Awesome / Diamond Dallas Page

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• DDP being the first "mid-carder' to reject the NWO's invitation of joining the group after he Diamond Cutter's Scott Hall and outsmarts Kevin Nash in which Eric Bischoff then says that DDP is now "#1 on the most wanted list".
• DDP and Randy Savage had been feuding for a good portion of 1997, thanks to Savage being in the nWo and Page outright refusing to join the group. Page would resort to trickery at times, but Savage and the nWo were always prepared... except for one Nitro. Savage was wrestling the masked luchador La Parka, and it seemed like it would be an easy win for him, so the nWo members he came to the ring with went to the announcers' table to start harassing Larry Zybysko. When they were distracted, "La Parka" hit a Diamond Cutter on Savage and ripped off his mask to reveal that he was, in fact, Page in disguise - this earned him a huge pop from the crowd. Page picked up the three count and escaped through the audience before the other nWo members could get to him, gloating with the fans.
• The enormous pop DDP got when he debuted in the WWF. Bear in mind, the gimmick he was given was that of a creepy stalker, with WWF hoping to bury him (because, you know, they just had to show that WWF veterans were so much better than former WCW wrestlers). It says a lot about the man that he managed to remain likable despite that. The crowd goes from booing him when masked, to immediately cheering as soon as they recognize him. Then he cuts a promo that masterfully frames the entire stalking plot as his way of getting in the Undertaker's head because he wants to take on the Deadman to begin his ascension to the top of the WWF. And sure, he gets some boos for the moments where he's particularly snide and mocking towards Taker, but otherwise people are cheering because they want to see DDP vs. Undertaker.
• His 2012 reappearance after Heath Slater, who had been getting squashed by legends/veterans for weeks, actually won a match by defeating Doink the Clown. His music hit, the half of the crowd that was old enough to remember him flipped their lids, and he came down to the ring and extended a hand of congratulations to Slater, who shook it. BANG! Cue Diamond Cutter.
• In WCW, his title match against Goldberg. While he wound up losing, it was the first time Goldberg had shown any signs of vulnerability, and reversing the Jackhammer into a Diamond Cutter had the crowd going nuts. It was one of the few matches you'll ever see where the crowd wants both wrestlers to win.
• Just the work he has been doing with Jake The Snake and Scott Hall. Both were so sick they were as good as dead and they knew it. He took them both into his place, trained them, took care of them, even put up the Indie Gogo projects to pay for their surgeries. Two of the saddest drug-addiction stories in pro-wrestling, and he made them both turn a new page.
  • Let's put it this way: You know Jake's stunning return to WWE on Old School Raw on January 6, 2014? That doesn't happen without DDP. Neither would both Roberts' and Hall's long-overdue inductions into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014.
  • Even aside from the work his been doing to restore some of his seriously sick friends, DDP's yoga plan has been working wonders to help keep other ring legends in shape into their senior years, such as Goldust and Mick Foley.
    • Speaking of Goldust if you need a testament to how well DDP Yoga really works, Dustin Rhodes is having one of the best runs of his multi-decade career in AEW at the moment (with his classic "Natural vs Nightmare" match against brother Cody at Double or Nothing being hailed as maybe his best singles match ever), at the age of 50.
    • And speaking of AEW, Jake is right back to his mercurial best as the manager guiding the career of the former Suzuki-gun monster Lance Archer.
• Any time he hit the Diamond Cutter, which always got massive pops. Lots of wrestlers tend to brag that their finishers are universal, and that they can turn anything into a reversal to their move. Well, DDP's Diamond Cutter was a move that didn't just talk the talk, it walked the walk. He once boasted he could counter moves a different way every week for an entire year…and you believed him.
• His return at the 2015 Royal Rumble, where he hit everybody in the ring with the Diamond Cutter, even Bray Wyatt.
• Although he's not the headliner, he's going into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017. It's almost universally considered to be about damn time!
• In a way, the fact that he was able to write a tell-all autobiography despite having suffered from dyslexia as a child to the point where he was actually afraid of reading is certainly worthy of praise.
• On episode 4 of AEW Dynamite, Cody is outnumbered 4 to 1 trying to confront the Inner Circle, but then Dustin's music hits, and the crowd pops, but it's still 2 on 4. Then MJF's music hits, and the crowd pops. Then... "It's me. It's D. D. P." and the crowd explodes, on their feet, holding up the Diamond symbol, and cheer even louder the moment he steps out. The man is retired nearly 20 years and is probably the oldest person in the building, and he still receives a Hogan-level welcome.

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