DDP On WWE Not Inviting Him For RAW Reunion, If He's Under Contract With AEW
Diamond Dallas Page and the Rhodes family go way back as Dusty Rhodes was a mentor to DDP. Page now serves in that capacity for Cody Rhodes and DDP has appeared at a couple of AEW events.
However, DDP contends that he isn't an employee of AEW as he said when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.
"I don't have a contract. I'm not employed by AEW as I'm doing this for Cody. Without Dusty Rhodes, there's no Diamond Dallas Page. I don't have everything I've been able to accomplish and a lot of it had to do with The Dream giving me the opportunity," said Page before adding that he's known Cody since he was 12 years old and that he has an uncanny awareness of the business.
"The reason why I won't take a contract with AEW is because I still wanna work with WWE. My fitness and wellness plan is really important to me and Tommaso, Gargano, Lacey Evans, Shayna ? I know I've helped them with my program. I want to help the boys in the girls in AEW and WWE like I have been doing for years. So I didn't really wanna take any kind of a contract with that.
"When I talked to Cody about it, I also wanted him to know that if I was giving him any kind of advice, it wouldn't be tainted?We just talk about the business as we have since he was 12 years old.
DDP joked that he really wanted to stay home when Cody asked for his help but he decided to appear in AEW anyway because of his love for Cody.
Page said he still wants to work with WWE, but WWE apparently didn't find use for him for their recent RAW Reunion. They invited back a number of Legends but DDP wasn't among them and he thinks it's because of his ties to AEW.
"When they didn't put me on the Legends show [RAW Reunion]?every single Legend and Hall of Famer there, I guess I was getting, 'ok, we're not using you anymore D.' I called down to the PC and talked to Matt Bloom and he said, 'Listen D. You're working with those guys now. We're not gonna have you down here.' I said ok and thanks for letting me know," stated Page.
"WWE has been very good to me. It wasn't great when I first got there, but the last 7-8 years have been phenomenal. I'm very grateful for the run I got to do with them and the Hall of Fame and the Rumble. I love all of those guys there."
Page has worked with wrestlers and athletes from other sports with his DDPY program as he knows first-hand what type of beating your body takes when competing.
"Anybody from WWE or TNA, ROH, MLW ? any of those guys who want in my program – all they have to do is get in touch with me. I just put them on the app and turn it on. I give it to them because I know what kind of punishment they're putting their bodies through and I know how the program can help them," said DDP.
"One of the things I'm proudest of is that we have an affiliation with the NFL Alumni. Some of the guys we're working with ? I'm not gonna tell you the guy's name ? but he played in the league for five years and played across from Dick Butkus. He a tough SOB and is 72 years old."
Page then said the former NFL player didn't want to use the chair to help him as part of the DDPY rebuild program but Page convinced him to use it.
"Six weeks later I swear to God he sends me a text, 'DDPY alert: [Blank Blank] just wiped his ass for the first time in five years. DDP your sh*t works literally. Thank you so much!' I laughed so loud. When your body gets beat up, you can't turn. Now you feel less of a person and then you get that back, that's strong man," revealed DDP.
New users can sign up for the DDPY App by clicking here and receive 25% your DVDs by using code Spooky25. DDP's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of today's episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.