JakeRobertsParoleOfficer Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Since DDP is getting some exposure with his awesome YRG system and his rehab of Jake Robert's it led me to think where DDP stands in wrestling annals. Â The guy took up wrestling comparatively late at 35 (though i dont consider this too late when you consider that Nash didnt start till 30 and was 33 before getting anything like a 'spot') and his success was literally all WCW based, but looking back, i dont think i appreciated how good his matches were, the drama they had or his performances. I gotta admit id dint like him first time around, however in arguably wrestling's biggest ever period he was a very key player, and i dont think this si entirely down to his friendship with Bischoff. Â What do you think guys? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ad2bad Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 i was alwas a big fan, and some of the matches and angles with randy savage were incredible. thatmoment when he took off the la parka mask was awesome! i agree that he was around but didnt always seem to be as big a star as he coul of been. i dont know why they turned him heel as soon as he won the belt, seemed to kill his momentum. always had great matches though, and had that common man connection with the crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTXRussomark Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 I think he was tremendous. I think if they had handled him better when he really started taking off in 97 he could have been their equivalent of Steve Austin in terms of importance and what he meant to the company. The reactions he got on a weekly basis were incredible. Unfortunately 97 was Sting's year and then Goldberg took off in 98 so DDP hit his peak at a time when there was always someone else above him. It's a shame because at any other point in time DDP would have been the face of the company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanz25 Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 I might add his YRG system is brilliant. 2 weeks in and already seeing results! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted February 9, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 9, 2013 It takes some doing to have a wife that stunning who became one of WCW's biggest acts in her own right and still not be overshadowed by her. DDP could have easily went down the Marc Mero route if he wasn't so over. As far as whether he owes his whole career to Eric Bischoff, I cant see any argument to the fact that he absolutely owes Bischoff his career. DDP was a joke manager well past his physical prime before the bloke who lived next door to him got power. Without Bischoff nobody else would have even thought about giving him a push. Who would push a 40 year old illiterate with fucked up teeth who had just started working? But he still worked hard for it and didn't drop the ball when he got it, so he totally deserves what he got. Pushing someone is one thing. Getting over and staying over is another. Garrett Bischoff proves that. And to be one of WCW's few home grown stars of his boom period is something to be proud of. His rise to the top was fascinating to watch. Its was strange seeing each week pass and forgetting he'd been a joke character for years. Being the first man to give Hall and Nash a pasting was a career maker. Â I dont know his place in history. WWF seems to like him these days, but I feel they thought that run with the Undertaker in 2001 is what Page deserved. He made so many enemies in WWF. If you ever watched Kanyons shoot interview, DDP's run in the promotion was a big joke for the regulars to laugh at and rip the piss out of him when he was in the ring. He hugged Vince when he first met him to negotiate his WWF deal. So Vince must have thought "mug" straight away. Not only did he give up a Turner deal for 7 figures to take a much, much, much lower WWF contract (but still more than what they felt he deserved) but he hugs Vince as soon as he sees him. They even made a storyline out of it, with Austin and Vince laughing at it. Kanyon mentions a story in regards to Undertaker's constant jibes at him. He was watching a match where DDP fucked up a spot and Taker remarked to the dressing room "I wonder if DDP wrote that down before the match". When the Undertaker doesn't like you, you're pretty much knackered. He didn't like the way Page wrote everything out for his opponent as well as himself as well. That didn't go down well (understandably). Mick Foley said once that Undertaker hated the way Page bumped. Page never used to take flat back bumps, due to age and his disc problems. So when he was working the Undertaker, a new guy (even if he was a millionaire new guy, who'd been on Jay Leno a million times) taking bumps to protect himself when in the ring with Taker was seen as hugely disrespectful. And with wrestling, you dont take someone to one side and explain it. You just bury them and show them up. They could have drawn so much money with DDP in 2001 and 2002. DDP vs The Rock at SummerSlam would have murdered what he did with Booker T. Austin vs DDP would have done incredible numbers as well. Instead they turned him into the stalker of a woman who's chin was so large she wouldn't have felt it if he'd have hit her with a Diamond Cutter. Oh, and he did the job for her. Â So its hard where DDPs place in history is. Like Steiner and Goldberg. The winner writes the history books, as they say. It wasn't like he was the most popular bloke in WCW either. "Overbearing", "thin-skinned" (never call him Leather Face or trailer park trash) and "clich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bully Busick Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Whilst Page was never the best Wrestler ever or even my fav,i have never been more impressed with a Wrestlers turn in fortune. I missed alot of late 90s wrestling due to other interests and when i got back in to watching in 2000 i made sure i caught up with all id missed  I remember seeing Page as a main event guy and thinking "what the f**k" Last time id seen him was battlebowl 91 i believe and he was a joke. Yeah the Bish helped of course but its testament to his hard work and attitude that the fans brought in to him He more than held his own against Savage and Goldberg,and if i remember rightly he was One of the only guys to never at some stage join the NWO. By avoiding them he became a thorn in their side and the crowds seemed to love him for it.  His overall legacy in the industry? Hard to say,but whilst i doubt he will ever be mentioned in the same breath as Flair ect he should be remembered for being pretty good. I know he seemed to have issues back stage in WWE but it still annoys me that he was used as he was.  Ah well he like Alan Partridge bounced back so all good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 DDP is a funny one for me, as at the time I started finding out about wrestling he was on the "other show" so you'd read reports about him on the internet and think "he sounds pretty awesome". And he was one of those guys who you hoped and prayed would turn up in WWF after WCW folded, and when he did he got this insanely huge reaction, and looked like he was going to do great business. Â And then they inexplicably buried him. They made him look like shit. And then he got injured and that was it, by that point he was worth nothing to them, so even when he got well enough to start wrestling again they presumably had no interest in him. Â I guess it just goes to show that at that point there was just so much talent washing around that WWF could afford to assemble one of the greatest rosters ever and then actually hire big stars just to destroy their credibility. Can you imagine that now? Say DDP was the age he was when he came in in 2001, the WWE would be all over him like a rash, be paying him to work a light schedule and giving him title runs. Â And yet despite it all, he's clearly a happy man, healthy and a rare example of someone coming out of the wrestling mill with all his faculties. And he has it in his heart to try and help others. He doesn't seem to hold a grudge either, coming in to do the WCW DVDs and swopping phonecalls with Hunter over Jake's rehab. Perhaps there's a retrospective rehabilitation of his place in wrestling history coming; he absolutely deserves it in my eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted February 9, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 9, 2013 DDP was a megastar of the Monday Night Wars era, one of the hottest periods in the history of the industry. That alone means he will always be remembered. It's similar to the Goldberg situation, albeit to a lesser extent. Both were super hot babyfaces at a time when everyone was watching. To shine in that time means you must have been something special, regardless of the push you got or who your mates were. Â Page probably wouldn't crack an objective All Time Top 25, but I bet he'd feature in loads of people's Favourites list, if you know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 I wish Ian's post ended in a "did he have shit on the market?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeRobertsParoleOfficer Posted February 11, 2013 Author Share Posted February 11, 2013 Ian really hit the nail on the head. Â Honestly for how well WWE(F) has done i do question there logic. They could have made so much $$$$$ from the whole WCW VS WWF feud in 2002. It could have gone on for 2-3 years and done mega business. Instead they treated everyone badly. Â I did hear though that DDP when he met Vince shouted "finally were together" hugged him and marked out badly. He really did think his time had come and his dream had come true, only for it to be totally destroyed. Â Im pleased though that his YRG stuff is doing well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Benno Posted February 11, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 11, 2013 Ian's post is pretty spot on there. Feel quite bad for Page reading about him making a putz of himself with Undertaker and Vince but he clearly mugged himself. Wrestling is depressingly unforgiving sometimes. Â He'll definitely be fondly remembered by me, one of the few guys on the WCW side to remain over and actually be regarded as "cool", in the face of the nWo. That segment with Nash and Hall where he turned down the opportunity to join them is maybe my favorite angle ever. You just wouldn't see that kind of ancient history, like he had with the two of them, being referenced in an angle now, especially not to that effect. A star was clearly born there. Â He has his detractors for the in ring stuff, but I loved all his stuff with Raven and Benoit and obviously his stuff with Macho. Those 2 Nitro matches he had with Sting though (both of whom have that same Death Drop/Cutter finish) are probably my favourite ever WCW matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeRobertsParoleOfficer Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 Just rewatched his shoot. Total respect. He said he was a mark for vince and it cost him. He takes total responsibility tho. Rare in a biz full of excuses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey_Jim Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I always loved Page, hes was a great example of guys in the Jake Roberts school of getting your finishing move over so people could always believe you were one move away from winning. Its a great asset for any Babyface. He was monstrously over in WCW in the late 90's and did a great job staying over during the NWO era when so many 'WCW' guys fell by the wayside or politiced their way into the NWO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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