DDP Talks AEW Being Competition For WWE, Appearing On Dynamite, MJF & More

Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: Diamond Dallas Page
Date: 10/30/19
Your Host: James Walsh

Yo Monkey! It’s Me, It’s Me! It’s DDP!

Well, he’s DDP anyway. And, he’s our guest this week on the Wrestling Epicenter. Join us as we chat about his recent appearance on AEW Dynamite, if he will continue working with the brand, his new Jackyl theme song, how WWE no longer wants him to help in NXT due to working with Cody, and a little about the “Macho Man” Randy Savage feud from 1997 which made Page a household name. Hey, it is James doing this interview so how could we not talk about the Macho Man feud? It’s a given!

DDPY, formerly DDPYoga, can be found at www.DDPYoga.com. There is also the DDPY Now App that gives you DDPY wherever you go! Go! Download it! And, tell them the Epicenter sent you!

On appearing on AEW Dynamite:

“It was a lot of fun. It was kind of last minute. Cody called me a few days out and said, “Hey, we’ve got this idea. Are you free Wednesday night?” I said, “For you, I am. But, what am I doing?” When he told me, I popped!”

On his AEW theme song:

“He (Cody) told me “I took the liberty of setting up your music.” He knows I always loved my WCW theme song which was Smells Like Teen Spirit. I started working with the guy that night, it was Monday night. We got it down perfect! Then, they were in a production meeting and the VP of Turner heard it (the song) and said, “That’s not happening!” (laughs) It was too close to the original.”

On using Jackyl’s “Screwdriver” as his theme:

“I called Jesse Dupree myself – He and I are good buddies. He was like, “Dude, do you want to use Screwdriver?” I said, “Absolutely!” (laughs) It’s funny, though. When they do the big “It’s me”, I put the break in between purposely. I didn’t expect that big of a pop! You know? You didn’t even hear DDP! You didn’t even hear Self High Five! You couldn’t even hear it if you were watching the show. And, everybody knows that is Jesse’s voice singing! So now, if I do anything else with those guys (AEW), I’ve got the coolest music besides Jericho with himself singing Judas which they actually filmed right here at the DDP Yoga Performance Center. They actually filmed Fozzy here. They got over 20 something million views on that song. I love that song! But, Jesse’s (Jackyl) Screwdriver is bad ass too!”

On if he’ll do one more match in AEW:

“You know, I don’t know. It is not something, really, that I’m looking at. I’m 63 now, brah! You know? (laughs) Not only do I look good for 63, I FEEL good for 63. But, you know, every time you go in that ring, you leave a little piece of your body in there. But, my knees feel good. My back feels good. And, it’s all because of my DDPY Program! That and I get deep muscle massages and I treat my body good. I eat right. I still have a cocktail! I don’t go overboard anymore. But, I still have a cocktail once or twice a week. But, it (wrestling) isn’t in the stars for me. Let the young boys keep doing what they’re doing. I don’t know if you’ve seen some of these matches but… MAN! What these poor sons of bitches are doing to themselves! I know I beat my body up from age 35 to 49 at a different level. But, what they’re doing today is times 4! But, when I’ve got the aches and pains, and I’ve got this kick ass CBD cream for times as well. That and I’m doing all the stem cells that everybody else is doing too… Never say never! But, if I’m out there, it is going to be for all the good reasons… It is nothing that you’re going to see this week! (laughs) But, you never can say never.”

On his relationship with Cody:

“Cody and I go back to when he was 12 years old. That is when we started to form a real relationship. I’ve been mentoring him ever since then. And, now, being able to watch him work his magic… And, in the beginning, that is really what it was. I’ve been telling people… No one needs to see your dream. No one has to see your goals. No one has to see the future… Except you!”

On the changes in Jake Roberts thanks to DDPY:

I’ll give you the perfect example. When Jake Roberts came to live with me, it was Steve Yu’s idea to have Jake Roberts come live with me for his Resurrection. I was like, “Woah, dude! He doesn’t have to live with me!” We had already done that. Jake had lived with me 20 years earlier until he lost a 12 foot black cobra in my house. At that point, Kimberly told me, “He has got to go!” (laughs) This time around, when he came to live with me, it was different. But, once we got Jake to believe that maybe he could be in the Royal Rumble… And, he didn’t end up in the Royal Rumble that year. He ended up in the Hall of Fame! It all started with the Resurrection of jake the Snake which you can still get on ITunes. We’re working on getting it out on some other platforms. But, the next documentary we have coming out in early 2020 is called Relentless. It is the story of me blowing my back out to where we are today. It is powerful because we show the ups and the downs. Steve and I, we’ve been filming stuff together for 15 years! Steve Austin was living with me at the start. He’s all over Relentless. On there, he told me, “What the hell are you doing? You can’t do it! You can’t develop a program for people who wouldn’t be caught dead doing Yoga!” Today, DDP Yoga is now jsut DDPY. Why? Because I don’t want people to think it is just Yoga. It is great to have Steve (Austin) in it. (Chris) Jericho’s in it. A lot of the boys are in it because they were influential in it becoming as mainstream as it is now.”

On the Young Bucks:

“Matt and Nick are revolutionary guys. They built this huge following online and, again. They see it and they’re the only ones who had to see it. They were the guys who were doubted and look what happened, they were the only ones outside of WWE to have Funko dolls of themselves. All they had to do is believe in themselves and be cool to the fans. That’s what I did! It is the same mentality. They created that series on YouTube! Cody wasn’t with them at this time so we just started filming stuff. Steve Yu, the Executive Director of Resurrection and Relentless, we started producing interviews and stuff with Cody and, at the beginning, we didn’t charge him nothing! Then Tony Khan came along and we started getting paid which was kind of cool, ya know? Now we’re a full blown production company! But, a lot of that stuff on (AEW) TV… Not the entrances. That’s all Kevin Sullivan, of all names. Not the Taskmaster but the producer Kevin Sullivan. But, a lot of that stuff on their we helped create and it is really cool seeing it all come to fruition and evolve.”

On comparing AEW to WCW:

“It’s totally different. We (WCW) had a roster of Hall of Famers. They (AEW) have a roster of a lot of guys who no one really knows yet except the hardcore fans. But, within 4 weeks, they’re starting to! The guys, and the girls, that are going to step up, that is the exciting part for me to watch. Like, who is really putting in the work when they’re not on TV? I don’t mean lifting weights in the gym. I mean everything else!”

On if there are a lot of WCW “returner” fans:

“Do I think there are a lot of WCW fans that are returning to wrestling? I know for a fact that there are! I get hit by it left and right all the time! It sparked their interest. As long as they keep being original and keep doing what they’re doing, it looks to me like it can continue to be successful.”

On WWE not liking those that help AEW:

“It is funny that the WWE doesn’t like those that help them (AEW) out. But, the WWE is going agaisnt the NFL with the XFL! (laughs) That’s the biggest company in the world, the NFL!”

On if AEW is competition to WWE:

“That is what this is. Everybody wants to be the best, right? I don’t know what the ratings are. I don’t keep up. I’m sure you do. But, that’s a war! Back during the Monday Night War, man, there were mizillions of people watching! It was water-cooler talk. But, there wasn’t this much TV though. There weren’t all these subscription services. So, the audience has thinned out dramatically. But, it is a competition. I’m a huge, huge fan of all those kids down at (WWE) NXT because I worked with all of them. That’s one of the things I miss the most. It was super cool… Matt Bloom who runs the Performance Center… I was like, “Hey, when am I coming back down?” He said, “Hey D, you’re working with AEW now. Not going to happen.” I get it. I just appreciate him calling me and letting me know. I told him anytime one of those kids need anything, call me and I’ll hook ’em up with the program! I just want to keep them healthy. Tomasso Ciampa is a good friend of mine. He’s super special! Gargano! Velvetean! There’s so much great talent down there. So, for these kids (AEW) to be winning the ratings war right now is pretty amazing. It is going to be fun to watch!”

On all the wrestling there is right now:

“When you really think about it, you’ve got ROH, you’ve got NWA, you’ve got MLW, Impact Wrestling! There are so many ways for the boys and the girls… I’ve never heard anyone else call them that but if we’re the boys, they’ve got to be the girls and these chicks are bad to the bone! You can’t even say “You hit like a girl” anymore because I know a number of those girls will knock you the f*** out! (laughs) ”

On his pick for the best young talent in the business right now:

“My new guy, the guy who I think can be the man if he can keep his feet on the ground and if he keeps doing what he’s doing – MJF has the skills! He’s got it all! Very young to have it all the way he does! As long as he doesn’t shoot himself in the foot, he’s got all the ability!”

On his memories of his feud with “Macho Man” Randy Savage:

“The cool thing WWE did when Randy passed was they had his Top 5 Feuds. This is a guy who has the top feud with everybody he ever worked with! The first one that came to mind had to be Jake because the picture of the snake biting him… Do you know that story? Randy making the snake bite Jake first to prove that the snake was devenomized! (laughs) The picture of him wrapped in those ropes with the cobra has to be number one! The stuff he did with Hogan and the Mega Powers, that stuff was good. But, our stuff, the stuff he did with me, to me, was right under that Jake stuff. I mean, it took me to the upper stratosphere! It changed my life completely! Did you ever see that tribute video I did for Randy? Super powerful. Lanny (Poffo) called me up and, man, he put me over so huge. He told me this story… And, I asked Lanny if I could tell that story. he said, “Anything you want to say about Randy, you go ahead because he knew anything you said about him would be said with the utmost respect!” So, Randy was walking in the middle of his property, his huge property and in the middle of his plantation is this huge tree – I can’t remember what kind of tree it is. He says, “Lanny, when I die, I don’t want any fan fare or any of that shit. I just want the family and my ashes. When you get my ashes together, I want you to bring them right to this tree and I want you to pour them right here next to Hercules.” Hercules was his dog. Lanny is telling me this story and doing Randy spot on. Lanny says, “But Randy, why? Why would you have your ashes spread with your dog?” And Randy says, “If it is good enough for Hercules, it is good enough for me. Yeah!” (laughs) And I popped!”