of that.
"Me and Punk, we were actually talking about food because he eats really, really good now. That helps so much with inflammation. He's really smart about that now and he and Chris are the same way. They're eating smarter. The drug test thing is a shoot. They test for everything. They're a G-rated company now and you've got to find other ways.
"That's another reason why guys like Ryback to Titus [O'Neil] are doing the workouts all the time and it makes a huge difference. Kane, Santino — they can't use pills. We used to take painkillers. Hey, the s–t hurt! [Laughs.] How do you get out there? I was the last guy to do any kind of yoga. Period. I was messing around with the young guys in the back and I say, 'You know what stretching used to be?' Then I act like I'm smoking a cigarette and putting it out. That's stretching."
On the number of wrestlers using DDP Yoga: "Yeah, they're doing it. I was talking to Alex last night and he goes, 'Dude, I'll pay for it.' I go, 'No. I don't want any of the boys to pay for the workout. I want to just give it to you as long as you're going to do it.' 'Oh, I'll do it. I'll talk about it tonight.' I go, 'No. I want you to actually do it and then tweet about it because I don't need PR. I just want people to know what you're going through. On Twitter, @DDPYoga or @RealDDP — it's intense, man. There's been 100's of people tweeting about the workout and right now, I've got a 30 day challenge. Do it for 30 straight days. I've got all different kinds for 10 minutes, some for 25. So, having these guys doing it, they're going to be on WWE online. They've already filmed a bunch of the guys. So, it's really cool.
"The one thing is that it's going to get a better resurgence again because I'm going to get the wrestlers to start tweeting again. I showed them Arthur's before and after photos but they've never seen the video — you've seen the video, right (posted below)? He lost 140 pounds and he went from knee braces, back brace and canes to none of that s–t and running. That was 5 years ago. I'll give you an example (of how it works): on Monday, next week, Arthur and I will be at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina with the Marines — the baddest dudes of all the f–king dudes. The ones they drop out in the middle of f–king nowhere. I do my inspiration talk about how I started doing this workout. It's inspirational. I started my career at 35, I was done by 40. Then I talk about people I started to help. Now, I show Arthur. Then, I show the video and at the end of the video, I go, 'Gentleman, please welcome Arthur.' He'll say something, then I come back out and I say, 'I hope you boys brought your A game today because we brought ours.'
"I could make this the easiest workout ever. Obviously, if he can do it. But were coming to do the bad ass workout. I want to make Lt. Colonel who's said to me, 'If these guys like your workout like I do, it'll become part of the curriculum. That's a huge goal of mine, getting it in the military."
Once again, you can check out more about DDP Yoga by clicking here. You can check out the story about Arthur below: