"You have the ability to draw huge money with me" - Hulk Hogan predicted three-time World Champion's success
DDP (Diamond Dallas Page) has recalled how Hulk Hogan accurately predicted that the two men would draw a lot of money together in the wrestling business one day.
Although DDP held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship three times, he did not begin wrestling full-time until the age of 35.
Speaking on The Angle Podcast, DDP said wrestling legends Dusty Rhodes and Jake Roberts thought he could be a “top guy” in WCW. He also received huge praise from Hogan, who was WCW’s star attraction in the 1990s.
“Jake thinks I’m gonna be a top guy, Dusty thinks I’m gonna be a top guy, and then Hulk had said it to me on a tour of Germany,” stated DDP. “He said, ‘Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it, because if it’s not this year or next year or the year after, somewhere down the line, you have the ability to draw huge money with me.’ And, man, if you don’t think I start manifesting that into a reality…”
DDP worked for WCW from 1991 to 2001. During that time, he won the World Heavyweight Championship (x3), United States Heavyweight Championship (x2), World Tag Team Championship (x4), and the World Television Championship.
DDP reflects on his WCW storyline with Hulk Hogan
Basketball stars Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone competed in a high-profile WCW tag team match at Bash at the Beach 1998. Rodman joined forces with Hulk Hogan, while Malone teamed up with DDP.
As Hogan predicted years earlier, his storyline with DDP drew huge pay-per-view buys for WCW.
“We walk out on The Tonight Show and shoot the angle,” DDP said. “Dusty [Rhodes] said he almost fell off his chair, because we didn’t tell anybody. All of a sudden, Rodman and Hogan are on The Tonight Show, and on walks DDP and Karl Malone, and [we] shoot our angle. It turned out being the second biggest pay-per-view in the history of the company.”
Hogan and Rodman defeated DDP and Malone in a match lasting 23 minutes. Only Starrcade 1997 (700,000 buys), headlined by Hulk Hogan vs. Sting, received more pay-per-view buys than Bash at the Beach 1998 (580,000 buys).
Please credit The Angle Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.