DIAMOND Dallas Page has revealed how his feud with Undertaker in WWE was done to send a message to WCW wrestlers and fans that WWE had “won the war”.
But despite rumours of heat between the two stars – after an infamous storyline that saw DDP unveiled as the stalker of the Deadman’s wife – there was never any real-life animosity.
Speaking exclusively to SunSport, DDP said: “I never had any real heat with Taker.
“It wasn’t like we didn’t like each other. But our styles didn’t really mix.
“I knew Mark from WCW before he was ever Taker. And I always liked him.”
DDP made his WWE debut in Summer 2001 – after WWE defeated and bought out WCW in the rival companies’ long-running TV ratings war.
Page’s feud with Taker was just one of many aspects of its WCW Invasion storyline that bombed.
WWE was seemingly more focused on proving its dominance over incoming WCW stars than booking what should have been the biggest storyline in wrestling history.
DDP had been one of WCW’s biggest babyface superstars – turning him into a villainous stalker to battle Taker didn’t connect with fans.
But Page knew exactly what he should his storyline should have been coming into WWE – a feud with The Rock.
He said: “I wanted to do people’s champion versus people’s champion – that was the money.
“If history was different, if Rock would have been there and I’d come there three years later or earlier, that would have been the focus. The angle would have been insane.
“But that wasn’t the way WWE wanted to go because they wanted to send a message.
"People always say, ‘Winners write the history’.
“It didn’t matter if it was me or someone else from WCW facing Taker, we were going to get beat down – because they wanted to say, ‘Hey, we won the war.’”
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The three-time WCW champion has since taken the fitness world by storm with the revolutionary DDP Yoga.
He comes to the UK next month for a tour of DDP Yoga workshops and live Q&A sessions.
DDP Yoga has famously turned around the lives of troubled WWE legends Scott Hall and Jake Roberts – as seen in the acclaimed documentary The Resurrection of Jake the Snake.
DDP was also the focus of his own WWE-produced documentary, Positively Living, which was released on DVD and Blu-ray earlier this year.
DDP has confirmed that The Undertaker has praised him for his work with DDP Yoga.
Page said: “Today Taker and I are tight.
“He came up to me after he saw the Resurrection of Jake the Snake and said, ‘Dude, what you’re doing for the business and people in general is super special.’”
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Though Taker’s in rough physical shape after 27 years of wrestling – and was rumoured to have undergone hip replacement surgery earlier this year – he hasn’t taken up DDP Yoga himself yet.
DDP said: “I talked to his wife about it. I wanted to do whatever works for him.
“But, over time, if he hasn’t found something else I’ll always be there for him because I love the guy.
“And any time I can help any of the boys, it’s the most gratifying thing for me.
“We are a brotherhood. We can talk s*** about each other, but when it comes down to it, we’ve all got each other’s backs.”
Diamond Dallas Page is out on DVD and Blu-ray now. For more of DDP’s UK tour visit: ddpyogaworkshops.com/uk
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