Watch: Diamond Dallas Page Explains Why AEW's Rise Could Be Great for WWE
WWE Hall of Famer, former WCW World Champion and DDP Yoga creator Diamond Dallas Page recently [...]
WWE Hall of Famer, former WCW World Champion and DDP Yoga creator Diamond Dallas Page recently spoke with Bill Apter regarding the biggest story in professional wrestling today — the rise of AEW.
Though he did appear at AEW's first pay-per-view Double or Nothing back in May, Page has not officially signed any kind of contract with All Elite Wrestling. He explained to Apter that this was deliberate.
"I love the WWE. They've been good to me. They've inducted me into the Hall Of Fame, letting me induct Jake ['The Snake' Roberts], bringing me into a thousand Raw's, they play me into stuff which I love," Page said. "But also, I'm not signed with AEW because I don't think I'll ever do it no matter what happens because I like being the guy that Cody can talk to that has no agenda. Like, 'Here's my opinion if you want it', and most times he does and sometimes he takes it and sometimes he doesn't. It's just like we've been doing since he was a kid."
Page, who was at the forefront of the "Monday Night Wars" back in the late 90s as one of WCW's top babyfaces, then gave his thoughts on AEW competing against WWE. The company recently filed a trademark for "Wednesday Night Dynamite," leading many fans to expect that their two-hour live TNT show will air on Wednesday nights and not try to compete against either Monday Night Raw or SmackDown Live (once it moves to Fridays). But even though it's not part of the plan, Page said he wishes AEW would take on WWE "head to head."
"I'd like to see them go head to head and the only reason I say that, only because people can flick [the channel] and make their own decisions," Page said. "It will make WWE so much tighter. Because how good did they get when [WCW was] kicking their ass? They never saw that coming. In the beginning, it was back and forth and then [WCW] started kicking their ass. And then their writing started. They were so lucky to have Stone Cold Steve Austin and have Rock coming in on top of that. And then the whole DX thing. [Without WCW] The Attitude Era would have never happened."
While Page hasn't agreed to sign with AEW, numerous former wrestling stars have. Some of AEW's backstage personnel includes Billy Gunn, Dean Malenko and Jerry Lynn.