When WCW was bought by WWE in 2001, many wrestlers chose to sit out the remainder of their lucrative contracts. But not Diamond Dallas Page. On Six Feet Under, DDP revealed he left $487,000 on the table to jump to WWE early—against the advice of Dusty Rhodes.
Dusty told me, ‘Don’t do it. Take the money.’ But I was 45, my body was breaking down, and I didn’t have time to sit around,” DDP said.
At the time, top WCW stars like Kevin Nash and Goldberg had contracts that allowed them to be paid in full while staying home. WWE offered them a fraction of that to start working immediately, and most declined.
I could have sat at home, done nothing, and still made nearly half a million dollars,” he admitted. “But I wasn’t 35 anymore. I wasn’t even 40. If I sat out for another year, my window might’ve closed.
DDP explained that while money was important, he had a deep love for wrestling that made the decision easy.
Kevin Nash is one of the smartest businessmen in wrestling history. He told me, ‘Dude, take the money.’ And if I listened to him, I probably would’ve had a couple million more in my account today. But I had to bet on myself.
Unfortunately, DDP’s WWE run didn’t go as planned. Despite how things unfolded, the master of the Diamond Cutter wouldn\’t change a thing.
Looking back, would I make the same choice? Hell yeah. Because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have learned the lessons that made me who I am today.
