As noted earlier today, Rolling Stone broke the news that Diamond Dallas Page is the latest inductee in the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame class.
DDP spoke with Rolling Stone‘s Kenny Herzog about the honor, including how he found out about the news, what it means to him and more. You can read a few excerpts below:
We were filming Positively Living, the Diamond Dallas Page three-DVD set. I’m a Jersey boy, so I was on the Jersey Shore in my hometown, and it was the end of the day and we were filming one more thing. They handed me the phone and said, “Boss wants to talk to you.” It’s HHH. I called him a couple weeks earlier and he hadn’t gotten back to me yet, so I thought this was that return call. So we’re talking about casual stuff, and then I start to hear him talk about my career and where I’ve been and how I got here, and then it hits me – is this that call? I’m not a guy who has trouble talking, but I couldn’t talk. Tears are running down the sides of my cheeks and I just said, “Bro, I love you man.”
Still choked up. You can hear it in my voice. I don’t know if you watch Stranger Things, but in that third episode, you got a chill through your whole body. It wasn’t goose bumps. You couldn’t control that. Bottom line is, work ethic equals dreams, and I am walking proof that that’s a fact. They had you give them an inscription for inside your ring. I wrote, “Work ethic = dreams!”
I think absolutely. Nature Boy [Ric Flair]’s been in every federation, so the Four Horsemen going in I thought was the beginning of that. But then when Stinger went in, I thought OK, this is huge. And now that I’m in, wow. And Rock ‘n’ Roll Express too. People don’t realize how over they really were. They were like the Beatles man, and they’re out there wrestling the Road Warriors. Before the Midnight Rockers, they were the guys. It’s just gonna be a great night for all of us, and more than anything the fans.
My ex-wife, Kimberly, who went on this whole ride with me, her and her husband are coming in. My wife and I went to their wedding, and they went to our wedding. I don’t know many people who do that, but we do, so I’m really happy she’s gonna be there. My daughters are gonna be there. And without Jake, there’s no three-time World Champion and Hall of Famer. Same thing with Scott. Scott was very pivotal in my career, and mine with his. And the guy who isn’t there is the guy who would be inducting me, which is Dusty Rhodes. I always tell everybody: Without Dusty Rhodes, there is no Diamond Dallas Page. Being inducted, in our business, is just as important as the NFL’s Hall of Fame. I can’t tell you how many times I hit that mat, especially that first year, where I said to myself, “Man, this fake stuff hurts like hell. Do I really want to do this?” And every time I would come back, “Yeah, I wanna do this.”
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