DDP Names Three People He Forgot To Mention In His WWE HOF Speech
Former WCW World Champion Diamond Dallas Page recently appeared with Jake 'The Snake' Roberts on their DDP Snake Pit podcast.
During the discussion, DDP went into detail about what the day of his WWE Hall of Fame induction was like. Though there were concerns and anxiety running through his head, DDP silenced those worries to focus on the moment.
"My Hall of Fame speech, Eric Bishoff's got a 10-12 minute speech up there. I got a 27-minute speech that I wrote. They tell me the day before, 'you can't have more than 15'. So I rewrite it, and then that next day, they come in and say, 'let's hear the first one you have'. They said, 'don't go over 30,' so now I've got myself in a spot. I'm the first one out of the gate. I haven't been out in front of 15-20,000 people speaking, a crowd like that, millions of people watching, for 15 years.
"And at that point, you know, I could've been in my head. Like, 'ah, I'm going up first, I'm gonna blow this. What if my iPad' — cause that's where my notes are — 'what if my iPad stops? What if it freezes? What if, you know, what if I get caught up and they're not buying what I'm saying?' No, I don't want to even let those thoughts in my brain."
When all was said and done, DDP was mostly satisfied with how the evening played out. However, he revealed a few people he had to call afterward to apologize for not mentioning them during his HoF speech.
"There's only one thing I'm thinking about it — this is going to be my greatest moment in professional wrestling. I'm going to blow everyone away," he said. "I'm gonna make them laugh. I'm gonna make them cry. I'm gonna inspire them. That's the only voice in my brain, and when I went out there, it was the best thing I've ever done. I got to thank all my brothers who help me along the way and paid tribute to them. The only person I forgot was Big Show, and Medusa, I was so pissed, and Tony Schiavone.
"Those were the three people I forgot and I called each one of them afterward. I said, 'I'm so sorry I forgot'. They're like, 'dude, don't worry about it'. But I was like, 'no, you guys were part of the story. A big part of the story'. And I wanted to thank them, so at Positively Unstoppable, I thanked them in the acknowledgments because I forgot you there. Because I always give credit to the people who helped me get there. You know, it's so important."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit DDP Snake Pit with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.