Former world champion thinks his life would have changed if he faced The Rock in WWE
The Rock was one of the biggest names in the wrestling industry when Vince McMahon bought WWE's rivals WCW in 2001. Former WCW star Diamond Dallas Page (DDP) recently recalled how he wishes he faced The Great One around that time.
DDP was a three-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion when he arrived in WWE. In his first storyline for the company, the popular wrestler featured in a widely criticized stalker angle with The Undertaker's ex-wife Sara.
In an interview on Developmentally Speaking, DDP explained why he thinks he should have rejected that story and insisted on working with The Rock:
"If I could go back in time and say to Vince, 'Hey, this is a great idea, this stalker angle, but that's not Diamond Dallas Page. If you wanna do People's Champion versus People's Champion, give me a call.' If I'd have done that, my life would have been completely different because The Rock is one of the greatest of all time and last WrestleMania took Cody [Rhodes] to a whole upper stratosphere." [39:32 – 40:04]
DDP only wrestled for WWE for a year before retiring from in-ring competition due to a serious neck injury. He later returned to the ring in TNA but never wrestled a full-time schedule again.
DDP explains why he should have faced The Rock
Earlier in the interview, Diamond Dallas Page said he was always likely to receive a bad first storyline due to his past association with WWE's biggest competitors.
The 68-year-old joked he should not have listened to then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon about facing The Undertaker:
"My biggest mistake in the business was trusting Vince McMahon [laughs]," DDP said. "And I have no ill will to Vince at all, zero, because Vince taught me a very valuable lesson, and the day I went in the Hall of Fame I told him, I thanked him for everything that he did for me, mainly putting me in the Hall of Fame, but what he taught me was you can't be afraid to walk away from the table." [38:11 – 38:40]
DDP was inducted into the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame by his former WCW boss Eric Bischoff.
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Please credit Developmentally Speaking and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.