WWE legend admits he should have rejected Vince McMahon's storyline for his debut
DDP (Diamond Dallas Page) believes he should have rejected Vince McMahon’s original storyline idea after he joined WWE.
On June 18, 2001, DDP was unveiled on RAW as the person who was stalking The Undertaker’s ex-wife, Sara. At the time, it was common knowledge that DDP was married to his former WCW valet, Kimberly Page.
Speaking on The Angle Podcast, the superstar said he wanted to work with The Rock in a “People’s Champion versus People’s Champion” match. Looking back, he thinks he should have fought for that match instead of agreeing to the stalker storyline.
“In WCW, I fought for everything,” DDP said. "If I’d have been in WCW mindset and Vince said, ‘We want you to stalk Undertaker’s wife,’ I’d have looked at him, looked at her [his ex-wife, Kimberly], looked back at him, and said, ‘Vince, are you looking at my wife? I’m gonna stalk some other cat’s wife? And everybody knows she’s my wife?’"
The outlandish plot resulted in Kane and The Undertaker defeating Kanyon and DDP in a WWE/WCW Tag Team Championship unification match at SummerSlam 2001.
DDP reveals what he learned from Vince McMahon
DDP spent the majority of his wrestling career working for influential names including Dusty Rhodes and Eric Bischoff. During his one-year run working for Vince McMahon, the 65-year-old learned he should not be afraid to walk away when he feels strongly about something.
“What Vince McMahon taught me: you can never be afraid to walk away from the table,” DDP said. “I had all the coins, I could’ve got to do whatever I wanted to. I just wouldn’t have done it. That would’ve been my skew today. ‘No, I’m not doing it. I’m not doing it until it’s perfectly laid out.'”
After 12 months, DDP left WWE in 2002 due to a threatening neck injury. He went on to work for IMPACT Wrestling in 2004 and 2005 before focusing on his DDPY fitness program.
Please credit The Angle Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.