Diamond Dallas Page-
DDP thanks his daughters for walking him out to the stage. WOW! DDP says to think all those years ago he drove Rhythm and Blues to the ring and now he is going into the WWE Hall of Fame. DDP notes that his career was never supposed to happen. Tonight is super bittersweet for DDP because Dusty Rhodes is no longer with us. Without Rhodes, there would be no DDP. DDP does a Rhodes impression and Rhodes tells him he is going to be the Jesse Venture of the 90’s. He didn’t start wrestling until he was 35. When he told Michael PS Hayes he wanted to wrestle Hayes fell on the floor laughing. While training with Jodie Hamelton every time he took a bump he thought to himself, “man.. this fake stuff really hurts”. DDP thanks Hamelton, Terry Taylor, Sarge and Various others for believing in him. Back in the day, DDP spent a lot of time trying to figure out who he really was. DDP has to thank Bischoff because it was Bischoff who made him loose every silly gimmick he had and forcing him to just be himself. DDP thanks his other mentor Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Without Roberts, DDP would not be stage tonight. Roberts would take the time to watch all of the videos DDP made of his matches.
DDP thanks John Laurinaitis for giving him a finish that made him legit. He also has to thank William Regal for giving him the cravat. He also has to thank John Reese for giving him the Diamond Cutter symbol. DDP runs down a list of many wrestlers who helped him along the way. One night he went on a rant in front of Rhodes about how he is never going to be Hulk Hogan, or Sting or the world champion. Rhodes racked DDP’s eyes and asked him if DDP doesn’t believe he could be the world champion then he should get the hell out of the business. DDP says he grabbed a pad and wrote down that he was going to win the world title. It was four years and four months to the day when he stepped into the ring with Sting, Hulk Hogan, and Ric Flair. DDP walked away the world champion. Jim Ross once called DDP an overachiever. Always remember you can’t be an overachiever if you aren’t an over believer!
