← The Steve Austin Show
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- [00:01]
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Production from Hollywood, California, by way of the Broken Skull Ranch.
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A
This is the Steve Austin Show.
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B
Give me a Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Now here's Steve Austin. I'm proud to have one of my best friends in the wrestling business here to join the show. My good buddy, Diamond Dallas Page. Dallas, welcome to the show.
- [01:04]
A
Hey, dude, I gotta tell you, that was an awesome little thing back and forth with you and Mo. You gotta have one of the guests.
- [01:11]
B
Well, me and Mo are also living together. We weren't gonna take that. Two straight cats trying to form a podcast and make a little headway so we can get paid out of this gig. We're tired of working for free.
- [01:23]
A
I just got the honor. I don't know about all the brain stuff, and you know me, I'll try anything. If it works, I'm gonna do it. But I'll tell you one thing that flipped. The hemp protein powder, the chocolate hemp protein powder is the best protein powder ever, dude.
- [01:43]
B
Now work with me a little bit here. They sent me the hemp protein powder, but I never tried it because I didn't think it had enough grams for me. Do you dig it that much? Because if you're going to recommend it, I got a can of it in my cabinet.
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A
Dude, hemp is one of the best proteins that you can take. And this is totally unscripted. Me and you didn't even know. But we're both doing this. You talk about on it. I go, that's the same shit. I know. And they, they sent me the chocolate stuff. And you're right, I want a bigger. I want a bigger. A bigger bottle of it. But at the same time, the scoops, the scoops are little scoops, so they're still about the same as our big scoops. You used to get 24 grams in. I think it's like 12 grams a scoop. But it's half the size of the screw, Steve. That's what the deal is. But I made it with almond milk, ice frozen banana and peanut butter. It's the best shake I've ever. I mean, it's the best milkshake I've ever had. Forget your protein shake.
- [02:42]
B
Yeah, but dude, check it out. When I met with the folks from Monet, they came down, we went to the firehouse in Venice because I wanted to know, dude, anytime I'm talking about something on my show, I believe in it because I've done it. So I met with Aubrey Marcus, the head of on it and all those guys and we were talking and I had my whole list of stuff because I'd already done my due diligence and research. And when I asked him about the hemp protein, I said, dude, I said, you gotta understand, man, I'm a simple dude. I come from South Texas. When you say hemp, I think dope, you know, so I'm thinking, you know, like it's marijuana seeds or something. But then he goes down to BreakI can't remember the exact conversation, but it breaks down like you have thethe male part of the plant which produces the thc, and the female part which doesn't, but all of the nutritional aspects of it. So it was a mind trip for me. And so I never even busted the seal on mine. But if you're gonna put it over big time, I'm gonna give it a.
- [03:34]
A
If you like chocolate and I love chocolate, it's almost too strong. It's so good. But you put the peanut butter and the bananas, the almond milk, Steve, I tell you, I blend that some bitch up. I was like, fuck, this is awesome. Because I care about the taste, you know, I'm a health freak.
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B
Oh, yes, me too.
- [03:53]
A
I'm not eating it and that tastes awesome.
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B
Hey, check it out. You're going to be proud of me. You know, I've been living, you know, a lot of people don't know and a lot of new listeners to the show or whatever. When I first moved out to Los Angeles over 10 years or somewhere around 10 years ago, you and I lived together. I came and lived with you for. What was I with you? A year and a half?
- [04:13]
A
About a little over a year. And it came at a really rough time in my life because me and Kimberly had just split up. I'll never forget. I knew you wanted to do the acting thing, seriously. And me and her just split up and I just bought that sweet place down in Playa Vista, you know, a mile off the beach. And I was just like, fuck, man, you know, she. Oh, she, she's leaving me. You know, I ain't afraid to say, you know, I'm sure I caused a lot of it, you know, we're best friends today, you know, really, really tight. But the bottom line is I had a huge hole in my life and I'm never calling you up. And I go, steve, I know you want to do this LA thing. If you're looking for a roommate, I'm looking for a place. I got a sweet ass place I just got. You got one of them rooms if you want it. And you go, yeah, well, let me think about that. And then four days later, remember, you call me up. Offers still good, kid. I go, yeah, dude, I'm coming out.
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B
Well, you know, and the thing about it was, you know how cheap I am because we used to travel together. I wanted to come out to LA to try to get into the acting thing because I'd been out of the business for about three years and I was living in San Antonio and basically, man, I was drinking and hunting and fishing and that was it. Lived in a gated community. And that was kind of when I had that Come to Jesus meeting with myself. And I said, dude, you need to get off your ass. You're 40 years old, you better get your ass to work. So that's when I said you had already come out there, you'd made some headway, you were established, you had a crib. And I didn't want to come out here and get smoked on rent. So moving in with you was a sweet deal. And obviously I don't need a gigantic crib. We're guys. You had a nice sweet crib over there. It was a two bedroom, what was it, two and a half bath. It was just a great setup, guys. You don't need an elaborate setup, man. All I was wanting was a place to take a shit, a place to cook and a place to sleep, and that's what it was. But you had a great setup, you had your office there. But anyway, so we lived together for a long time. And back in the day you were big into juicing. Before juicing got big, there was one time, let me tell the listeners this, Dallas is so busy working on the yoga thing, we're going to get to all that later. But Dallas was such a self promoter and investing his time and his money into himself, his brand, he didn't have time to juice and juicing. For those of you that do it takes a lot of time. By the time you prepped all those vegetables, come up with the formula to stuff them in there, get all the pulp out, bottle the stuff. And you had that chicken would come over and she would like juice for like an eight hour day, put all your stuff in the freezer and you were swearing by it. And I'm watching all this go by and I'm thinking, man, this dude's crazy. But anyway, to make my point, Kristen and I just bought a juicer the other day. So I just started juicing. What do you think about that, kid?
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A
Wow.
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B
But I gotta get a recipe from you because Kristen and I threw a bunch of vegetables in the other the other day and then we threw in a bunch of parsley. And you cannot overdo parsley, Mo, because it tasted like I was drinking a gigantic stink bug.
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A
Yeah, you can't parsley, any of that. Mint, A lot of those things. You got to be careful.
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B
Oh, it was unbelievable. What's that stuff that. No, it's the stuff that they. When you're eating sushi, that stuff. Ginger. It was a ginger root. That's what I put in there. But it was like drinking. Oh dude. It was like drinking a liquid stink bug. So I need some of your recipes asap.
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A
Well, you know, it really comes down to again, and anybody who's listening to this and follow me on DDP yoga or whatever, if it don't taste great, I'm not eating it. I don't give a fuck how healthy it is. And that's just shit, you know. So I got, I got some recipes for you and they taste great. And the whole thing about juicing is it alkalines your body and puts like your, oxidizes your blood. It's like an anti cancer causing effect that just makes it unfriendly for cancer and that type of diseases or inflammation. I'm so excited that you're doing it, bro. That's awesome.
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B
Well, I'll follow up with you after the phone call. I want to jump some business with you because I got a lot of questions to ask you and it's funny having you on the show because you're one of my best friends and we've been traveling together for so long and you pulled me out of so many bars, put me in bed so many times and I mean that in a good Christian way. We're both straight. But you recently moved. You were out here in Los angeles for about 10 years and you recently packed up and you headed back down to Atlanta, which For a long time was your old stomping grounds. How's the transition been for you?
- [08:58]
A
It's been amazing. You know, you get so much more for your money and you know, we're all about that. Both of us getting so much more for your money. I got this sweet ass crib in Smyrna, Georgia, which is on the upper north side of Atlanta. And it is. I love it. Yeah, I've got five bedrooms here. You know, I've got my daughter Brittany, she's staying with me right now. She's been here for a while. Of course Jake is here. Scott and Cody just moved out and that's all over the Internet. And I just want everyone to know Scott is doing amazing. He's living a mile from me. Came by to work out today, was feeling a little under the weather a little bit. So we push it off till tomorrow. But I'm working with Cody a little bit in the ring. Want that a little bit once a week now. It's awesome. I got my whole. All my people because we got all the cameras here. We're filming some awesome stuff for DDP tv. I love it. Hey, man, I love it.
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B
I gotta ask you about those cameras in a minute. But you just said. Because I talked with Scott twice now. Who's talking about young Cody? How's he in the ring right now when you're in there working with him? I know he's green, but how is.
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He for 10 matches, really good.
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B
Does he have it?
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The kid gotta look for start. He's a handsome son. Bitch. You know, he's six' eight, 260, 265, natural. You know, his old man, you know, Scotty, he, you know, he was just a big horse. You know, his whole career, this kid just got the natural genetics. And in the movie, he's got the facial expressions. He, you know, Jake, when Jake was in the ring with him, he said that, you know, he doesn't have a quick enough step. You know, he's missing that explosive move. And that's one of the things that I consider myself pretty damn good at. Taking from nowhere to, you know, 60 miles an hour to get that quick, fast move. So I gave him some of the stuff that I would do and you know, right away he picked up a lot of it pretty quickly. And I'm going to go back down there on Monday. If I'm in a town, you know, four or five days, I'll get in the ring with him. It was fun because, you know, Scott seemed be working like 24, 7, but I love what I do, so I don't consider it work, but when I was in the ring with Cody, well, I was, it was. Dude, you know, I was down at power plant forever. It was, I didn't miss a step. I was right back in it and just went right back to working and training guys and it was the natural. And he's, he's a natural.
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B
Well. So you just got back to la? Just got back to Atlanta. Do you miss LA at all?
- [11:29]
A
Nah, not really. You gotta miss the weather occasionally, but the weather, you know, because you've lived in Atlanta, you know how hot it can get especially, especially in the summer. It's been really nice this summer. So coming in, you know, when you get. And you'll. Eventually you'll get out here, you get in my crib, man. It's sweet, you know, and you know, I've got, I've got, it's a man's house, you know, from the 80 inches TVs, I mean, I got one of those 111, 110 inch screens that drops out of the ceiling, bro. In my bedroom with the surround sound.
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B
Is that a projector or a hard screen?
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A
Yeah, that's, that's the dropdown screen for in my bedroom. But in, you know, in the living room where we always got ESPN on, it's the 80 inch TV and there's TVs everywhere. It's like a sports bar except my daughter Brittany brought a lot of the woman's touch in there. So the place still looks sweet, you know, it's not too guyed out, but it's like, God, it's not a man cave, it's a man house. And you know, we love it. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's comfortable, you know.
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B
Are you glad you made the move out of la? Would you like to stay here? Is more cost effective over there. What are you digging more about Atlanta now?
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A
I, you know, just the people are just so real, so much. My family is here, you know, my, the people who are the backbone to DDP yoga. Everybody's here, so it just made it. And plus my doc, you know, I had my doc work on you one time, right? Doc West. Oh, yeah, yeah. He's, he's just unbelievable. As far as you'll keep in my body because at 57, you know, I consider, you know, guys like me and you and Nash, we're all like Ferraris or Maseratis, but we got 600,000 miles on us.
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B
That's not good.
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A
So just, I want you. It's, it's staying there and keep, you know, taking care of my body so that I can be, you know, someone said to me, so where is Diamond Dallas Page in the next five years? I said, Diamond Dallas page is Jack LaLanne meets Tony Robbins meets a straight Richard Simmons.
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B
Ah, gotcha. Hey, man. So you're, you're back in Atlanta. You got a great crib. It was a home. It is your home, but also it's called the accountability crib. You've got Jake the Snake Roberts over with you. He's doing DDP yoga. He's working on staying straight. Scott hall was in there for a couple of months. Tell me about the account. Tell us the listeners, about the accountability crib and how it came to be.
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A
Well, for starters, you know, anybody who gets in, you know, and I use DDP yoga because that's our platform. You know, anybody who gets in any kind of a program to help change their life or better themselves, you know, because anybody can be doing really good, but you want to take it to another level. You know, most times you need to be made accountable and accountable to yourself more than anything. And if you're going to fuck up, well, then, you know, we're going to, we're going to talk about it. And Jake, because Jake's the one who really started this whole thing. And by the way, there is an amazing, amazing article I haven't finished reading all the way yet, but in on sports, Yahoo. Sports, I guess, is yahoo sports.com and they made, they did a title of an article called the Resurrection of Jake the Snake. Jake just called me, like, right before I got on the phone with you. And he said, bro, read that article. He goes, I just want to thank you so much. Thank you for changing my life. And, you know, he's really on the right path right now. Strong, but he has fallen, you know, he has fallen, you know, from time to time. The one thing he hasn't fallen on no coke and no crack for over nine months now. So that's pretty fucking strong as far as I'm concerned. And out of the, I guess, eight and a half months, nine months we've been doing this. You know, there's a couple times where he fell, and one time was recently, and he didn't get, you know, fucked up, but he got fucked up and, you know, buzzed up enough to change his personality.
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B
Right?
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The deal is, you know, I don't, you know, I don't give a fuck who drinks, but if your goal is to not drink because it change changes you. And when someone's having a real issue, you know, like with their life, and they're, you know, the. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result, a different response. It just doesn't happen. You know, there's certain things that are ingrained. And for Jake, it's like he, you know, how's that drinking, you know, mixed with the coke and the crack? How'd that work for you? Oh, really badly. So why don't we change that? And like I said, he's been off the coke and the crack for over nine months. But recently he had fallen. I think that was the third time, maybe it was the fourth over the period that he'd been here.
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B
Yeah, but check it out. You got a cat like Jake, a Snake Roberts, an alpha male, a very cerebral cat, a very smart cat. The wheels fall off. How do y' all have that come to Jesus meeting? Do you tread lightly when you're eating his ass out or trying to help a brother out? How does that conversation happen in the beginning?
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A
You know, the first couple times it's, you know, the first time I was really pissed, right? We got that on film, you know, because. And the only reason I wasn't pissed that he got fucked up, I was pissed that he's saying to my face, I'm not fucked up. I'm like, oh, you smoke? No, not smoking crack. I normally say that as a kidding, you know, a joke. But I couldn't really use that with him. You know, one time I actually did say that by accident. But, you know, if you look at DDP TV, they're back in the first 80s with Jake, there's a video call, the Reality Check, right? You know, and that's that whole scene. Because we don't go set shit up to do things like reality TV does. We shoot shit live. And if there's something happening in the house or with somebody that in any way starts to go from being just a regular conversation to something that's different, everyone goes, stop. Don't say anything. Cameras, if we don't have them. But normally one of my guys is walking up with a camera. Plus we had cameras all the way around. And the reason we do is we're filming a documentary, the Resurrection of Jake the Snake. And that just happens to be the title of the Yahoo Sports article that's up today is the Resurrection of Jake the Snake. We've changed the name to It's Never Too Late, the Resurrection of Jake the Snake. Because there's other people that will come into this journey that we're on and explain to people it's never too late to do anything. Becoming a wrestler, 35 is just another thing for me, you know, that it was never too, it wasn't too late yet. It was my destiny. So whatever it is you're trying to accomplish, don't tell yourself it's too late. I'm too old, I'm too fat, I'm too skinny. It's. You can control and get to a certain.
- [18:24]
B
Stop making an excuse. Basically. Stop making an excuse. But check it out, man, you guys got cameras everywhere. I mean, I mean I've seen a lot of the videos on DDP tv. Why is this not a reality show in the making? I mean, I know you're doing your documentary, but there just seems like some great life changing stuff going on over there. Why isn't this a reality television show?
- [18:46]
A
For starters, some of the shows that have come to me to talk to me, they want to control us. They want to edit around us, they want us to do things I'm not going to do, you know, because no matter what, I'm going to be true to myself into what my brand is, which is shoot reality. Meaning that I'm not making shit up to make it interesting. Our lives are so interesting around that. But they want to control us. So I'm like, you know what, I'll pass. And the bottom line is I have a pretty decent sized company right now that has come to me and want to, you know, they're wanting to do it the way I want to do, you know, I want to be the guy on TV that is in whatever either the conflict or the resolution of the scene of the show that's on tv where I go, fuck that camera. Look at me and tell me exactly what you're really doing now. I mean like, I like look at the camera, like acknowledge the camera.
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B
Well then why don't you just take, then why don't you just take more of a producer role and have more control on creative or content and say, hey dude, we can do this, but here's how it's going to be done. I'm going to call the shots.
- [19:58]
A
And that's the goal that's working towards that now. But the main reason we've got all these cameras here right now is because we're doing a movie. And when I first gave this to Jake, Jake had to do something on his own. I wasn't just gonna bring him in and hope that I could help inspire his life. And he did. He didn't. He lost 8 pounds the first time. He was at 305 plus pounds all in his stomach. You know the way Jake. All that weight in his stomach and he. He couldn' get out of a chair. So, God, I'm eating the real food. And for me, the real food is not the genetically modified food. There's a big thing coming. Everybody's going to know what GMO is very soon. I've known what it is for eight years now. And it's genetically modified food. They've changed what God created. And all I want people to do is go back to eating the what God created because the real food will heal you and make you feel better. And Scott hall is a perfect example because I had him look at the movie and watch it a couple of times. Food Inc. Another one is genetic roulette. I'm. You can't just say, don't eat this, eat that. Let me tell you why you don't want to eat that shit. Now let. Don't take it from me, take it from that doctor who's explaining it to you, not me.
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B
So, guys, so is there some place, is there some place on your website where folks can get this information?
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A
Well, pretty much everything is over on DDP yoga dot com. But when you get invited to Team DDP Yoga, that's where I really get into, you know, don't eat this food, eat that food. And here's why. I've got so many different videos up on T. And anybody can go join Team DDP yoga dot com. Whether you're doing DDP Yoga or not, I don't care because I know you're going to. If you actually get. Become a part of it and start to really research it, you're gonna get pulled into it because that's what's making people, you know, own their lives. The whole. It's. It's a lifestyle. That's really what it is.
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Talking about a lifestyle with ddp, the creator of DDP yoga, the guy who's changing lives all around the world. And, man, we're gonna come right back with my good buddy Diamond Dallas Paige. You know, I told Paige we weren't gonna talk too much about pro wrestling, but I was doing my research and I found out a lot of stuff that even I did not know about my great friends. So we're to go into details and take some broad strokes and then focus on his feud with the one and only Randy Macho Man Savage when we come back on the Steve Austin Show. With the one and only ddp.
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A
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B
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B
Welcome to the Steve Austin Show. Oh, that's right, it's Steve Austin sitting on my ass in Hollywood, California, talking to my good buddy Diamond Dallas Page. Catching up with what he's been doing lately down there in Atlanta at the accountability crib. And we're fixing to move into what I know and love and where the business he comes from. Let's talk a little bit about pro wrestling because Dallas, when you and I were talking about this, basically going to focus this conversation on ddp, yoga and how you're changing lives all over the world. But I started doing my research and making sure I was up to speed with everything. And I found out a lot of things that I didn't even realize. And as good friends as you and I are and as long as I live with you, some of the things just got by me. I did not know that growing up in New Jersey, where you're from, you loved the Dallas Cowboys so much. That's how you got your nickname.
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A
Yeah, my, it was actually my dad who gave it to me because he. My real name is, you know, as you know, is Paige Joseph Faulkenberg before I change it to diamond down actually to Dallas Page. But when I was a little kid, you know, my parents split up. I went with my dad and he said that, you know, he would always call himself Page one and he tried to call me page two and, and he said I never really liked that. So since I was a little kid that was a fan of the Dallas Cowboys, you know, you know, people either love the Cowboys or they hate the Cowboys. And my old man, do I love them? But he hated them. He's like, how do you like the Dallas Cowboys? I'm a little snapper head, you know, but, you know, so he's, hey, Dallas, come on Your team's on, you know, so that's when you know, that's where it all came from. The Landry era. Back then, you know, it was just, you know, a young little kid. My dad just started to call me that and you know, later on, you know, no one really knew it, you know, growing up. And then I. If you remember that show, that movie that came out, Alien, it was amazing. The first movie that came out and one of the captains names was Dallas. And I think I was around 22 at the time. And I was trying to figure out what wrestling name I was going to use because I decided at 22 I was going to go, I was going to make a shot at trying to be professional wrestler. And I was a big handsome Jimmy Valiant fan. So I came up with the name of Handsome Dallas Page.
- [26:19]
B
You know, as a kid growing up, you're lucky you wasn't a San Francisco fan. I'd be talking to San Francisco Page right now. So let's talk about your start. Let's go down.
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A
It worked out good for me. I always love that name Dallas, you know, so the 2A. I love the name Page. So some friends call me Dallas, some people call them Page, some people call him a ddp, Dalley, the Emperor. You know, I go with them all.
- [26:43]
B
Well, let's talk to your starting a business because obviously you're a big fan but you're down in Florida, you're working in a nightclub business. All of a sudden you're in AWA managing bad company which at the time was Paul diamond and Pat Tanaka. How in the hell did that happen? And what was your end to the business as a manager?
- [27:00]
A
Well, you know, actually I ran this club in Fort Myers, Florida where I met Jake before ever I was in wrestling because you know, in between Tampa and in Miami, Fort Myers was a spot to stop and get cocktails. And when they found out the guy who ran this club, Norma Jean's dance Club, well hell, he takes care of the boys. You know, everybody's stopping there then. But long story short, I. I did all my own radio commercials and shit and they, I did a lot of voices and synthesizer like this Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, you know and you know, hot legs contest. And I would throw these different voices or make oh yeah, might be Metro Man Randy Savage. You know I the boys into commercials and at one point they came this party news network and this is actually, this video is up on DDP TV. They're like episode one or two or something and it actually shows me in my 62 pink Cadillac. I would. They showed me at doing the voiceovers at the radio station. I was wearing a WrestleMania t shirt. And at some point they come to me at my. And they filming me in my office and they say, where does the voice come from? And I looked down and there was a pair of sunglasses there. And the night before, I was telling the story about how I used to wrestle and I used Handsome Jimmy Valiant as a name. And I don't know if you ever met my buddy Smokey, but Smokey was like, oh, God, you can forget about that gimmick now. And we all started laughing and drinking. And that night I came up with Diamond Dolls Page, the Diamond Exchange, the Diamond Dolls and that saying B A double B band in a drunken that night. Now this is four days or, you know, four nights earlier. And they, you know, they got the cameras on me and I looked down and all that shit's written on my blotter. And when they say, when's the voice come throwing a. Grab her sunglasses? And I threw them on and I said, the voice comes from Diamond. Dallas Page did it. I was born to be a professional wrestling manager. I took the glasses off and kept talking. And a radio jock saw the promo. You know, he saw the show, right? Called me up, asked me to come on, and I told him I don't really do it, it's just a, you know, it was. It was an idea. And he said, well, you know, I'm gonna have Captain Lou on my show. I was like, captain Lou Albano. Huge mark for Captain, right? So he figured, says I could be on the show with him. Like, fuck, yeah, I'll do that. So I go on and then I do it again with Sergeant Slaughter and I get to talk to Sarge. And when he's the kid, the guy is. He's big time in the boxing. This dj, right, he got a friend of mine named Rob Russin. He also is a promoter for the awa. He goes, you should send him a demo tape or something.
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B
Jesus Christ.
- [29:54]
A
So, Steve, this is no shit. And I have the video footage. It's up there on DDP tv, like in the beginning, because I showed the edited version of this. I create three different wrestlers. One big bad John, another Iceman not knowing. Iceman Parson even, right? And I. I called Ted E. Bear and I put little collar around him and dressed up the Diamond Dolls and scantily clad outfits. And I've got all these crazy outfits, from the leopard skin jacket to the zebra to the sequence jacket with the rhinestone ties. This shit I was wearing, running the nightclub in Fort Myers and just having a blast.
- [30:37]
B
So I make videos in your fucking mind.
- [30:40]
A
Keep going with storyline and send it to the awa. And Rob Rustin calls me back in less than two weeks and he says, diamond, we want to bring you in for a tryout. We want you and your boys to come in with you. Oh, we got a question. I've showed your tape around and everybody likes your shit, but no one's ever heard of you. Where are you guys working at? And I'm like, now I know I'm busted, right? I'm like, well, we do have one problem. I go, none of those guys can wrestle. He's like, what? I go, well, you know, they want to be wrestlers. And you know this for a fact, like becoming a wrestler, especially back in our day, it was like a secret society, right? You just walked in and going, I want to be a wrestler.
- [31:40]
B
You get the shit beat out of you.
- [31:41]
A
How do you do it? So I said, well, those guys want to be wrestlers, and if you could set me up with a place, they could train. But in the meantime, I could, you know, I could manage guys if you wanted that. I'm running nightclubs, dude, I'm living another dream. Foods, the broads in the party. And you know, when it came to party, at times I could go. And that was my job back then. And he's like, well, don't call us, we'll call you. And this is State. This, like, everything happened from how stone were Stone Cold Steve Austin. The name comes from all that. How all those little things just happen in life. Well, for this, for my career, Paul E. Dangerously, AKA Paul Heyman.
- [32:22]
B
Yeah.
- [32:23]
A
Leaves the AWA and takes the midnight express to the nwa. And there is a huge hole void in the AWA for a young guy that can talk.
- [32:37]
B
Jesus.
- [32:38]
A
So Greg Gagne calls me back two weeks later and says, diamond, here's what we want to do. We want you to come in and bring all those crazy clothes you have and a couple of those hot chicks that are in your video. And if you fly yourself out and you put yourself, we'll put you you up. But if you fly yourself out, we will give you a tryout, and if you pass it, we'll hook you up and put you with somebody. Jesus, how it happened.
- [33:10]
B
So what'd you say? I'm in, I'm hauling ass. And there you go.
- [33:13]
A
What? I was like, I know, first of all, you know, I've never done anything like that.
- [33:18]
B
Well, I know what'd you tell the chicks, hey, we're going to Mini.
- [33:22]
A
I called one chick that I was at the time who was a smoking hot little blonde. And it's funny because, because she worked one time with me. But there are pictures of me and her and bad company that are still out there that they turn up. And this woman is the senior vice president for Pfizer. You know, the friggin. The Viagra drug. She is the senior vice president. All the salespeople in North America from Canada, Canada and America, the president I would have seen. She's. Of all the sales people. And you know, she still looks amazing.
- [34:02]
B
Are you saying you got.
- [34:03]
A
She was in college. I was like, baby, let's meet in Vegas. You know, I'll bring you out. You could be on tv. She, when we got there, got sick to her stomach, couldn't get out of bed. She was so nervous. I'm like, what are you nervous about? I'm gonna put a pair of sunglasses on you and some of those hot outfits you wear every day, night, and just go out there and be a.
- [34:24]
B
So, yo, we're filming a TV in Vegas.
- [34:30]
A
Yeah, we filmed at the Showboat.
- [34:32]
B
Yeah, yeah, but, but so going back to the chick, you still got a Viagra hookup.
- [34:39]
A
Thank God for Viagra. I'm 57. So.
- [34:42]
B
But, but check it out. So you, you, you make your transition. You're working there in awa, and then all of a sudden I. Are you driving double duty. You're going back and forth from Florida to keep the nightclub job and then doing your TV tapings with AWA in Vegas? Is that what's happening?
- [34:56]
A
Because here's what happens. They film one day a month, right? Four TVs. That's right. So I get a trip to Vegas with a different broad every time, you know, so, hey, baby, want to be on TV with me? You know, getting laid, right? And I would bring a different smoking hot chick with me. Me, every time. It'll be once a month. I took it as a vacation. You know, I got paid 150 bucks to go out there. And, you know, it's funny because Lee Marshall would become a really good buddy of mine. And he was best friends with classy Freddie Blassie, who to me was the guy. And I got to talk to Freddie because of Lee. Freddie loved my shtick. I actually sent him after about, you know, four or five months of tv, you know, edited down VI of a demo wheel for me. And Freddie Blassie brought my tape to Pat Patterson and had him look at my Tape. And Pat said, you know, look at him. He's good. He's got a good rap, but he's 6 foot 9. He's like Andre the Giant. We can't use him.
- [36:11]
B
Make the boys look small, right?
- [36:14]
A
I was dead in New York, you know, at that point, as a manager, but it was an amazing ride. And what happened over that period, it is. I also got to go to Florida Championship Wrestling, and Mike Graham had talked to Dusty Rhodes about me, and I went up and met with them, and Dusty brought me in as a color commentator to work with the late, great Gordon Soley.
- [36:38]
B
Hey, how was it working with Gordon? Solely because that's what I wanted to ask you about. That guy had a bit. A huge influence on you.
- [36:45]
A
Huge. And taught me so much. Like when Dusty brought me up there, you know, when he started to talk about me doing cocktails, and I was like, dusty, no, dude. I don't know a wrist lock from a wristwatch. I can't go out there and do color. And he's like, dude, don't worry about it, baby. Gordon gonna walk you through it all. You're gonna be. You're gonna be the Jeffrey ventura of the 90s. You know, he freaking. He really thought that, you know, my energy would carry it. And I learned so much from Gordon. So much. So a year and a half later, when I got. When Jesse was leaving New York and they were looking for a replacement, they actually brought me in for a tryout. And when I did the color, they were like, don't say baby, don't say, good God. Don't say this, don't say that. Okay, so they're watering me down to do whatever. So, you know, I did whatever the color was. Then Bruce Pritchard came in and he said to Lord Alfred Hayes, okay, now, Lord Alfred Hayes, you're going to do play by the color diamond. You do the play by play play. So I know it was just a river to find out how much I really knew.
- [37:53]
B
Right.
- [37:54]
A
When I got done with that match, I wish I had it on video. Lord Alfred Hayes pushed himself away from the counter, looked at me, and he said, that's some of the best play by play I've ever heard. And I said, well, he goes, wherever did you learn that? I said, I've been sitting by Gordon solely for the last year and a half. Bound to learn something, huh? You know, so it really helped a lot. And Gordon liked to have his cocktail.
- [38:23]
B
Was he drinking during the shows? Because, I mean, you know, he was a vodka guy. Was he drinking during the show. Was that the store with Gordon?
- [38:29]
A
Well, you know, to him, what was he, you know, they were trying to pop Florida. You know, there's 150 people in the studio audience. You know, he just, he's having, you know, he's had a little pop as he goes, you know, but, but he was always on like boom, spot on with everything. But then, so you know, for him, fcw, he was, he was, I gotta tell you, when, when Smokey, when Larry Smokey Genta interviewed from, for my book. Now this is Gordon. He friggin, you know, we were up, we were together with Dusty and Dusty gives Smokey Gordon's phone number. So Smokey calls him up and he goes, hello Mr. Sully. And you know, Smokey grew up in Florida. So you know, Gordon is a God, you know. And he calls him up and he says I was, I'm a Diamond Dallas Page and I was with Dusty Rhodes. And Dusty gave me your phone number and they, they said I could call you about. For Dallas Page's book. Who is this? This is Smokey, Larry Smokey Chetza, Duster and what do you want? And he looked at this, his ribbings, smoky, making him more and more and more nervous. And he, he goes, so you want some information on Diamond Dallas Page? Do you? He goes, hold on a second. Now Gordon must have been just sitting next to his file cabinet. So he's opening file cabinets and slamming him shut, opening another file cabinet, slamming him shut. You can hear people start. And he goes, about three minutes later he comes back, he goes, Diamond Dallas Page. He said, I can't seem to find anything bad to say about. Just must have been Smokey's chops, you know. So it was a fun interview for him.
- [40:14]
B
But so FCW takes a dump. They, you know, they fold up. Dusty takes the book in wcw he calls you up, he calls you up and says, Dallas, come on down and you start managing there in wcw.
- [40:28]
A
Well yeah, well that's how I got there. But he didn't call me. I developed a relationship with him over Florida while we were together in Florida. And he would actually return my phone calls. I'd never pester him, you know, I would call every couple of months just to check in. And when I heard he was leaving New York, he was a polka dotted dude then and he was coming back to wcw. I called his wife Michelle, she answered, if it wasn't for Michelle, me and Dusty probably never have a relationship because she always go, Dusty, don't forget to call Dallas because she likes me. And when he brought me in, he brought me in to manage the first Freebirds. And that was, that was pretty damn cool, you know.
- [41:11]
B
Well, let me ask you something about managing the free Birds because, I mean, was it a deal to repackage them, make them fresh again? Because you know, Michael PSA is one of the greatest talkers. You know, Michael, you know, Michael PSA is one of the best talkers of all time. How did they receive you as, hey, here's your new manager, Diamond Dallas Page.
- [41:30]
A
Well, again, I was very lucky. I met Michael when they tried to put together, tried to compete with Vince and he. And it was the awa, Memphis and the WCCW were all combining together for, you know, Jerry the king Lawyer, I think, beat Von Erich, I think for the title. So there was like this road to the clash of whatever it was called. And Michael and I just happened to hook up together. And I rode in a car for 400, for four hours with Michael in the backseat and me and Eddie Marlin and the co pilot and Jeff Jarrett jet Jerry Jarrett at the wheel. And Michael, you know, because he was pissed at Jerry for, you know, because the way he was used last time he was in Memphis. So he's telling me how Jerry hates when someone smokes in his car. He's blowing the smoke right up towards Jerry. You know that word's like blatant. But you know, he's doing it. And we're drinking and talking. And at the end of that car ride, Michael was like, you know, I see you're in this business because you love it. You're not here because you want to be a TV star. And we exchanged numbers and occasionally Michael Hayes would call me back. And when I came there and Dusty put me with him and Jimmy, Michael put me over to Jimmy so strong, he said, here's what I want to do. Do I want both of our backs to the camera. Dallas will step in between us and cut the whole promo. And at the end we'll just look over our shoulders and do the names. And that's what he did for me.
- [43:16]
B
Dude, that's pretty heavy duty stuff. That's pretty heavy duty stuff, man. I mean, when you get the free birds and then throwing, you know, Jimmy Garvin, that's. That's heavy duty stuff. You had to been stoked about that.
- [43:28]
A
Oh my God, to me, I love to listen to those guys promo, you know, back in the day, I mean, I just, I. I would stop what I was doing if I was doing. And they came on the talk because they just had so much charisma, you know. I can't imagine if Michael was wrestling today and was like maybe 23, you know, I mean, just his, his personality.
- [43:52]
B
Light it up.
- [43:53]
A
And his showmanship, ship, you know. Yeah, they were people that I love to watch. So for me to actually be with and be on the road with those two fuckers, because that's about as senior road guys you can get. I can remember one time I'm sitting in the back, right, because Jimmy's got shotgun, Michael's driving and I put my leg through the. You know the gimmick when you put your arm on the Cadillac and they go, is your, is your foot really up here, Dallas? I was like, my knee hurts. I just want to stretch, stretch it out. So they're like, okay, no problem. Holy fuck, did I pull my foot back? Garvin had a fucking lighter under my foot.
- [44:30]
B
The kings of the ribs. But see, dude, I used to travel with you and I was talking with Scott hall about you the other day, and we used to call you the world's tallest 6 foot 4 guy because every time he rode in the shotgun seat, you didn't have any mercy for the cat behind you. You would crank your seat all the way back and then you would lean it back. And nine times out of 10, it was Mick Foley back there and you had him crunched up like a sl. Slinky. Your etiquette as far as space in a car is really jacked up. What's up with that?
- [45:01]
A
You know, man, I figured I'm about comfort lounge chair. I'm sitting in my lounge. You know, the seat I got, that's got the, what is it called? The astronaut seat. That's, you know, grab zero gravity chair. I got another one up in my, in my room right, right now, bro. I'm just all laid out in my anti gravity chair. That's how I like to go position my feet. Scott busted my balls the other day when we got in the truck. He goes, dude, you still are the tall 6 foot 4 guy alive.
- [45:33]
B
Hey, you know, you guys did the thing as a free birds, but then all of a sudden you hook up with the Diamond Stud. Scott hall is put into the mix and that lasts for a while. But according to my sources, rumors started floating around WCW that they wanted to take the Diamond Stud away from. From you. And it was Magnum TA who suggested that if you wanted to control your own destiny, you needed to get in the ring and wrestle for yourself. Is that the truth? Is that how you decided to ultimately get in the ring at 35 years of age.
- [46:02]
A
Well, they. It was Magnum who told me that. That, you know, they weren't going to, you know, they weren't going to keep me and Scott together. And he said, you know, between the hair and the diamonds and the wrap and, you know, you're sort of taking the tension away from Scott, and Scott's got to get over on his own. Which he was absolutely right, because look what happened with him after that, you know. But I was so proud to be a part of, you know, what would become Razor Ramon and eventually, you know, NWO Scott Hall. But for me, when Magnum said, he goes, what we should have done is put you in a pair of tights and boots and see if you could do this. And he didn't laugh at me, was like, wow, that would have been nice. And it just resonated with me. And I went down and saw him the next day down at CNN center, and, you know, he was like, you know, diamond, the only way you are going to control your destiny is actually getting a ring. He goes, But, God, you're 35 years old, man, and you know, that is no time to start. He goes, he actually said to me, he goes, I don't know if you ever felt one of those Steiner liners, but that'll knock the shit out you. And I said, dude, I grew up in the nightclub business. I said, I can handle my own when it comes to that. You know, when it comes down to punishment on your body, I think I'll be all right, you know. And then I went down there and, you know, started doing my shit. And my first match was actually tagged with Scott Hall. And I'll never forget, he was. He was really upset about it. And I was like, why the fuck would you be upset about this when, you know, I'm the one helped change your whole look and gave you his identity and everything. But what I didn't realize was he was taking a huge step down the card, you know, to be tagged with the manager, right? And later on, I would call him up and I go, hey, I totally get why you were pissed off now.
- [47:49]
B
But you did the but. So you did the favors that night. You were going down to the power plant. You were learning to work. You ended up making your pay per view debut in 1991 as Starcade in a tag team match between you and your partner, Mike Graham, your old buddy. My old buddy against Jushin Thunder Liger and the strongest man in the world, Bill Kazmire. We're going to Keep it short, but how was working with Bill Kazmier, the world's strongest man, who at that time was extremely green. You're half ass green yourself. But it wasn't like that was the easiest cat in the world to work with.
- [48:25]
A
Yeah, dude, I just flopped around as best I could. You know, Michael Graham said, well, you know your career is over when you're being tagged with Diamond Dallas Page.
- [48:37]
B
Well, you know, it was, it was at this period, Dallas, and you were on record as stating this, you said Bischoff gave me the job as I was a good example of work ethic, passion and someone that cares about the business. And since they wouldn't really book me, I went down to the the WCW Power Plant every day I wasn't working. That's how you adapt to adversity. Even when I started to make it, I still kept going back until I was on the road 260 days a year. Plus I was still going to that power plant for five years. I went there because that's how long it took me to get to the top. I'm talking to the man who damn near wrote the book on hard work. We're going to come up, we're going to come back from break, talk about Randy Savage and get into DDP yoga. Stay tuned. We're gonna go to our sponsors more with my buddy, Diamond Dallas Page.
- [49:26]
A
Hi, I'm Jesse Pray. And I'm Andy Cassette. Welcome to Love Murder where we unravel the darkest tales of romance turned deadly. Our episodes are long form, narrative driven and deeply researched. Perfect for the true crime aficionados seeking stories beyond the headline. Like the chilling case of Blanche Taylor Moore, the so called black widow who left a trail of poisoned lovers.
- [49:50]
B
Or the shocking murders of Chad Shelton.
- [49:52]
A
And Dwayne Johnson where family ties masked a sinister plot. Subscribe to Love Murder on Apple, podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
- [50:05]
B
Welcome to the Steve Austin Show. That's right. She wanted the best. I got the best. One of the hardest working men I've ever known in my life. Guy I used to live with. This show goes out to the working man. I'm talking to a guy who works his ass off every single day. We talked about the five years that you kept going down to the power plant because that's how long it was going to take you to get to the top. Dallas, what was it like? I mean that had to been, you know, I know you'd been in the business for a long time as a manager, but it's got to be very Humbling just to, you know, start at the age of 35 and just continue to go down to that school.
- [50:56]
A
Well, starting out, you know, they want you like, you know, that's going. The same shit happened to you. I don't care. When you start, start, the first thing they're going to try to do is what, run you off. Because if you can't handle getting, trying to get run off, then you sure as hell can't handle our business. And they fucking busted my balls and rode me hard. And we did 500, yo of the Hindu squats before we started anything. And when you're doing 50 hindu squats, you think that first two, the first hundred, you're. You get to 150, you're like, whoa, what the fuck? You get the 200, 250, and you got spaghetti legs and, you know, you're just getting it halfway mark. And then you got to keep going, man. I got to a point because if you tell me, you know this, Steve, you tell me you can't do something, I'm. I'm really going to. I'm really going to jump in it then. But if you try to push me outside my box, I'm going to push myself farther. I got to where I could do 12, 1200. I don't think that's too good for the knees. But the bottom line is, they try to run me off and I got real humble and I should shut the fuck up. And I. I spoke when I was spoken to. I took that whole Diamond Dallas Page Persona and put him in a closet, you know, and waited until it was time for me to get back out in front of a camera before I bring that back out. But when I was at the power plant, I shut the fuck up and I listened.
- [52:24]
B
Now, when you're in training mode, when you're in training mode, who was leading that? Was that Buddy Lee Parker? Was that exclusively Jody working. Working with you?
- [52:30]
A
Jody was on the apron because sometimes I'd be the only guy there, other times would be 20 guys. But, you know, I was the first to come, the last to leave. And, you know, Buddy Lee, he was the fire hydrant, you know, he was 5 foot 6, 5 foot 7, 225 joked, and he was as stiff as it could be, you know, and you'll see if, you know, we're just gonna run this, this big off. And they didn't. And Jody, there was. There was a point where I was maybe three or four months in, and he said, you know, diamond, when you came down here, I didn't give you a shot. Now he goes, but four months later, you keep doing what you're doing. You just might be lucky enough to make a name for yourself at some point down the line. And so Jody from that point on would take a special interest in me. He would be.
- [53:23]
B
But let me break in real quick for the people that don't know who we're talking about. We're talking about Jody Hamilton, who's one of the assassins, one of the most intimidating, well, old tag teams in the history of pro wrestling. And Jody would just cut a very low key, menacing promo that would literally scare the shit out of you, make you fear for the lives of the baby faces and instill a desire to go buy the ticket to see the ensuing match. That's the kind of cat that Jody Hamilton was, and that's the guy that's working with DDP right now. And hey, man, if Jody Hamilton will put a stamp on your ass, that is a hell of an endorsement.
- [54:00]
A
And he was the very first. And when you say that, you got to remind the people he wore a mask, right? So the facial expressions that he could pull through the mask. And when he. There was a thing where they did much later on, like maybe a year or so after, when I got down Power plant, where Jody showed up with the mask on, you know, he was in the corner and Dusty was in the corner. They never touched. But what they did to, you know, the people were going crazy because those guys really knew how to work, like, at a different level. And Jody, yo, he just. He just took me under his wing. And he was the first guy, he was my first mentor. He was my first in the ring wise. And he was my first guy to really say, yeah, man, just keep doing what you're doing. And then that later would come again with. With Jake, you know, but.
- [54:56]
B
But once you're training at the power plant, you're. You're working with Sarge and Jody and you get back in the ring, you working with cats like Scotty Flamingo, you do the deal with Vinnie Vegas and you go down with the rotator cuff injury in 92. Did you get surgery on that rotator?
- [55:12]
A
Oh, yeah. And that I'll never forget. Mick Foley just. Just text me because he's performing next Sunday at a comedy club here, and I want to bring Scott and Jake and, you know, a bunch of my buddies to go sleep because he's got a really funny actor. Really funny. It's getting better. I've seen a couple times, but Mick was there the Day I told my rotator cup and he walked up to me and he goes, is it the worst pain you've ever had in your life, wife? And I said, yeah, dude, I can't remember my arm. He's like, you tore your rotator cuff. Now, I would go to the doctors, they tell me I got a bone bruise. They send me to go get an mri. I come back, they say I still got a bone bruise. I'm like, I think I tore my rotator cuff. They're like, well, no, we don't see that. And so, you know, I don't know if their company was trying to save himself money or what, but Lex came up to me in the gym. I was just trying to do some cardio because I couldn't lift my armor. So I was on the bike and he came up to me and goes, how's your shoulder? I go, it's not, dude, good, dude. I can't even lift it up. He goes, go see my doctor. So he sent me this guy, Dr. Armstrong. He looks at my shit. He goes, you tore your rotator cuff. I go, that's what Mick Foley said.
- [56:21]
B
Mick Foley's just standing next to you talking. He what does Mick Foley know about a rotator cuff? And don't get me wrong, you and me and Mick Foley used to travel together and laugh our asses off. And Mick Foley is one of smooth, smartest cats I've ever known in a business that has been a best selling author and a successful stand up comedian now. But he damn sure ain't no doctor.
- [56:41]
A
But he's torn every muscle in his body.
- [56:43]
B
You're right, you're right.
- [56:46]
A
He might be all the all knowing Oz from when it came. All I know is he diagnosed it a week and a half before anybody else did. And the number one thing I got to do at that point is get my ass healthy because I got to get back to work before they let me go. And then Bill Watts came in and Bill, I knew he's gonna let me go, you know, so I just like bucket. I might as well just freaking get out, you know, and tell him I'm leaving and gonna work my ass off to, you know, to come back and work independence and shit. And that's when Jake Roberts came back into my life.
- [57:19]
B
Yeah, but Jake Roberts comes back in your life, but Bill takes over. Did he keep you on board?
- [57:26]
A
No, he should get. Yep.
- [57:29]
B
So where did you hook up with Jake at? And, and because I know you were taking some shots back and forth to Mexico with him.
- [57:35]
A
Well, that was later. What had happened at this period? Jake had come in and he actually come down the power plant one of the days I was there and he was like, ain't you the same dude from Florida that ran that club?
- [57:49]
B
Are you kidding me?
- [57:50]
A
Yeah. He goes, I thought that was you. And then Jake was actually in the territory for about a couple of weeks and right before Bill Watts came in and Jake hadn't signed his contract yet and it was for more money than he was ever going to make. And I got to go on a couple shots with him and we actually our car broke down. Me, Kevin Nash and Jake Roberts, we were driving Rick Rudes pristine Impala convertible.
- [58:19]
B
I know the car.
- [58:22]
A
And the friggin generator, we don't know it at the time, but the generator was loose and the fans belt and you know the old school red light would come on, you know, back when they were real cars, you know, and the car fucking generator went out and the lights go out and friggin Kevin's, Kevin's in the front next to me and Jake's in the back, he's like stop fucking around Dallas. I go, well not. The car just went off. So we're still driving down the road. Because you could do that with those cars. I turned the fucker back on. Oh God, it start right back up again, Went off again. We're in the middle of i10, not a light to be found. Six, I'm six, legit six, four, Nash is six, Jake six six and friggin Nash is legit 610. Who's gonna fucking pick us up? You know who's gonna help us out? And freaking Jake just took off into the dark and about two hours later showed up with a friggin hillbilly and a tow truck. And they towed the truck, the car back to some little who knows where the fuck it was outside of Jacksonville, yo Florida. And by the time we got there there was 25 people. This is like 4:35 o' clock in the morning and they're all them rednecks are there to meet Jake the Snake and the two other wrestlers, whoever the fuck are.
- [59:49]
B
Well, Jake comes into your life at this picture and totally influences your entire game from a work standpoint in the ring psychology and obviously a promo. What was it that got you and him on the same page? What did he see in you? Why was he willing to just invest in ddp?
- [60:08]
A
Well, I think it came from me first because he just called me because I got the rotator cuff tear. I just got done with the operation, I've been let go. He hated Bill Watts, you know, for a lot of reasons. I happen to really like Bill Watts today. But back then, you know, he just, you know, he was, he took his contract off the table, so Bill took it off the table on him. So Jake was just calling to see how I was doing and I was like, wow, Jake, I really appreciate you calling. And he, you know, we started to talk and him and his old lady had split up and he was living at a hotel, he was living at the Marriott. But you know, that's not a big deal for us because fuck, we're probably in Marriott's friggin five or six nights a week anyway, you know, So I went over and saw him and I talked to Kimberly before I left and I said, baby, you know, we got that room downstairs till Jake finds his own place, you know, maybe you would let Jake stay there, you know. And she was like, okay. I said, I think you can really help. Help me, you know, I'll help him, he helps me. That was the deal. And I went over and talked, he said, sure, I'll come over. And I was so excited to talk to him about my stuff and my, you know, couldn't wait to get in the ring with him. He's like, diamond, you already know more moves than you'll ever need. You know when to do them, you just don't know where to place them in the match and you don't know how to get over yet, you know, so you're going to learn more sitting on the couch with me that you ever will in the ring. And you know, I totally got that as time went on and he stayed with me for about three months he was with me and we got a bunch of bookings and he would get me. It's sort of like what Scott hall is doing right now. He gets, you know, everybody wants Scott to do their show. Right?
- [61:52]
B
Right.
- [61:52]
A
And pretty good money to come. But he also wants Cody booked, which is awesome, right. He gets a decent little payoff too. One of these going to get working anywhere else. So that's what Jake would do for, for me, you know, Jake would friggin say, okay, I'll take that book. And also once you put diamond on, you know, give him the curtain jerker match, you know, and you know, I got a lot of those. And then he said, okay, you got to talk to this guy about going to the Philippines. I want you to get yourself booked on this. I already put you over, you know, so you know, you got to get yourself booked, though. So now, we had never told Kimberly there's no snakes in the house. There was, but we didn't want to tell her that because of the two cats, you know. So I come up from out of my bedroom or something down the stairs, and he's got a black 12 foot cobra in the middle of the living room. And Kimberly's laughing as I'm walking down the stairs. I'm like, oh, okay. I can't believe you brought that damn snake out. Don't know that Jake's got a little buzz going at this point. I don't know, you know, and she, she's laughing her ass off. And Jake's doing these things with the steak and, you know, they're totally doing that whole friggin, you know, that. That thing with the steak comes out of the basket and shit. He's doing all that shit with the steak. So, you know, you know, I'm on the phone with the, you know, the booker. I'm on the phone for a little while. I get off the phone, come walking in, Kimberly's already in the bedroom, and. And Jake comes walking down the stairs. I'm like, dude, give me a high five. I go, I just booked that thing, man. And as he walks, walks right by me. It was big problems, big problems. I go, what do you mean big problems? He goes, big problems. I go, what are you talking about? He goes, snake's gone. I go, what do you mean the snake's gone? He goes, I put him in the shot, in the bathroom, in the shower, and now he's not there. I'm like, what the do you mean the snake's gone? And he goes, he goes, he's in there somewhere. I just don't know where he is. The bathroom's, you know, maybe three, four feet by three feet. It's. It's a freaking half bath with a. Actually with a full bath tub in there and shit. Bottom line is, though, we look in there, we can't see the stake. And then he goes down on his hands and knees and he hits the vanity and he hears, because your rattlesnakes go. Regular stakes go. Cobras go.
- [64:10]
B
Can you make that cobra sound one more time? You got a God dang cobra hanging around your bathroom. Obviously he's defanged.
- [64:22]
A
Correct?
- [64:23]
B
Correct.
- [64:24]
A
No.
- [64:24]
B
Oh, he's not. He's. He's.
- [64:26]
A
He's not.
- [64:27]
B
You're. You're hanging. But he's had to have the venom thing taken out of him, right?
- [64:31]
A
Yes. But I don't know that at the Time.
- [64:34]
B
Yeah, I don't trust that. Anyway, okay, bottom line, you got a very dangerous cobra in your crib. Continue.
- [64:41]
A
So he hits the vanity. You hear the. And he skips up on his office knees and stands up because, oh, he'll come out. And he walks out of the bathroom. I go, what do you mean he'll come out? He goes, he'll come out. He's just trying to cool off there. He'll eventually pull out, he'll get back in the tub, we'll grab a little bag of. He'll be fine. He goes, I'll be back tomorrow. I go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean you'll be back tomorrow? He goes, he's not going to come out till tomorrow morning. I'll be back in the morning. I go, jake, what the fuck do you mean you can't leave here? He goes, d, I gotta go. I got this girl. I got to go see her. And I can see there's a glaze over his eyes. I don't see Jake for three days. Kimberly wakes up the next morning, right? And I've got, you know, we had those door handles that you grab and you turn so a cat could jump up, grab the handle, pull the handle down and open the door, right? So I don't want the cats to do that. And they, they never go in that bathroom. But, you know, I just want to make sure that door doesn't open. So Kim's asleep and I can't get the damn co. So I put the pillows in front of it so the cats can't jump up when I go to bed. Around 8 o', clock, Kim wakes up. Paige, Paige, why are these pillows in front of the door? Because now she's realizing the snake and the. And I go, well, it's not that big a deal. What do you mean it's not big? Is that snake in there? And now she's screaming at me, right? Son of a bitch, Roberts. Where's he at? And I say nothing now because she's got a huge promo on me. And when she, where's Smokey? Smokey? She's getting the cats running around trying to find the cats. And she starts just, paige, is that snake still there? So what am I gonna do? I can't baby face her. So I immediately heal on her. I go, the snake's not going anywhere. He's stuck in the bathroom. Blah, blah, blah, blah. She goes, but he's. Your city's in the vanity. He's been in the vanity. I go, yeah, he's up under the vanity. He's gonna come out and give him the tub. She goes, but the sheath rock. It doesn't come all the way to the ground. The vanity. What if he goes up in the wall and lays babies? I'm like, oh, my God. What if the steak was in the wall? Lays babies. It's like, she's like, she's making sense, but I'm like, the fucking steak's not gonna do that. Blah, blah, blah, blah. She goes, I'm taking a catch. You tell that son of a bitch Roberts he's out of here and I'm staying at the Ritz, and he's paying for it until he gets the damn snake out. So she leaves. And, you know, I friggin. I go to the gym, right? Call back. I finally call a snake handler who comes out and pulls the motherfucker out. He goes, he got his venom in there. I go, I don't know. And he did have his venom taken out, but long story short, yeah, we got the fucking snake out. Jake Roberts was gone after that, but he really helped me a lot going up to that period. He eventually moved back with his wife, and I would take my. My matches and bring them to him at his house, and he. He would critique them for me. And he told me every time the booking company, the booking committee was going to fuck me, he told me how they were going to do it and how they were going to. Like, the best example was when they told me they were going to give me an angle to get over on to see if I could get over. And Jake said, here's what they're going to do. They're going to give you an angle with someone who doesn't mean anything thing. And then when the angle doesn't get over, they'll go, see, we tried it with diamond and it didn't work. And I go, what do you mean? Why does the guy have to mean something? And this is right around the time after O.J. killed his old lady, right? And he said, nicole Simpson. Who is that? Soj's wife. He goes, why do you know that? I goes, because he killed. Killed her. He goes, but who killed her? Oj. Who's oj? An icon. If it was Bill Smith, do we know who Nicole Smith is? Oh, now I get it. And that's what they tried to do. And when they would do it, I just tell Bishop. I go, this is what they're gonna do. And I would tell him, because having Bishop is one of my closest friends, time was a blessing and a curse. Right on the blessing side, no one could fuck me, no one could like bury me like Derek, because he knew I was a stand up guy. And if I told you told yourself it was the truth and I was going to be totally honest with you from A to Z. And he knew that about me. So no one could stab me and say, oh, Dallas is trying to do this. He'd go, no, pages are trying to do that. He's just trying to do this. So that was the positive side. The other side was I didn't make any money until after 1997 and 98. And that's where I got the big contract. And I didn't do the contract with Eric. I did the contract with the head of sports of Turner Sports, Harvey Schiller.
- [69:35]
B
But before we go into break though, you know all the snake stories with Jake and all the shenanigans and fun and games and how castles talking about a psychology level. How long did it take for that guy to instill? Just see, Jake was a very economical performer in the ring. Everything he did was done for a reason. He didn't do anything that you didn't need to do to have a pro wrestling match. He was obviously a big influence from then on on how you structured your matches.
- [70:04]
A
Well, I studied yo. He actually had. People had given to him tapes. I had four, 40 full tapes of Jake Roberts from Two Hour Tapes Ambulance. And I was fed 80 hours of Jake Roberts. And it was from job matches to, you know, to Randy Savage or whoever he was working with. And I studied him, and I studied him, but I also studied Randy Savage. I also studied Curt Henning. I also studied Terry Funk. And there's a little tiny piece and industrial Rusty Rhodes, American Dream. There's a little piece of each one of those in who Diamond Dollars. Page became obviously more Jake than anybody. And Jake had told me right before I got that booking in Singapore, the one where we lost a snake. He put me over so strong and this is what I wasn't on the phone and I was like, Jake, you can't put me over that strong. I can't back that up. He said, dallas, you're one of the most talented guys I've ever been been with. He said, I see your work ethic. If your work ethic catches up to your tower, your talent catches up to your work ethic, you could be one of the biggest names in the business. But if you can't handle the heat, you can forget it right now.
- [71:19]
B
Boy, that's some good advice, right?
- [71:22]
A
And so now I had Jody Hamilton and I had Jake Roberts and they both, you know, both, neither one of those guys are going to tell you what you want year. And you know, then you know, like I say, I just learned, I just kept studying and studying and it was no one day a light bulb. That didn't happen for a couple more years. And then when, when I came back to wcw, Dusty had the book at the time and Dusty was my mentor when it came to my business and how I, how I did a lot of things, you know, in wrestling and you know, my production end, in my, you know, my, my promo end and all that. And I, Dusty just happened to be down the power plant the day before my meeting and I got hired back by WCW. Eric Bischoff hired me back the minimum which was 75 grand a year. That was the minimum. And that's what I got hired. Two year deal, 75 grand a year. And when I had my meeting with Dusty, he was like, you know, I know you've always seen yourself as this guy who had the potential to be a top guy, you know, in our business. Because I got to be honest with you, I never saw it until yesterday. And I saw the way you were because he put me in the ring with some guy to diamond call match. That guy just want to see what he's got. And I did, I did what we did, you know, and he said when I saw you down that power plant and I saw you work that he was, I don't know if you got the ability to be a top guy. He goes, but I know you got the ability to be a top of the middle guy. So you know, just, you know we're going to give you that opportunity. And so I came back with this fishbowl angle where I reached in the fishbowl and pull up the number one top players in wcw. Of course they're all job guys just you know, trying to get GP right. And after six weeks of that, Dusty Rhodes went on out the pasture because you know they weren't going to fire because they want to get in the Vince. So they put him out the pasture and paid him. And my, my push went stage left and that's where I ended back at the power Plant like pretty much full time unless I got booked or somebody got sick or got hurt.
- [73:29]
B
No, I was sitting there talking to Diamond Dallas Page. We're talking about his journey to the ranks professional wrestling.
- [73:35]
A
This has been a podcast one production.
- [73:37]
B
Download new episodes of the Steve Austin.
- [73:39]
A
Show every Tuesday@podcast1.com that's podcastone.com.
- [73:49]
B
This September, CBS Hits are streaming free on Pluto TV. I'm coming in for this month only. You can watch full seasons of the CBS shows you love, from the courtroom drama of Matlock to the heroics of Fire Country. Go back to where it all began in NCIS Origins, or watch the hilarious hauntings of ghosts. All for free. Full seasons of the CBS shows you love this month only on Pluto tv.
- [74:16]
A
Stream now Pay never.