DVD Review: Diamond Dallas Page: Positively LivingBy Henry Higgins| June 7, 2017 WWE DVD Reviews Certificate: 15 Running Time: 7hrs 00mins (420mins) Discs: 3 Disc 1 – Documentary Anything is Possible The Old Neighborhood Work Ethic The Bar Business Becoming Diamond Dallas Making His Mark Announcer-Turned-Wrestler The Right Guy Full Confidence It Feels Real End of an Era Bookending His Career DDP Yoga A Special Gift Defying the Odds Disc 2 Stories The Shore Town Dallas’ Girls Jay Leno Goldberg Emotional Gravity Giving Back The Money Malone’s Mom Getting in Touch Train Hopping Don’t Mess With Sally High Stakes DDP Tryout Reel Matches The Diamond Exchange (The Diamond Studd & Diamond Dallas Page) v Brian Lee & Chris Sullivan – World Championship Wrestling • December 7, 1991 Diamond Dallas Page & Mike Graham v Jushin “Thunder” Liger & Bill Kazmaier – WCW Starrcade • December 29, 1991 Diamond Dallas Page & Cactus Jack v Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham – World Championship Wrestling • March 14, 1992 Diamond Dallas Page, Vinnie Vegas & Johnny Flamingo v Marcus Bagwell, Brad Armstrong & Johnny B. Badd – WCW Saturday Night • December 5, 1992 Diamond Dallas Page v Johnny B. Badd – WCW Spring Stampede • April 17, 1994 WCW United States Championship Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Eddie Guerrero – WCW Starrcade • December 29, 1996 Diamond Dallas Page v Mark Starr – WCW Monday Nitro • January 12, 1997 Diamond Dallas Page v Macho Man Randy Savage – WCW Spring Stampede • April 6, 1997 Diamond Dallas Page v Hollywood Hogan – WCW Monday Nitro • October 27, 1997 WCW United States Championship Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Curt Hennig – WCW Starrcade • December 28, 1997 WCW United States Championship Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Chris Jericho – WCW Monday Nitro • January 5, 1998 Raven’s Rules Match for the WCW United States Championship: Diamond Dallas Page v Raven – WCW Spring Stampede • April 19, 1998 Disc 3 Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone v Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman – WCW Bash at the Beach • July 12, 1998 Diamond Dallas Page & Jay Leno v Hollywood Hogan & Eric Bischoff – WCW Road Wild • August 8, 1998 WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Goldberg – WCW Halloween Havoc • October 25, 1998 WCW United States Championship Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Bret “Hitman” Hart – WCW Monday Nitro • October 26, 1998 Four Corners Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Diamond Dallas Page v Hollywood Hogan v Ric Flair v Sting (Special Guest Referee: Macho Man Randy Savage) – WCW Spring Stampede • April 11, 1999 WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Sting – WCW Monday Nitro • April 26, 1999 No Disqualification Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Diamond Dallas Page v Kevin Nash v Goldberg v Sting – WCW Monday Nitro April 26, 1999 WCW Tag Team Championship Match: Diamond Dallas Page & Bam Bam Bigelow v Raven & Saturn – WCW Monday Nitro • May 31, 1999 European Championship Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Christian – WrestleMania X8 • March 17, 2002 FEEL! THE! BANG! In the review of Randy Orton’s profile DVD, it started with mentioning that as DDP is so synonymous with the cutter, it was going to take someone special to be able to perform the move and make it his own, which is what Randy eventually did. Now it’s the turn of the man probably most associated with the move invented by Johnny Ace and it’s interesting to see the parallels with Orton in so much where it was the move getting the guy over first of all (though, to be fair, both men got over in their own right, despite the RKO again becoming more over than the guy performing the move in recent times). DDP is probably the last of the guys from the pre-Monday Night War era to be getting a career retrospective release and the guy has led an amazingly colourful life before, during and after his wrestling career. The set sees us meet up with Page in his peak-Yogi period and the man himself talks us through his childhood (which is a given for these formats), his late-teens, owning a nightclub, getting to know the wrestlers (long before he was in the business himself), being at WrestleMania VI because his car got booked for the show and they needed a driver, the Power Plant, being a manager in the AWA, moving to WCW to be a manager / commentator and then, at the age of 35yrs old, deciding to train to be an in-ring talent at an age where most guys are hitting their peak as a wrestler. WWE named this collection Postively Living and that’s no gimmick, brother. DDP oozes positive energy from every pore and it’s easy to be caught up in it yourself. The stories are hilarious, heartfelt, emotional or a combination of all three. The process of coming up with the Diamond Cutter (credit to Johnny Ace, Bobby Heenan and William Regal) and how it evolved into being a move that could be hit from a multitude of angles, positions and as a sweet counter. Not going to spoil what is said, but Jake Roberts gives the Diamond Cutter the best possible compliment one talented performer could give to another when describing it. The talking-heads are also well worth a listen, along with the obligatory Dusty Rhodes impression, which always bring a smile to my face. Of the matches on show, all but one take place in WCW over an eight-year span and each one of them is worth watching to see the in-ring evolution of the guy who should have come in during the invasion angle with People’s Champion gimmick intact instead of the ridiculous stalker angle they saddled him with. DDP would have been over HUGE with WWE audiences had he been allowed to come in as a face instead of the entire WCW / ECW contingent needing to be heels for the storyline they went with. Feelgood stories in wrestling are relatively rare, especially with the guys who were active in the 80’s, but this is the best example of feelgood storytelling as life, especially with the advent of DDP Yoga and how many people (wrestlers and non-wrestlers alike) it has helped. Arthur Boorman is probably the most famous non-wrestler (and if you haven’t seen his story, look it up on YouTube), while the work he has done with Scott Hall and Jake Roberts is nothing short of saintly. His induction into the WWE Hall of Fame is richly deserved for that alone, even before you get to his contribution to the wrestling industry as a whole. Speaking of which, another nice little nugget is the geniune emotion shown when Page finds out he’s going in after seeing Hall, Jake and Nash go in the previous years. Overview All of the matches are worth a watch for various reasons, with the bouts against Eddie, Savage, Hogan, Goldberg, Hennig, Raven, Sting and Bret being the standouts. Plus, it’s nice that WWE end the matches with his crowning WWE moment at WrestleMania X8. The documentary is the real selling point and for someone who has had such the life Page has had, the one-hour running time for that is enough to barely scratch the surface of each period in his life. They (being WWE) really need to have these run for at least 2hrs, if not 3hrs, for guys like this. A great release and worth your money if you don’t have access to the WWE Network. That being said, there should have been a special edition of WWE Top 10 to showcase the best Diamond Cutters of all time. If you buy the Blu-Ray version, you get the following additional content -: Blu-ray Exclusive WCW Television Championship Match: Diamond Dallas Page v The Renegade – WCW Fall Brawl • September 17, 1995 Battlebowl Match: Diamond Dallas Page v The Barbarian v Earl Robert Eaton v Ice Train v Scott Norton v Rocco Rock v Johnny Grunge v Dick Slater – WCW Slamboree • May 19, 1996 WCW United States Championship Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Bret “Hitman” Hart – WCW World War 3 • November 22, 1998 Diamond Dallas Page v The Giant – WCW Starrcade • December 27, 1998 Steel Cage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Diamond Dallas Page v Jeff Jarrett – WCW Monday Nitro • April 24, 2000 Diamond Dallas Page’s WWE Debut; The Stalker is Revealed – RAW • June 18, 2001 Points: 8/10
