Diamond Dallas Page and Jake “The Snake” Roberts launched their DDP Snake Pit podcast today. The first episode covers how DDP and Roberts met and how DDP got into pro wrestling.
DDP said when he was managing at WCW, they decided to make him a wrestler with seven months left on his contract. Page said this is when Roberts taught him the psychology in wrestling matches:
Page said, “That’s where Jake and I come back into each other’s life. Every day he was there, I was out with him. All of a sudden he disappeared because of the contract with (Bill) Watts. Then I tore my rotator cuff.”
Roberts: “You came over to see me because I, unfortunately, split up with my wife again. You came over to the hotel and said, ‘Dude, what are you doing staying here?’ I said, ‘I have to live somewhere. It’s a hard time right now.’ He (Page) said, ‘Why don’t you come over to my place and stay with me?’ I said, ‘I can’t do that.’ He said, ‘No, you help me and I’ll help you.’
Page: “I had my arm in a sling because I had torn my rotator cuff, but it was towards the end of it. I was starting my rehab. I said, ‘I can’t wait to get in the ring to work with you and learn from you.’ He said, ‘Listen. You know how to do the moves. You know what to do out there. You just don’t know when to do it, why to do it. You’re going to learn more sitting on the couch watching the film.’ I filmed my matches every night. No one ever did that back then. He would critique it, and Jake watched some brutal matches.”
Roberts: “I used to drive him crazy by asking him, ‘ Why did he do that? Why did you do that right then? What should you have done?’ I wouldn’t tell him what to do. I would make him figure it out. The key to learning is figuring it out yourself.”
Page was asked what drew him to Jake:
“I couldn’t see through his sh*t (his work). Do you remember Jimmy Yang? When Jimmy Yang was 15, they lived near me. His whole crew would come by every day. I didn’t know they came by every day. I would have them putting up Christmas decorations and taking them down, all at 15 years old. One day he said to me, ‘Do you know why we’re such huge fans of yours?’ He’s 15 years old, and I said, ‘No, Jimmy. Tell me.’ He said, ‘Because we can’t see through your sh*t.’ All these things that were huge to me were things I took away from him (Jake). If you watch my character in the ring, there’s subtleties that I flat out stole from him but made them my own. That’s what he told me to do. He said, ‘Find the people that you really identify with.’ There’s a little bit of (Randy) Savage in me. There’s a little bit of (Mr.) Perfect in me. There’s a little bit of Terry Funk. He took the time to really go through the psychology of it, because when I watched him in the ring, right at the beginning he pulled me in and I couldn’t see through his sh*t, and it seemed so believable.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit “DDP Snake Pit” with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
#1 BABY….Thanks everyone for making our debut episode a HIT!👊💥 @DDPSnakePit live now EVERYWHERE – Apple, Spotify, Youtube, whatever! LETS KEEP THIS GOING!💥 @JakeSnakeDDT @HeyHeyItsConrad #DDPSnakePit 💎 pic.twitter.com/H3bKkyNoK6
— Diamond Dallas Page (@RealDDP) January 4, 2022
