| 03.06.2007 | |
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Hey Cutters… But first I want to wish a fond Farewell to another one of the boys… Mike Awesome… Damn… Anybody that knew Mike knew he was like the kindest, nicest guy on the planet. I first met Mike, like Bam Bam, when he was a kid in Florida Championship Wrestling… He was long and lanky (considering how big he would eventually become) kid, green as grass and just wanting to learn how to wrestle… The next time I would see Mike was years later when he had his run in the real ECW… He was huge, powerful and strong… I would see pictures of him from time to time while he was learning his craft in Japan… Later he would come to the WCW and I would actually get to work with him which I must say was a treat… A treat in the way that whatever Mike would do to me, he would take the abuse… In other words, when that huge 6’4’’285 lb monster came off the top rope with that intense frog splash you NEVER felt a thing… He would somehow defy gravity… I know because I took that frog splash off the top rope 3 times in a row on night… It literally blew my mind that he didn’t hurt me… He really was one of the sweetest guys in the business and I was really sad to hear that he had taken his life… God bless you, my brother. On a more positive side, I just finished up three weeks of Master classes of my YRG workout at Equinox in Santa Monica, Cali. They were so successful that the head of that department at Equinox, Amy Dixon, has asked me if I would like a regular night. She actually offered me any night I want, which was very cool. So, of course, I took the best night, Mondays, starting in April… Equinox is a very cool place… they will let you in for the first couple of classes to see if you like the YRG workout, so please feel free to come by and check it out. You will also see that Equinox is one sweetest gyms in L.A. Details are at DiamondDallasPage.com site, just click the Appearance page. On Thursday night, Rob Zombie called Tim Sullivan (Driftwood director) to ask Tim if he and I wanted to come down to the set of Halloween which, of course, we did… The set looked awesome… Very creepy… As Tim and I walked up on the set, this officer ran up to us and asked if he could help us… In other words … What the hell can I do for you boys… We told him we were here to see RZ… So some guy ran back and told Rob there were two HUGE guys out front here to see him… Rob came out, noticed us and started to laugh… He said I was hoping that you two were the two HUGE guys who were looking for me. As we were hanging out, RZ shared his vision for his version of this HalloWeen… all I can say is it’s very f—ing cool… But, then again, what would you expect from one of the coolest guys on the planet who also just happens to be a great writer and director. While I was on the set I also got to see one of my Devils Rejects buddies Tyler Mane.   Tyler played Rufus who was in the shootout scene in the beginning of Rejects… Rufus was one of the brothers that got killed. That shootout scene to me is one of the best shoot’em up scenes ever … Anyway, you may remember Tyler from X-MEN where he played Sabertooth and if you really know your wrestling you will remember him as Big Sky who partnered with Kevin Nash back in 1992… I find it amusing that both Tyler and I both tagged with Nash and were both in Rejects… You know I had to get a picture with Mr. Myers aka Tyler Mane doing the Diamond Cutter… Tim and I got great picture of Mr. Myers laid out with DDP on the cold cement with Sullivan over us to check our pulse in front of the Myers family dwelling … Of course were both dead… But you’ll have to the site to see the rest of the pictures.
Earlier in the week, I was invited to an Awards dinner for the one and only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar… This was a huge thrill for me since I grew up a B-baller… It was so cool to see the best big man of all time be awarded his lifetime achievement award… While there, I got a picture with an other legend James Worthy who of course was caught doing the Diamond Cutter with DDP… The last time I saw James I got a picture of him wearing the United States Title that I just happen to be holding at the time.
There is a great story in WWE magazine about Jimmy Yang this month entitled DDP Changed My Life… You see back in 1996, my career was just starting to take off big time… So much so that kids were starting to dress up like their favorite wrestling characters for Halloween… That Halloween Jimmy Yang was maybe 16 and his buddies from high school came by my house dressed as DDP, Sting, Rey, Macho and Hogan… I remember Kim yelling to me from the front door… I was back in our bedroom watching TV… She yelled Page come here… You have to see this… When I got to the top of my stairs I saw 6 kids all dressed as wrestling characters one of which was DDP (Ryan) who had a blonde mullet, jeans and DDP t-shirt with his ribs taped… I popped big time and came down and took pictures with the boy… I actually put the pictures up on this very site… Jimmy would later tell me that it made him and his buddies legendary at school… Which, of course, I thought was pretty damn cool… Over the next two years, Jimmy and his crew … The Diamond Cutter Crew as they would call themselves, would actually come by my house and help me put up and take down my Christmas lights… I guess back then they were always driving by my house I just didn’t know it at the time… I will never forget one day Jimmy said to me, “DDP, do you know why you are our favorite wrestler?” I said, “No, Jimmy, why?” He said “Because we can’t see through your sh*t.” Which means they couldn’t see how I was not killing my opponent every time I hit him… I thought to myself … Wow, that kid really gets it… Later it would be Kanyon who would help Jimmy get his break through me… I was amazed how Jimmy had followed the dream and I was more than a happy to lend him a helping hand… Shannon, on the other hand, I met in 1997. He was maybe 14 at the time and actually wrestling in professional matches… He couldn’t have been more than 130 lbs at the time … I was actually amazed… He was with Matt and Jeff Hardy and, at the time, they were all just a couple of kids wrestling in little independent gigs for maybe 25 bucks a show… I’ve meet thousands of kids over the years but for some reason those kids stuck out to me… I didn’t know why at the time… today I do… I remember meeting Shannon and his crew at a Waffle House in NC… Just a bunch of good kids reaching for the stars… The thing I love the most about these young men is that none of them are what would be considered a man mountain… Not any of them were in any way a sure thing to ever get a shot in professional wrestling … They were and are what most people would think to be to small to be a pro-wrestlers but on the contrary they are larger than life men with huge hearts and work ethic second to none … They had a dream… they followed it… And when everyone said to them they were crazy, they were wasting there time… That it was impossible they believed they could and continue to push on so that they could live their dreams…
Continuing that positive note, let me tell you I, Mr. Live Life at 90%, will be speaking… Yes, I will be doing an inspirational speaking gig at Piedmont Virginia Community College at the Woodrow Bolick Center at 12 noon on Wednesday the 14th of March about Living Life at 90%… So, if you have ever wanted to know why I constantly say to Live Life at 90% and Own Your Life come see me speak and trust me you’ll get it… There won’t be any cover charge… it’s a free function that PVCC is putting on for it’s students and members of the community… For information click here… I will be speaking for about an 45 minutes and then be doing a Q and A afterward so come on by and suck up all the positive energy you want … Trust me there will be enough to go around…
Stay Strong… D. Dallas Page
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It’s been a long time since my last mail so I’ll here’s some bullet points on what’s been happening in the world of DDP.
Speaking of Tim and Driftwood, we have some great new clips and reviews of the front page of DiamondDallasPage.com one of the videos you can watch is from Toxic Shock Tv and YouTube video of Doing Hard Time at Driftwood… This YouTube video is one of the segments that will be on the behind the scenes part of the Driftwood DVD.. We also have a new review from LA’s the Place on Driftwood, as well… But the best news of all is that Driftwood will actually be get a small theatrical release in about 13 theaters around the country, then go to TV and then a big DVD release… which is really great because Driftwood was only supposed to be released as a direct to dvd movie that cost all of a million dollars to make and we shot in only 15 days… Driftwood is Indy movies at it’s best… I will keep you posted.
Last wee,k the WWE was in town for their PPV called No Way Out… This is something some of you will find amusing… I talked to Dusty Rhodes earlier that week and he asked me to come by to see him… Now being that Dusty is my mentor and one of my closest friends, and the fact that I finally have a lot of really positive things going on out here in LA, I thought what the hell I would love to go by and see Dusty, Johnny Ace and Michael P.S. Hayes… So I get there around 4pm which is a little late because all the boys are already there since the show starts in an hour… I forgot I was on the west coast and the ppv startes at 5pm… I guess it had been a long time since I was at a ppv… Anyway, I get there and I can’t get in… I guess it really was a long time since I’ve been to a PPV… So… It’s late and I just can’t roll in with everyone else… I get to the ramp and a guy who never watched wrestling won’t let Diamond Dallas Page in… How funny is that? Ok, not funny at the time but it is funny now… So I make a few calls and finally said screw it and a spilt… Nice rib Dusty… About a 30 minutes later I get a call from Ace who says bro are you still outside… I’m like your kidding, right? Do I look like a mark? Of course I’m not outside… I’m almost home… Of course, Ace promised me that if wouldn’t happen again so I’ll let you know what happens next time… The bottom line is I never got to see the boys, but my little brothers Jimmy Yang and Shannon Moore showed the respect to come by my house the next night to see me…
Would you let these guys in your house… HELL YEAH!
