Diamond Dallas Page Recalls How Dusty Rhodes Motivated Him To Set World Title Goal

Diamond Dallas Page says that a reality check from Dusty Rhodes motivated him to set the World Title as his goal in WCW. DDP became World Champion three times in WCW, but he had a long road to get there. He recalled during his appearance on What Do You Wanna Talk About? with Cody Rhodes how Rhodes’ late, great father snapped him out of a point of frustration with his booking in 1994.

DDP noted that Rhodes’ verbal clapback at the time set him on the path where he would become World Champion for the first time at WCW Spring Stampede 1999 against Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Sting — two of which were the very people he told Dusty he knew he would never be on the level of. You can see the highlights below:

On Complaining to Dusty:

“I am bitching up a storm in late ’94. So you know, I’m like 38 years old. And this booking committee’s never gonna, they’re never gonna see it in me. I’m at the top of the bottom at this point. And I’m just not going anywhere no matter how hard I work, no matter what I do, and I am just bitching. And at some point I say, ‘You know, Dream, I know I’m never gonna be you or Ric or Hulk. I know I’m never going to be the world champion, but these–‘

On Dusty’s Response:

“And he went, ‘Dallas, enough!’ Never yelled at me before ever, but that time he wanted to shut me up. He said, ‘Enough! What did you just say?’ I feel kind of stupid. Like, ‘Dream, I know I’m never gonna be you or Ric–‘ I didn’t even get Hulk out. He goes, ‘No, what did you say after that?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m never gonna be the world champion.’

“He said, ‘Then what the f**k are you doing it for?’ He said, ‘If you don’t believe, D, as hard as you work as much time as you put in the business — if you don’t believe, how the hell is anybody else going to believe? If you don’t believe you need to get the f**k out of our business right now.’ And he kept going.”

On How that Affected Him:

“I was like, ‘Whoa, you are so right.’ And right next to my answering machine, for those of you who are that old, was a pad. I pulled the pad over and I wrote, I will be the world champion in five years or less. It was four years, four months, and 14 days.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit What Do You Wanna Talk About? with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.