Diamond Dallas Page on Whether Drew McIntyre Is Still The Next Big Thing, MJF’s Potential, Gives Big Cass Update

– Diamond Dallas Page spoke with Sportskeeda for an interview and shared his thoughts on Drew McIntyre and MJF, as well as giving an update on Big Cass. Highlights are below:

On if Drew McIntyre is still the next big thing: “I think that he still is. I think they just have to let him be himself, you know? With WWE, it’s a lot of stories. Guys have different stories that they have to live out. Like, I never saw him as a psychopath. Do you know what I mean? A warrior? Okay, but psychopath? I never saw that. You know, so, I think that, in the big picture, they’ve just got to let him be himself, and sometimes it takes time. Look at Stone Cold Steve Austin. When he came in, when he was the Ringmaster, and he was working with Ted DiBiase, he was the same wrestler. He just wasn’t the same guy. They had to let Steve be Steve, and eventually they did. And we know what happened.”

On MJF: “Well, it’s funny you say that because he’s my pick for the hottest up-and-coming guy in 2020. You know, I think that he’s got a lot of natural ability. You can tell he loves being a heel but there is going to come a time – and when he went out there to save Cody out there, it lit the place up, and the crowd popped bigger than they have for anybody. Being able to do the moves and the high spots, and the big oohs and ahhs, that’s definitely what wrestling is about today but who can grab and captivate the people by their charisma? A la Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Steve Austin, the Rock… DDP! You know, whatever, to grab the people and make them react. That’s what MJF has. He’s just another guy that I put under my wing a little bit because when I see someone who wants it as bad as he does, but is willing to put the work in. That’s the part that’s pivotal to me. He’ll do an interview or something and he’ll go, “What did you think?” I will tell him and he’ll go, “What did you really think?” He really wants to know! He just, a lot of it is just natural ability. He grew up in… There was a video on YouTube of him on the Rosie O’Donnell show. He’s five years old, and he does what he calls opera. He’s five. He says on the show with Rosie, “I’m going to be an opera singer when I grow up and a wrestler.” I mean, that’s the vision. Again, he gets it. Couldn’t say enough good things about the kid. As long as he can keep his feet on the ground as he’s reaching for the stars, the world is his oyster, literally. As long as he can do that. You know, never believe your own hype because that p****s people off.”

On Chris Jericho being on the top of his game at 49: “I’m just so happy to be a part of Chris being able to do that because he tells everybody, not just on his podcast, that DDPY is the reason why he is still able to do the things he can do. That, his heart, his determination, just his insane drive. To be a little piece of it that literally helps him get out there every night. You can look at Chris Jericho in the match he had with Kenny Omega and you can go back and look at a match he did eight years ago, and the guy still out there busting his a** just as hard. The fact is going to be 49, holding back the hands of time, it’s super special. It’s great that I can actually support him in his podcast, which does killer. And Chris has always said it to a ridiculous amount of people, and anybody he wants to have a new program, whether it is musicians or athletes, or whatever.”

On how Big Cass is doing: “I know he’s in rehab right now and he’s really getting a lot of really good help. He’s a really smart guy. He’s dealing with depression and all that, and he’s got to get a point like where Jake is at. At least he’s not waiting until he’s in his late 50s. He’s doing it in his early 30s, he still has a brilliant career ahead of him, if he can stay sober – which I believe he has the ability. The WWE is the ones who stepped up and took care of him. I talked to Johnny Ace, Triple H, and Mark Carano, and they’re the guys who made it happen. They got him into rehab. I told him I would help him when he got out, but he needs to go in right now. When you start getting blackouts, which is what happened to Cass, and when you’re drinking, then you don’t even know what happened. That is a scary thing, so it’s got to go deeper than just positive training. It’s a huge part of it but you’ve got to go deeper than that.”