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411’s WWE Broken Skull Sessions Report: Diamond Dallas Page on Wrestling Randy Savage, Winning World Title, and More

December 20, 2021 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.
WWE Broken-Skull-Sessions-DDP Image Credit: WWE

411’s WWE Broken Skull Sessions Report: Diamond Dallas Page

-Run Time: 1:29:52
-Air Date: 12.19.21

-Steve Austin welcomes us to the show with his usual great introduction of his guest. He mentions DDP is his good friend and former roommate. Austin asks DDP if they ever worked together and DDP says there was a 6 man or 8 man match where Austin knocked the dog piss out of him. Austin says it was during The Invasion and it wasn’t a match, but when Austin returned and attacked everyone before he turned to The Alliance. They take a drink of wine and put over the taste.

-They start at the beginning and DDP says they became friends because they don’t bull crap each other. Austin apparently didn’t ride with a lot of people and DDP was one of the ones he would. They tell a story about a Holiday Inn at Bluefield, WV. Austin passed out in a bathroom and DDP carried him to his room and put him in his bed.

-Austin called DDP 17 years ago when he was thinking about moving to LA and DDP was all about it. Right after, DDP and Kim divorced, so DDP had an open room in his house and Austin was all over it. Austin apparently paid $1000 a month which was a great deal for LA. DDP was filming Devil’s Rejects the same time Austin moved into the house, so when DDP arrived there was laundry and beer cans all over the place. DDP had been living with Kim, who was a neat freak, and Austin quickly apologized and started cleaning. DDP says he was kind of a slob, but Austin made him look so much better.

-They flash a picture of the two on the screen as DDP mentions he watched Austin’s interview with Foley where they brought up the cookie story. DDP has his own story as Austin went to sleep with his face down and chocolate chips all over the place. DDP had to put him to bed again as he took him up a spiral staircase and Austin just kept talking about cookies, so DDP used the cookies to get Austin up the stairs. He followed the cookies up the stairs and passed out in a bed trying to grab them.

-Now Austin gets his chance to tell a story as he was half hungover going to the gym and saw someone pushing a BBQ grill in the parking lot of Home Depot. He looked again and it was DDP in his pajamas and house shoes pushing a BBQ grill down the street back to the condo. Awesome!

-Austin wants to start with DDP’s start in wrestling. He started out with a bar business in Jersey and the moved to Florida to run another club/bar. DDP says he has been running a club since he was twenty-three and he would be the host and sometimes the DJ.

-They show a DDP promo from the AWA and it has both of them cracking up. Wonderful! Oh wow, they actually ran the footage long enough that ‘Bad Company’ was played. That may cost them some money! Song always reminds me of my step-dad because he wore that tape out when he would drive us places. Love you Jeff!

-Austin wants to know the story of DDP going from the bar business to wrestling. DDP brings up Jake Roberts and how he was always in the bar and never paid. Ted Dibiase would also come by and so would Luke The Bushwhacker. DDP says he has pictures with The Rockers and others. Capt Lou was in one day and DDP heard Cindy Lauper and he felt he should have been part of Rock N Wrestling. DDP did try wrestling for a bit, but hurt his knee and the bar scene took off for him. His friend Smokey asked him what his name was and it was “Handsome Dallas Page.” Smokey told him he can’t use that name anymore. DDP jotted down Diamond Dallas Page and having a group called The Diamond Exchange with The Diamond Dolls. He shocked himself that he made something like that up. A cable company did a story on the bar and they asked Page about his voice and he saw a pair of white sunglasses and basically cut a wrestling promo. They actually have the footage from the news station as they did a profile on DDP and his voice as he did radio work as well. They find everything for these shows.

-Austin credits DDP as one of the hardest workers ever and DDP says wrestling wasn’t even a goal yet. DDP says he was a huge mark for wrestling and got a phone call from someone looking for Diamond Dallas Page. He picks up the phone thinking it was Smokey messing with him, so he hung up the phone. He called back and it was a guy named Smitty who wanted Page to be on his radio show that would be carrying wrestling. DDP told him he didn’t have enough knowledge and Smitty told him he was going to have Capt Lou on the show. That sold DDP and he calls Capt Lou one of the coolest guys ever. Lou knew how to play the game and talked to DDP and about DDP like he knew him for 20 years. Sgt Slaughter was the next guest and Slaughter treated him like one of the boys. Smitty told him he needed to do something with the Diamond Dallas Page character. Austin points out DDP has a lot of friends of friends which is a big part of life. DDP agrees as you need someone to know someone to make a call to help you get a foot in the door. Smitty had a friend that had an in to the AWA and they badgered Page to send in a tape. DDP had no clue what to even film, so he got 3 bouncers (one of which is a midget) to help him film a video with a radio jock named Captain Jack. He flew Jack in and they filmed a video that was sent to the AWA. They called him back two weeks later and wanted the entire group to try out in Vegas. DDP had to let him know that none of them were trained wrestlers and that ended that call.

-Page mentions that Greg Gagne was big in pushing for him since 1993, but this was five years earlier. Greg did call him and told him they would give him a shot managing two of their guys. DDP had to bring his clothes and some hot women. DDP puts over Curt Hennig who was a big fan of Page’s “Good God.” He also told Page that in a bar would be where he would make all his relationships in wrestling. Page says the only reason it happened is because Paul Heyman left the AWA and they needed another manager.

-Talk shifts to Medusa and Badd Company. Austin calls her a bad ass and someone ahead of her time. Page calls Medusa a trailblazer and he would love to have her in him prime in today’s WWE. He thanks her again for what she did for his career. The AWA trusted him because they saw his passion and energy.

-Page mentions Dusty Rhodes and they toast to him. “I love The Dream.” They have a photo of the two of them at a Willie Nelson concert. There is no DDP without Dusty Rhodes. He says he needed Dusty and Jake Roberts to create DDP. He talks about working one time for Mike Graham as he wanted to work FCW. Page got put on the phone with Dusty and he went on a rant about being the biggest Dusty Rhodes mark. He had strep throat and Dusty made him wait before saying, “was that a recording kid?” Dusty liked his energy and said they would put him with Gordon and be the Jesse Ventura of the 90s. Page told Dusty he didn’t know a wrist-lock from a wrist watch, but Dusty told him that Gordon would carry him.

-In 1990 DDP got a try-out with WWF because Dusty headed North and oh man, they have the footage. Dallas Page is working as a commentator with Alfred Hayes and it is awful. Obviously, he wasn’t signed. That little piece of video made this show.

-DDP would call Dusty to talk from time to time which kept their relationship going. Page was done with the bar business because he was engaged to Kim and he knew being in the bar business meant he would never get married. The AWA was gone and all he wanted now was to get into wrestling. He knew Dusty couldn’t tell him he was heading back to WCW, but he could advise him to move to Atlanta vs moving to Chicago where Kim was living. Rhodes came back and hired Page and he was put with The Freebirds.

-Page says that when he was in AWA he worked one day a month except for SuperClash when he worked 3 days in a row. He took a three hour car ride with Hayes and they became brothers over beers. Hayes realized DDP was in this because he loved the business. So now he is with The Birds in WCW and Hayes made sure to let DDP get himself over in their first promo as a group.

-Austin moves to the idea of Page getting into the ring. We see a photo of Page with The Diamond Studd (Scott Hall). Magnum TA came up to Page and told him they weren’t going to let him manage anymore. The hair, clothes, women, and promo took away from the guys he was managing and even Scott Hall warned him about it. Magnum joked they should have put him in boots and tights to work. The Freebirds felt bad for him and Page was okay as he had 7 months left on his contract so he was going to go to The Power Plant and learn how to wrestle. The Bird laughed in his face and Page told Hall he had no other choice.

-He spent three weeks at The Plant before they put him on the road to do matches. Schiavone told him it was very good for his first match, but if he was like this in 6 months he sucked. Hall left, so Page was now with Nash and that’s when he started traveling with Austin. Mick was also someone they traveled with a lot. Austin touches on how Page brought a camcorder to record all his matches which everyone thought was nuts. Austin and Pillman would do color while Page was in the ring and then give him pointers when they would watch it back. Austin tells Page he would have a gold mine if he kept all those tapes, but was so cheap he just recording over it. Page says those tapes is when Stone Cold first came out as he was having a blast doing the color commentary. Raven, Nash, and Mick Foley would also do some commentary and Page wishes he kept them. Man, those would be awesome!

-Austin tells the story of Page being naked with ice bags all over every part of his body which pissed Austin off as he had no ice for his beer. Page laughs as they discuss life on the road. He says he loved the road because you could hang with people like you and that was the best part.

-We jump to 92 as Page suffers an injury that seemingly ended his career. Jake “The Snake” reached out to Page and he and Nash became Jake’s bag carrier. The injury put Page on the shelf for 6 months and Jake told DDP he was getting divorced and was living in a hotel. Page asked Kim about Jake moving in and that led to Jake being his mentor. They would sit and watch Page’s matches and he learned more about psychology and why you do the moves you do. Jake made sure Page was on the road with him when he healed so he could absorb as much as possible. He tells a story about Jake having a cobra in the house which had Kim laughing. A few minutes later the cobra got lost in the house as it left the shower. They found the snake under the vanity and Jake told him it was fine and the snake would come out on his own. Jake then left for three days to do shows in Singapore and that was the end of his staying with DDP and Kim.

-Next they discuss the evolution of the DDP character. Page says that he was playing wrestler in the early days and credits Eric Bischoff for making him lose the glasses, cigar, etc. The cigar was the last thing and Bischoff told him it had to go. The Diamond Cutter is what was getting him over and Austin agrees that he had too many things with his gimmick.

-We jump to Nitro where DDP was recruited by Hall and Nash to join the nWo. He puts on the colors, but then drops Hall with a Cutter to a massive reaction. DDP was well on his way to being a superstar after that one. DDP gives the behind the scenes on that as he came up with the idea four months earlier. He was going to ask the office for his release unless they did something with him. Hall and Nash loved the angle and told him to pitch it to Eric. Nash eventually told Eric and they decided to run with it.

-Macho Man Randy Savage: Their feud won feud of the year in 1997. Page mentions Savage would lay things out like he did so they meshed well together. They always wanted to steal the show. Page says he couldn’t ask to work with Randy, so it was a big deal for Randy to ask to work with him. The night before the PPV, Arn asked Randy what he wanted to do and Savage told him he wanted to take The Diamond Cutter. Page says he didn’t know how much that was going to change his life. It was a dark match first and Page got the win. The place went crazy and Savage knew that was the finish to their PPV match.

-Page tells the story of calling Savage around Thanksgiving and leaving him a message to let him know that he isn’t where he is without Randy putting him over and the run they had that year. The following Monday Randy called Page over and pulled him into an office. Page’s Savage impression is kind of fun. Savage was touched by the message and told Page it meant a lot before hugging him. Randy Savage stories make me smile!

-Next they discuss bringing in Malone and Rodman. Page went to a Rockets game in Houston and they were playing Utah. The Jazz were blowing out Houston, so Malone saw DDP and threw up the Diamond Cutter signal. Rodman was being brought back and Page knew Malone wanted to try wrestling. He tells us that Malone was a roommate with Rodman when they were rookies and he never had a problem with Dennis. DDP pitched the idea of a tag match and Malone said he would entertain the thought. Eric thought about it and when Utah swept The Lakers to get to The Finals, he told Page to get Malone. They shot the angle on The Tonight Show and Page calls the whole thing crazy.

-Austin brings up Tyson and when Vince mentioned it to him, Austin told Vince: “we don’t need Tyson.” Awesome! Austin says it sounds stupid now as he wasn’t thinking of all the eyes it would bring to the business. Page said he had similar thoughts as far as he had no clue the press bringing in Malone and Rodman would bring. He points out Rodman was as strong as anyone that ever grabbed him and puts both NBA stars as incredible athletes. He enjoyed it, but says he enjoyed it more after it was over as it was a lot of work.

-Halloween Havoc 1998: Goldberg’s greatest match ever! We get a watch along of the match which is always great with Austin on these shows. It lets Austin do commentary like he used to on Page’s matches and it’s amazing! Page laughs as Goldberg was blown sky high at one point. Apparently, Goldberg knocked himself silly on a spear but they got through the match. Great match with the crowd going crazy. Page tells the story of putting the match together as he wanted Goldberg to miss the spear. Goldberg told him no as he doesn’t miss the spear, and Page had to sell him that’s what makes it work. “Everything had to be real to him.” Page points out the co-main event was Warrior/Hogan and eight years earlier he drove the Cadillac at WrestleMania VI when Warrior/Hogan I happened. He makes sure to mention their match smoked Warrior/Hogan II. No kidding! Hogan/Warrior II went long which meant 1/3 of the audience didn’t see the end of Page/Goldberg, so WCW showed the match on Nitro. That cost them a ton of money as they had to refund PPV money.

-Spring Stampeded 1999: Page wins his first World Title as he pins Ric Flair. Page says Flair is the best ever and he wanted to make sure to thank Flair during the HOF as that was a big deal to him.

-The discuss the Monday Night Wars and Page says Eric saw them winning against the WWF at some point. Page thought he was insane. Hogan told Page he had been there before and there was something happening. Page never wanted to see anyone go out of business as he knew the boys would be screwed. He brings up that today there is a lot of options for the boys.

-We jump to the end of WCW and Page signing with WWE. He thought going in this was a no brainer and he didn’t have heat with anyone. He didn’t realize there was heat with him being a WCW guy. In his mind Page always knew he would get to WWE one day and never anticipated he was going to be looked down on for being in WCW. He was told by Nash and Dusty not to walk away from all that Turner money. Page says he was 45 and didn’t want to wait. He laughs as he walks into the room and Shane and Vince pitch the stalker angle to him. He had Kim with him and he didn’t want to ruffle feathers, but everyone knew he was married to Kimberly. He had to fight for things in WCW and realizes he should have had that attitude in the WWE. If this was WCW he would have told Vince, “Are you looking at my wife?” Man, has a point. He says that feud did nothing for him. He did enjoy hosting the Best of Nitros and did the appearances and got to induct Jake into the Hall of Fame. He realized things would never go his way in the WWF.

-They bring up Mania X-8 and Page says he loved working with Christian. He called him a real wrestler and someone that can commit to playing the heel. He was 46 and Christian was 24 and he was proud that he was able to keep up with him. He says Christian was the perfect opponent for him that night.

-They talk regrets and Page wishes he could have done People’s Champion vs People’s Champion with The Rock. He regrets not getting to work with Austin or Michaels.

-They discuss leaving the business and how some guys have a hard time doing it. Page shows off his Hall of Fame ring and starts to tear up as he talks about having engraved “Work Ethic Equals Dreams” inside. That ring and his first World Title win are real and he was even told that by Dusty. He puts both of those number two behind The Resurrection of Jake The Snake. He gets emotional again talking about helping his buddy. Austin mentions he also helped Scott Hall. DDP says he and Jake will be doing a podcast called DDP Snake Pit and of course Conrad will be hosting. Apparently, it will start airing end of December into January. Page just wanted to call it The Snake Pit, but they told him he needed to have his name on it as well and Jake was cool with DDP’s Snake Pit.

-They discuss Hall of Fame and how they were able to film him getting the call for HHH. As HHH was going through everything, DDP started putting everything together and realized what was happening. He gets emotional again thinking about it. Austin credits DDP for never giving up and never being afraid to work his ass off. He also says that Page was a guy he could for anything and be there. DDP says his career was a fantasy and something like that doesn’t happen. Austin laughs that when he heard and called DDP, he was happier about it than him. Page blames the wine for him getting emotional. He talks about the ups and downs with Bischoff and how he told him that The Invasion was going to be the greatest angle of all time. “It should have been.” Page says the nWo is the greatest angle of all time and mentions Austin/McMahon as being right there. He and Bischoff are friends and because of that he was told to work twice as hard. Hogan is also Bischoff’s friend, but he is HULK HOGAN. Page says he worked five times harder, but never realized that Bischoff protected him from people that could and would stab him in the back. He loves Eric for that and cries some more as he never realized that. He was told to stop helping people and stop being so honest. Page says he could never quit being who he is and he will always help people and tell them what needs to be said. They toast each other one more time as Page tells Austin he loves him.

-The discuss “Guardians of Justice” which Page is a part of on Netflix. He thinks this is something that can change his life again. He is hoping people dig it and he feels it is going to be something special. One more toast and Austin tells him he loves him. “My name is Stone Cold Steve Austin and I am still a bad mother…..”

-I quite enjoyed this as Page is a great story teller and will just run on with an answer to a question for minutes at a time. This flew by and they barely even touched on Page’s wrestling career. This was two great friends shooting the breeze with one getting emotional as the wine kept flowing. A lot of the stories Page has shared either in videos or in his book, but that’s fine. Overall another wonderful edition to this series and the main thing for me is if it flies by and is entertaining and this one did both. Thanks for reading!