Diamond Dallas Page Gets Heated During ESPN Interview
Diamond Dallas Page was on The Dan Le Batard show to talk about his recent Hall of Fame induction. Things started off well, but quickly became heated when the subject of real life rivalries came up. It appears they ended the interview early, shortly after Page dropped a few swear words on-air.
Page was initially asked if there were any other names he was going to use while coming up in the business. He said he originally went by "Handsome" Dallas Page, but soon dropped it. Page then talked about going into the WWE Hall of Fame, and said his speech was the best thing he's ever done. He said the most emotional part of it all was talking about Dusty Rhodes. He credits Dusty and Jake Roberts for his career as a whole.
Page was then asked to do a Dusty Rhodes impression. Page said meeting him was one of the defining moments of his life. He then did a Dusty impression of the first time they met where he said he saw Captain Lou, Jesse Ventura and himself in Page.
The topic of most memorable "beef" came up, and Page said in 1997 he and Macho Man won Feud of The Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated. He said that feud made his career, and relayed the story he told at the Hall of Fame about a phone message he left with Savage. Page said Savage taking the Diamond Cutter made his career and helped him live his dream. Savage later approached him at a TV taping, and said he listened to the message a couple of time, and played it for his father. Savage said no one ever called him and thanked him like that.
Le Batard said that's nice, but he wanted to know about real-life feuds. Page had a good laugh at that. Le Batard brought up Ric Flair specifically. Page said he's about to get on Flair's jet, and says they get along well now. Le Batard cut Page off, and said how in Flair's book he wrote "Page's climb to the top will go down in history as one of the greatest jokes ever perpetrated in our industry. The guy was an average wrestler, and an average talker with a bunch of tattoos that did nothing to win over fans."
Page then replied. "It was called a little venting. At the time Naitch and I did go through quite a bit of heat with each other." He said a few weeks after Flair's retirement, the two made up at a fan convention. Page reached out to him, re-introduced himself and shook his hand so they could start all over.
The host wanted to know how the Scott Steiner feud went down, and who was trying to rip whose eyes out. Page got a little fed up at this point.
"Hey monkey, monkey, yo monkey, who the hell do you think you're talking to? Monkey, who the hell do you think you're talking to? I'm Positively Page! You think I'm going to flame your garbage? Asshole! f–k you!"
The hosts laughed hysterically at the first part, seeming to think it was all a joke. Page dropped another F-bomb, and they quickly cut off the segment.
The hosts later came back on and said they were frozen when DDP yelled. They didn't seem to know whether Page was joking or not. One of the producers, Alison, jumped on and said Page continued yelling about the situation on the phone afterwards with her, and that he just wanted Le Batard to stop talking about it, because "he got what he wanted." She described him as "maniacal", but wasn't entirely sure if he was genuinely mad or not. Le Batard speculated that he was upset, and said the former wrestler should have known better to swear on Disney radio.
They then took a vote on whether Page was actually angry or joking, Alison described him as a "crazy person", Guillermo said he's never coming on the show again. Everyone believed he was legitimately angry.
To listen to the interview in its entirety, check out the link above. DDP starts at around the 20:00 mark, and the hosts talk about the fall out of the interview at around 33:00.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Dan Le Batard Show with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.