5. Diamond Dallas Page
Another surprise entrant to the 2015 Royal Rumble match, Dallas Page has enjoyed one of the most unique and unlikely careers in professional wrestling history. Beginning as a manager in the AWA before setting up shop in WCW, Dallas, who was 35 years old at the time, decided to become an active wrestler in the early 1990s. At a time when most wrestlers careers are beginning to wind down, DDPs was just starting, placing him firmly in the late career renaissance category with the distinguished company of Nick Bockwinkel and Mr. Wrestling II, amongst the (very few) others that have achieved their greatest success at the very twilight of their athletic careers. He endured a period as a jobber, of course, but against all odds, Diamond Dallas Page succeeded as a wrestler, becoming a three-time World Champion along the way and even scoring pinfall victories over the likes of Ric Flair, Bret Hitman Hart and Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig. By the time WCW was defeated by the WWE in 2001, Page had emerged as one of the companys brightest stars and WWE seemed pretty hot for him, too. Sadly, Page was poorly utilized by the WWE from day 1. Beginning with an angle with The Undertaker where a heel Page stalked Takers wife, Sara, DDP debuted at a higher level than most other WCW talents could ever hope to. It was a captivating angle that could have added a new dimension to Pages character, giving him a creepy and cerebral edge, but it was soon scuttled by the introduction of a tag team rivalry between Taker & Kane and DDP and Chris Kanyon, during which, DDP suffered a pretty bad injury. As a result, there was no WrestleMania streak match for the Taker/DDP feud, and only one grudge match (an unsanctioned brawl) took place on Pay Per View. By the time it was over, what could have been Undertakers most intensely personal rivalry since Kane, or even Mankind, had been quietly swept under the rug and DDP was now playing a completely different character on WWE TV. Still, Dallas remains popular with WWE fans (as his Rumble appearance attests) and it would be really cool if the company could bring the three time World Champ back as a manager. WWE may consider the era of wrestling managers to be a bit passé, but the success of Paul Heyman speaks volumes to the contrary. DDP could play a sort of anti Heyman character, and his real life experiences as a yoga instructor and motivational speaker could inform his work as he returns to his roots. Bo Dallas is a very obvious suggestion for his first client.
Chris Quicksilver
Contributor
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
I don't generally read or reply to comments here on What Culture (too many trolls!), but if you follow my Twitter (@heyquicksilver), I'll talk to you all day long!
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Oh yeah - I'm about to become a Dad for the first time, so if my stuff seems more sentimental than usual - blame it on that!
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Latcho Drom,
- CQ
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