10 Most Inspirational Wrestling Stars Of All Time
2. Diamond Dallas Page
Diamond Dallas Page is one of wrestling’s good guys: a foul-mouthed, big-hearted man passionate about people and living life to the full.
He was a manager for years, only becoming an active wrestler in his mid-thirties. Almost everyone said he couldn’t do it: that he was too long in the tooth to start all over again like that. Page proved them wrong, going on to have a significantly more successful wrestling career in than anyone ever expected he would, becoming WCW world heavyweight champion on three occasions.
Unlike a certain other People’s Champion, Dallas didn’t get over because he was cool and handsome, with a knack for catchphrases. Defiantly positive and upbeat, possessed of a uniquely grizzled charisma, Page was and still is the real deal, a man of the people.
That’s not a gimmick, that’s the man himself writ large. After retiring from in-ring action, Page developed DDP Yoga, a system that would allow anyone from any walk of life to lose weight and gain fitness and conditioning, to restore damaged health and improve their constitution.
More than that, it’s a programme that provides a physical framework to hang DDP’s trademark positivity on. It’s not just about becoming fit, it’s about self-respect and loving your life. Page’s website is heaving with testimonials from people all over the world talking about how their lives have been changed for the better. Yes, it’s a business - but it’s a business built by a man inspired to mentor others to a better way of life.
Page was instrumental in redeeming Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts and Scott Hall, two men thought beyond saving, wrestling with so many personal demons that it was like living in hell. He took them into his home, nicknaming it ‘the Accountability Crib’, and helped his old friends put their battered bodies and souls back together, raising money through crowdfunding to get them surgery and medical treatment that helped restore their mobility and vitality.
Thanks to Page, Roberts and Hall are happier and healthier now than they’ve ever been before, back in charge of their lives and WWE Hall Of Famers. But that’s Dallas: he’s a one of a kind guy who’d give you the shirt off his back and the shoes off his feet.