12 Awesome Wrestling Gimmicks WWE Didn’t Know How To Handle

8. Diamond Dallas Page

Goldberg Chris Jericho
WWE.com

Before The Rock was a people's champion, before Randy Orton hit RKO's out of nowhere, and before Steve Austin 'didn't trust anybody', Dallas Page was a fan serving, Diamond Cutting lone wolf, bringing down the New World Order all by himself.

Accusations of favouritism due to his friendship with WCW head honcho Eric Bischoff may have merit, but Diamond Dallas Page had established an innate connection with the crowd for bravely pushing back the dominance of the nWo.

Via his public rejection of the group in segments with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, and a lengthy feud with Randy Savage, DDP was a rare WCW success story, and barely suffered a loss of sheen during the company's woeful final years.

That did not, however, prepare audiences for his June 2001 introduction to WWE screens. With anti-hero hard-working babyfaces overflowing on WWE's bloated roster, Page was way down the pecking order for receiving a similar fascia.

All summer, WWE fans had been awaiting WCW superstars to re-appear in some fashion following the March buyout, but Page's unmasking as a creepy stalker of Undertaker's wife was a massive disconnect from 'The Master of the Diamond Cutter'.

Though eerily close to his next real-life move, a follow-up gimmick as a motivational speaker couldn't turn momentum around. Page was sunk.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett