“It Doesn’t Matter How Many Times You Fall Down That Counts, But How Many Times You Get Back Up That Matters.”
AN INSIGHT TO DDP DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE
“Yo! It’s me. It’s me. It’s D…D….P” That’s right ladies and gentlemen, the next superstar that I had the opportunity to interview was the great entertainer, trainer, motivational speaker, Diamond Dallas Page. Now, before I was told by my editor that I was going to interviewing Mr. Page, the only person that DDP was to me was a wrestler that had a few roles in some movies; man was I in for a treat.
DDP started his wrestling career at the age of 31 ½. Now, for most of you that follow pro wrestling today, there are not that many 31 year olds that start out in pro wrestling. NXT would most definitely not have someone like DDP up against Michael Mcgillicutty on their show, but I digress. At 31 ½ DDP started as a manager in the AWA for wrestlers like, the Fabulous Freebirds and The Diamond Stud (Scott Hall). With DDP’s personality however, he took away from the wrestlers he managed and pulled the attention onto himself. It was because of this charisma that DDP got his start with WCW and finally got to enter the squared circle as a wrestler. It was also this change that made him stop his night club managing career, which he had since he got out of high school. This was when he was 35; again uncharacteristic of his colleagues, but he continued on. After a few minor set backs and getting fired from WCW Page came back to the company and continued to ride the waves of success until he hit the top at age 42 and became the World Heavyweight Championship. It was also at this time that DDP injured his L4 and L5 vertebrae and started him on his travels as a fitness guru. “Three doctors told me that my wrestling career is over;…it was devastating to me.” It was at this time that DDP’s wife at the time introduced him to the idea of trying yoga to strengthen his back and work on his flexibility. “The first 42 years of my life I never thought I would be caught dead doing yoga.” It was while doing this though that DDP was starting to feel some relief, but it was not what he needed in order to get back into the ring. This was where the birth of “Dynamic Resistance” came into play. This workout style is no impact and high cardio that actually forces your heart rate up to burn fat while at a resting position. This basically means that you are burning fat while standing still. This placed the doctor’s prognosis of an ending career injury to an intense workout regiment of three months and DDP was back in the ring. “It was never about burning fat, but holding back the hands of time” While he was in WCW, DDP interacted with many media figures that came to draw in ratings for WCW. DDP tagged with Karl Malone against Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman at a pay per view and this gained media attention from many areas. “Karl was a fan from when he was a kid and I trained him and taught him a lot about wrestling. Dennis didn’t take the same approach..” DDP contributes these opportunities to putting in the time when he was not making air time on television. It was these times that he trained the younger wrestlers in the “Power Plant,” and he improved his skills enough to gain the attention of Hulk Hogan. “Hogan pulled me aside after one of my matches and said that in time that he could see him and myself making the big bucks together and four years later we were fighting with Malone and Rodman and we’re shooting it on The Tonight Show!” While DDP was in the three main brands of pro wrestling, the time spent in the three was not evenly distributed. While the WWF became the WWE because of the lost lawsuit to the World Wildlife Fund, this melded WCW and WWF together and caused the legacy of WCW to become one in the same with WWF and saved in the new WWE and DDP was very happy to have his work saved and remembered because of this. This however does not change the fact that the pro wrestling days of DDP have since sailed and the only way that he would go back would be to accept an induction into the Hall of Fame. “There are many people like Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Macho Man Randy Savage that deserve to get in before me, but to not be inducted into the Hall of Fame with my accomplishments would be a travesty.” With the number of movies that DDP has appeared in, the film that he enjoyed the most just happens to be his newest movie with Frankie Muniz called “Pizza Man” that is scheduled to come out in 2011. “It’s really well written and it’s really funny. The only violence that is in it is people getting shot and there are video games that are much more violent than this movie. I am really excited for this movie to come out.” DDP had some television time with the reality show Carnie Wilson: Unstapled and DDP was her main man to lose weight. With this new role in his arsenal DDP still feels his fans see him as a former wrestler that is making the transition to a fitness guru. “I refused to go into the house unless I had a mic on and the cameras were filming. I think that producers wanted more of a drama because they knew I was a no nonsense kinda guy and I hated wasting my time.” Among all the other tasks that DDP has on his plate, he is also coming up with ideas to enter a contest that Oprah is running to start another reality style show. All of this information is up or will be up on DDP’s fitness website www.yrgfitness.com as well as information on how his fitness plan truly works. From my own perspective again, I had never heard of YRG fitness before and I had my doubts on its effectiveness, but then I read further into the story of Arthur Boorman. In my time on this world, I have heard of great success stories, but I think that this one takes the cake as the most inspirational. The youtube video that Arthur’s son shot of his progress on YRG can lead anyone to want to check out DDP’s site; in fact I highly recommend doing so if you are in a state of uncertainty of whether or not to start an exercise program. This is the link to the Arthur Boorman video. I hope that you are as inspired as I was. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suTPns5cy_Q&feature=player_embedded As a youngster DDP was a high school basketball star that was raised by his grandmother and some of his favorite sports moments were when he was able to transition from a bench warmer to a varsity starter as a sophomore in high school. “They wanted me to be on the varsity team when I was a freshmen but I wouldn’t do it because they wanted me to cut my hair and I wouldn’t. The next game though I cut my hair and I started after that.” DDP really does not follow a particular team per say, but watches particular players, like Lebron James. “He just is in control of the court and he has since he has been 18.” Needless to say, DDP even caught me for not being fully informed with the NBA playoffs. My apologies to my NBA colleagues. Some of the NBA stars that DDP looked up to at the time were Julius Erving, Jerry West, Willis Reed and Wilt Chamberlin just by their attitudes and their individual talents. “Willis Reed was nice to everyone and he was a World Champion and he didn’t have to. He always treated people the way he wanted to be treated and that is how I try to live my life.” Through his busy schedule, DDP does have the time to keep in touch with some of his friends that he toured WCW with. He also helps out friends with his YRGFitness plan as well. “ I talk to Hall and Nash the most but I do talk to Stone Cold, Glacier, and Shane Helms and Big Show. I have been sending people YRG to do like Nash and Mick Foley but people like Shawn Michaels have been doing YRG for about four years..” With his approach, it would be hard to know that DDP is not a normal guy that has overcome adversity in his life and lived to tell about it. With his Down-to-Earth mentality and no nonsense beliefs I know that he is set to do more great things with his life and I also wish him the best with the Opera opportunity. We here at Back Sports Page give nothing but the best to DDP.
