For more information about the DDP Yoga Performance Center please visit www.DDPYogaPC.com.
The following are excerpts from the interview:
On finding out David Arquette’s would be winning the WCW World Heavyweight Champion:
DDP: I’ll give you the play by play. And again, there’s my side, there’s their side and then probably what really, really happened. But I think I would be the closest to that. I remember them telling me because I was the World Champion at the time. They weren’t going to beat me for it they wanted to put it on Arquette for the PR. I just think they wanted a boost of super PR and I started laughing. I thought they were f*cking with me. You know? And I went, “So what are we really going to do?” And they said, “Well, we’re going to do this.” I’m going, “Dude, you can’t be serious.”
On whether it was Bischoff or Russo’s call to make Arquette the WCW World Heavyweight Champion:
DDP: I know Bischoff had just gotten there. I also know, and I like Vince now because, we’ve talked, but at one point I wanted to kill him and he knows that. We’ve talked about it. I told him right to his face. Later on it would be Vince who actually talked me in to going to TNA and he was leaving there at the time. That’s where we fixed all our problems. We let all our heat go so to speak. But back then, when Vince came in, I was excited that he was coming in. But then with some of the things he was doing I was like, “What?!” I know Eric Bischoff would have never, ever make himself the World Champion. He never, ever would have done that. Vince Russo did. Completely preposterous and ridiculous. But even more ridiculous was David Arquette becoming the World Champion. So I felt, knowing Eric as good as I did back then, that it was Russo’s call. Eric was going along because he didn’t want to stir up any heat with anybody. He went with it. He didn’t go, “Dude, that’s crazy.” So, he went with it but I would bet money, I’d bet $100,000 it wasn’t his idea.
On David Arquette’s reaction to finding out he was going to be the WCW World Heavyweight Champion:
DDP: So, now I gotta tell David. And when I told him what they were gonna do and what they were going to do on the finish he started laughing and going, “F*ck you!” And I go, “Dude, I’m serious.” And he realized I was serious and he goes, “Dude, no. No! We can’t do that.” He was the fan through the whole thing. He was that guy going, “No, they can’t.” So I go, “Here’s your choices, either you don’t do it and we’re done because we’re not gonna do the angle because that’s the finish. Or, you do it and guess what? You’re the World Champion. You are getting the fantasy that every single fan would kill to be in your spot.”
On being nervous to compete in the triple cage match:
DDP: I’ll tell you what, there’s a really crazy story behind that. You know where we were? I don’t know if you do remember. When we did Ready to Rumble the ceiling was cut out and they boosted me up there and I was just there. They didn’t show how I got there really. We had ladders and sh*t inside that moved, not like we did it, when we did it we climbed to the top of the cage. That’s 47 feet in the air. This was in the same building, on a somber note, where Owen Hart had fallen from the ceiling. And I’m really positive it was close to his birthday. So, it was on my mind because I loved Owen. I only met him a few times but he was the nicest guy ever. And what a great worker. So, his memory was on my mind going in to this match and it’s not like you can practice in that thing. They put it up and you figure out what to do.
The full interview can be found by clicking HERE or by listening to the show in the embedded player at the top of the post.
In the full interview DDP speaks further with Nick about finding out he was going to lose the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to David Arquette, whose call it was for the title change, Arquette’s reaction to finding out he was going to win the title, a crazy story about the triple cage match, Ready to Rumble, being one of the first guys to use an ice bath, whether there is a need for more managers in pro wrestling today, more
WrestleZone Daily is LIVE, Monday-Friday at Noon EST on WrestleZone.com. It covers all the news from the previous day’s, or weekend’s, WZ news cycle. It also features appearances and interviews with some of your favorite comedians, entertainers and pro wrestling personalities!
Support WrestleZone Daily by subscribing to WrestleZone Radio on iTunes by clicking HERE.
