DDP Arrives: Reimagining His WWF Debut
Diamond Dallas Page is a man who never should have made it in a business built on youth. But through sheer determination, endless positivity, and a ridiculous work ethic, he made his way into the industry as a manager.
He began training to be a professional wrestler at the late age of 35 and worked his way up the ranks of World Championship Wrestling as a solid hand in the mid-card. Following the blooming of his career as one of the pillars in the fight against the dastardly New World Order, an intense feud with the legendary Macho Man Randy Savage solidified him as a legitimate main event talent. By Spring Stampede 1999, when he won the World Heavyweight Championship in a match featuring Sting, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and refereed by Randy Savage, there was no doubt that DDP was one of the biggest and most popular talents in the entire world.
So, when the World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW in 2001 and Page made a choice to jump over to the WWF in lieu of sitting out his lucrative Time Warner contract, there surely could be no doubt that he had made the right decision and would go on to even greater heights in his new home, right?
WWF Debut
In the early summer of 2001, vignettes began airing of someone stalking Sara Callaway, the then-wife of The Undertaker. On the June 18th, 2001 episode of RAW, a man clad in black head to toe entered the arena on a motorcycle a la The Undertaker then ripped off his mask, revealing himself to be Diamond Dallas Page to one of the biggest pops of the year. Sadly, this would be the last truly great moment for DDP in the WWF. Page would reveal that the reason he began stalking Sara was to get into Undertaker’s head, targeting one of the biggest stars in the WWF so that he could “make him famous.” Sadly, Page would be handily brutalized by the American Badass at the King Of The Ring PPV.
Over time, Page’s character went from stalking Sara to getting in Taker’s head to actually being obsessed with Sara herself. While he would have a few wins here and there, including winning the WCW Tag Team Championships with Kanyon, anytime he and Taker were in the same ring, Page was little more than cannon fodder. At SummerSlam, Page and Kanyon would battle the Brothers Of Destruction in a steel cage match to unify WWF and WCW Tag Team titles. This would be nothing more than a high-profile squash match before the greatest injustice the night after. In a one-on-one match between Page and Sara, DDP would be pinned in the middle of the ring. At this point, it was clear that Page was not viewed in the same light as he was when he first entered the promotion, and he would take a little time off before returning with a new gimmick as a creepy motivational speaker who loved yoga. While he did his best with this gimmick, and some fans (myself included) have fond memories of the hilarity that sometimes ensued, Page had become a shell of his former self thanks to the horrendous booking he had been dealt. So today, we look at what could have been with Page’s WWF run.
Reimagining DDP’s WWF Debut
Completely sidestepping the career sabotaging angle of being a stalker, our story begins at King Of The Ring where Booker T appears out of the crowd to attack Stone Cold Steve Austin just as he did in our reality. The following night on RAW, Booker T, along with WCW Owner Shane McMahon, revealed that in two weeks’ time from WCW’s old stomping grounds of Atlanta, Georgia, the main event of RAW would be a WCW Championship match. This bypasses the horrendous Booker T vs. Buff Bagwell match booked on the July 2nd episode of RAW in Tacoma when it would have made much more sense to book it in Atlanta. Shane promises a challenger worthy of Booker’s talents for that night.
Two weeks later, on July 9th in Atlanta, Booker T makes his way to the ring with both his WCW World Championship and the United States Championship, while the announce team of the debuting Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson made clear that the match is only for the World Championship. While Booker waits in the ring, the lights go out before we hear the familiar words of “It’s me, it’s me, it’s DDP,” and Diamond Dallas Page makes his way to the ring to a thunderous ovation. Before the match, the two men shake hands before tying up. Following a competitive back-and-forth match, DDP hits a Diamond Cutter out of nowhere and wins the WCW World Championship in his debut WWF match. Following the match, both men shake hands again, and Booker hands the Big Gold Belt to DDP. Both men celebrate in the ring as Shane McMahon leads the WCW roster to the ringside as the show goes off the air. This allows a watchable match for WCW’s re-debut and sets up the following few months of main event activity.
In reality, the WWF pivots to the Invasion angle, and the Invasion PPV goes as it did with Stone Cold Steve Austin turning his back on Team WWF and joining the newly formed Alliance of WCW and ECW (don’t worry, I have plans of a potential reimagining of the Invasion later this year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of that significant debacle. But this is a story about DDP.) To replace the turncoat Austin, Vince McMahon brings back The Rock to help lead the World Wrestling Federation heading into SummerSlam. Upon his return, The Rock acknowledges that Kurt Angle is chasing after Stone Cold Steve Austin and the WWF Championship, so he targets the WCW Champion DDP.
While The Rock is more talented on the side of charisma and mic skills, DDP holds his own, reminding The Rock that while the fans were chanting “Die, Rocky, Die” at him, he was the original ‘People’s Champion’ in WCW. The two go back and forth leading into SummerSlam, where the card now has the following featured matches.
Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy – WWF Hardcore Championship Ladder Match
Edge vs. Rhyno – WWF Intercontinental Championship
The Dudley Boyz vs. The Brothers Of Destruction – WCW & WWF Tag Team Championship Unification Tables Match
Booker T vs. Chris Jericho – WCW United States Championship
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle – WWF Championship Match
Diamond Dallas Page vs. The Rock – WCW Championship Match
In this match, DDP retains clean following a Diamond Cutter, helping solidify him as a main event talent and WCW as a whole. This takes some heat off the idea that WCW needed WWF stars to retain relevancy.
In the weeks following SummerSlam, both DDP and Stone Cold begin to team up against a litany of WWF teams, including the Hardy Boyz and even the dysfunctional team of The Rock and Chris Jericho. At Unforgiven, a tag team main event pitting The Rock and Kurt Angle against Stone Cold and DDP, stipulating that if any champion is pinned, they would lose their title. Following a miscommunication between Page and Austin, The Rock can hit the Rock Bottom and pin Page to become the WCW Champion. This shows the beginnings of heat between Page and Austin, which can be followed through later in the year following the Survivor Series and after the Invasion angle has finished. The Rock goes on to No Mercy to defend against Chris Jericho just as in reality, with the remainder of the Invasion angle following through just as it did in reality, except that DDP remains relevant at the top of the card and is a member of Team Alliance at the Winner Take All match at the 2001 Survivor Series.
This is just a taste of what could have been done with Page, who came into the WWF as a bona fide main eventer, and so much more could have been done with him. For whatever reason, and numerous rumoured reasons out there, this was not the case. We all know that, in the end, Page would be fine, going on to create the DDP Yoga program and becoming a WWE Hall of Famer, while still making sporadic appearances for both WWE and even AEW.
How would you have booked DDP’s initial few months in the World Wrestling Federation?
