10 Reasons Why DDP Was The Original People’s Champ Of Wrestling
6. Star Power
Celebrity crossover in WCW was good at times, intriguing at best and simply horrible at its worst. Whatever the result, the association usually involved Diamond Dallas Page somewhere along the way.
When basketball star, Dennis Rodman, joined the nWo in March of 1997, it was DDP that stood in the corner opposite when Rodman finally stepped in the ring at Bash at the Beach ‘97. With Rodman teaming with Hollywood Hogan, Page would find himself tagging with fellow basketball star, Karl Malone, in a PPV main event laced with celebrity and dripping in star power.
But that wouldn’t be the last time that DDP tagged with an outsider from the world of celebrity. In fact, just one year later at Road WIld ‘98 and the peak of WCW’s popularity, Page would once again step in the ring with Hogan (this time tagging with Eric Bischoff); however, DDP’s partner would wind up being the athletically void host of The Tonight Show, Jay Leno. Nevertheless, it was the main event and unquestionably gained column inches the next day.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, WCW would once again throw Page into the celebrity melting pot when Eric Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett laid down the challenge to DDP and David Arquette in April 2000. But the less said about that scenario the better…
Regardless of the match quality and eventual outcomes, DDP’s status rose dramatically from rubbing shoulders with the mainstream stars and his celebrity status grew considerably in the aftermath of each encounter.