Diamond Dallas Page talks about how much it hurt taking WWE Hall of Famer and wrestling legend, Macho Man Randy Savage’s Elbow Drop.
On the most recent episode of DDP Snake Pit, DDP talked about working with Savage during their WCW feud in 1997, how hard it was to take his finish and how surreal it was to be able to work with him.
DDP Talks About Randy Savage’s Brutal Finish
“It was surreal to me,” Page said. “I didn’t take it, like, I didn’t start to overthink it because I wanted to go out there and do whatever I want to do with David [Arquette?], who is a hell of a worker, and then all the stuff that happens with Scott [Hall] and Kev [Kevin Nash] and all that. Now, I just know, I’m just thinking about the elbow. I’m like, I’m not even going to move. He knocks me out, I’m taking it.
That’s when I realized there was nothing fake about Randy Savage. When he would come off that top rope, he would get air. Even in his, he was 44 at the time, he would get air. You were his crash pad and when he hit me, I felt like my whole left side of me, like my rib cage splattered open and my guts came out. And I knew he was going to do it again.” H/T To Wrestling Inc. For Transcription
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An elbow drop is one of the most common moves in wrestling like the DDT, but Savage added a lot to it. Like Jake The Snake with his DDT, Savage took this common move and added his own magic to it. He would go up as high as he could and land as hard as he could. He was from the kayfabe era and his dad was in the wrestling business. I’m sure it was instilled in him to never go half speed or let someone think even for a second that wrestling is “fake.”
To Be The Man You Have To Beat The Man…The Macho Man In This Case
DDP recalls conversations he had with Arn Anderson and how DDP was told he would never be a top guy because top guys would never put him over. Even though Savage was a very intense guy he was also willing to put over younger or newer talent. Savage decided to put DDP over and put him in the top guy position because of it.
“I love Arn, but back then, Arn and I did a lot of this for a while there,” Page said. “He had told me I was never going to be a top guy because ‘Savage, [Ric] Flair, Sting, [Lex] Luger, or Hulk [Hogan] are never going to put you over. You’re not seen as a top guy.’ And that beat me down here. But now we’re in that locker room and Arn’s the agent, and he comes in and no one’s asking me what I’m doing. ‘Randy, what do you want to do?’ And he’s tying up his boots and he goes, ‘Think I want to take the Diamond Cutter.’
And Arn just kind of looked at me and he goes, ‘well Diamond, I hope you know what this could do for your career.’ And I’m like, ‘uh, yeah!’ And really what it came down to, and I love Arn Anderson, man, he’s a class act. But that was a moment between us, and later on, he would apologize to me for saying that to me.”
DDP The Late Bloomer
To give this story a little more context DDP was a manager originally and later became a wrestler. Usually it happens the other way around, but to make DDP’s amazing WCW career even more amazing was that he didn’t start wrestling until he was 35 years old.
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DDP worked extremely hard and went on to become one of the forgotten wrestlers who helped to make WCW what it became in the late ‘90s during the Monday Night Wars. He also helped WCW take on the evil NWO faction. He would go on to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship three times.
Perhaps the key to DDP’s success is how he planned out his matches. Similar to Savage, DDP would plan everything out in his matches instead of calling things on the fly like most wrestlers would.
“The thing about Randy and I, and I got ridiculed by everyone for doing it, no one said sh-t about Randy,” Page said. “Randy laid out everything. So do I, but mine and his is preparation mixed with improvisation. Because I can talk, I never shut up in the ring, ever.”
Do you think DDP would have become a top guy eventually if Savage didn’t put him over? Who was your favorite DDP feud in WCW? Leave a comment below and let us know who has a better Cutter, Randy Orton or DDP.
Sources: DDP Snake Pit, Wrestling Inc.
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