01:03:06
DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE
Diamond
Dallas Page will be appearing in St. Louis this weekend
at the Get Hooked on Health Fitness Expo at America's Center,
promoting his new YRG--Yoga for Regular Guys book and workout.
Seminar times are listed in the News
section, but below are some of the wrestling highlights
of our conversation.
On
hearing Jeff Jarrett's promo as NWA World Heavyweight Champion...
"Jeff's
trying to get a company off the ground. I believe he's doing
his best, what he believes to be the best for his company.
It's sorta like, I don't want to compare him to Dusty but,
but you know Dusty believed he was the guy. The one to carry
the ball when Dream was top guy because Dream was so good
at what he did when he was running the NWA at the time.
"A
lot of people have criticized Jeff for the way he does things
but Jeff, you know, he's one of the strongest players--if
not the strongest player, in the federation. So, he does
what he believes and you know he's got a huge vested interest
in what's gonna draw. I think it was a great move by those
guys bringing in Stinger.
"I've
worked with Sting at various times since I retired and then
came back out. In fact, one of my first matches was against
Sting in Hawaii. And back then, he was very self-concious
about taking things, he wasn't in the greatest shape but
you couldn't tell because he wears that outfit and he wasn't
in bad shape--but not in Stinger shape.
"So,
I'm sure him taking his time, he called it "soccer
dad" shape at the time, but he did great. No one could
even tell. When it comes to anything happening with ourselves,
we're always the biggest critic. And Sting's an icon when
it comes to the business of the '90s. One of the biggest
names, without question top 3 or 5, of the '90s.
"For
him to take off all this time and then comeback, I guarantee
Stinger's gonna be right. He's gonna be in great shape,
he's gonna have his cardio down. He ain't coming back and
not gonna draw ratings. I'm a huge, huge, HUGE, Steve Borden
and Sting fan, always have been."
His
thoughts on Christian Cage and Monty Brown...
"You
know, I met Monty before anyone. Back in the days he was
trying to get in and he had long dread-locks. And I tried
like hell to get him in because I knew he was such money
and wanted it so bad. Phenomenal athlete, played in the
NFL--there's not many guys who can say that. That really
love this business so much. I was really so happy when all
of a sudden I saw him in TNA. And I think he's got a lot
to learn but he's very education, work-oriented to try and
become the best he can.
"Now
Christian on the other hand, if it wasn't for Christian
I probably would've slit my throat in WWF. You know, because
Christian worked with me unbelievably and even though we
had no steam on our match, if you go to Wrestlemania 18
and watch that match--the people were with it huge.
"And
that was a tough house to get people with you--68,000 people.
People think with a bigger crowd the easier it is--no, no.
(laughs) 10,000. 20,000 is like way better than 68,000.
But they were with that match huge. Christian was such,
I think he's so talented. I'm so glad he actually held onto,
copyrighted or trademarked his own name and Captain Charisma,
that was brilliant. Hats off to him. He's another one of
my favorite guys."
On
internet rumors he left TNA over creative differences about
losing to Monty, which Brown has previously denied being
aware of on The Stranglehold...
"There
isn't any of that. Because the bottom line is if I'm going
to do the job, because what was supposed to happen before
that--a babyface it doesn't matter if he loses or not. It's
how he loses. Okay? So there really is a lot of "how"
it goes down.
"There
was no thought into it. They knew I was leaving because
they wanted me to take a cut in pay and I wasn't gonna do
it. That's why I left. And it was time for me to move on.
I wasn't there to go back into wrestling. I was there to
help them get on Spike, which helped.
"Doug
Herzog, who's the CEO of Spike and Comedy Central, is a
good friend of mine. He's actually in my book, Positively
Page, not a good friend--but he returns my phone calls and
he's the CEO of Spike and Comedy Central.
"Long
story short, I wanted to help them get on there. And Monty,
you heard what I just said. I have so much respect for him
and was so happy he made it, I did not mind putting Monty
over at all--even though I was supposed to beat him on that
match. But, I wasn't staying. So I was like "I'll do
it, but this is what I want to happen" because no one
put any thought into it. And then when we did all the deals,
everything to me--it was fine. It was great. Like I said,
I think Monty has a real future. He's got so much charisma.
"And
you know, I haven't watched in a while but, when Monty Brown--people
always say to to me "Hey Diamond, when did it really
take off for you? When did it change for you?" And
I speak about this when I do my inspirational speaking.
I say the whole time that Page Joseph Faulkenberg, which
is my real name, was trying to be Diamond Dallas Page--I
never really got over with the fans, I could never get them
to care. But the second that Diamond Dallas Page started
to become Page Joseph Faulkenberg, my career took off like
a rocket. I believe the more and more Monty becomes himself,
the more and more he's gonna get over because he is one
cool, son of a "b". I mean he is just a cool brother,
man, A to Z. He's one of those brothers that's just got
it and I think at some point overall a major star in the
company, in the business period.
On
legal matters with Jay Z over the Diamond Cutter sign...
"Well
you know, I wanted to work it out with him because I've
got a lot of respect for that guy. He came up from nothing
to become a mogul. But I came up from nothing too, and that's
my sign.
"So
I was willing to license it to him. And basically, going
back and forth with his lawyer, who I don't even really
want to say how I think he reacted, he basically just treated
me like I was a stepchild. Sort of blew me off and was like
we're not gonna do that. So I was like, you know what, why
don't we let the courts decide. So it's costing me a lot
of money, but I don't care. Because this is like David vs.
Goliath. I've been the underdog my whole life and when something
is yours--okay, it's funny because John Salley came up to
me, cause he's friends with Jay Z and he's a buddy of mine,
and we were doing a charity benefit.
"And
he came up to me and said "How you gonna trademark
a hand sign?" I said well let me think about that.
God, Apple Computers--what's their icon? Oh, it's an apple.
Ain't that been around since Adam and Eve? How'd they trademark
that?
"And
the "swish" mark. When you think of a "swish"
mark, who do you think of... Nike. Now look under the Constitution
and Independence and how many of those guys have a swish
under their name? Was Nike the first to do it? Hell no.
Bottom line is he did it once (John Hancock). Nike did it
a billion times and trademarked it. I trademarked it. I've
got a U.S. Copyright on it, on the thing. You know how hard
it is to get a copyright, especially on something like that?
So, I've got that.
"And
like I said, if you go to TMZ.com and push up me and Jay
Z, you'll see a couple different things there--interviews
and stuff they did on me. I pretty much talk about it there
and my lawyer really doesn't like me to really talk about
it. But to me, it's a defining moment. And when a defining
moment comes along, you either define the moment or the
moment defines you. And in this scenario, the Diamond Cutter
logo, sign, handprint, it's mine.
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