12.20.2008

Hey Guys, This picture here is with me and my girls wishing you a very Merry Christmaskunanzika and a Healthy Happy New Year! A lot of you guys have been asking me how I got invited to the Red Carpet Premier of The Wrestler and also participate in the Roundtable discussion. I got a call from a buddy of mine, Scott Epstien, who said he was putting together a legends panel with Piper, The Hammer, Lex, Beefcake and asked me if I wanted to be a part of it. The funny part is I was trying to get an invite to the premier and now it is been handed to me along with being on the panel for The Wrestler with Fox Searchlight Pictures. Fox Searchlight has done pretty much every successful Indy movie you have seen so I knew it was going to be a first class act. The Red Carpet premier was at Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Science in Los Angeles. I was supposed to meet Lex at the Red Carpet but his flight was delayed due to weather. While I was on the Red Carpet I got to meet Marisa Tomei, she is a sweetheart. When I got to the top of the stairs I ran into Beefcake and Valentine. I did not know this at the time but they had a lot to do with the behind the scenes research that went into The Wrestler. Brutus told me that he has known Mickey for years and was a close friend of his. Mickey spent a lot of time with him and Hammer in Florida getting the reel scoop on how it was back in the day…and they would know…J Brutus commented to me later the this movie is only the tip of the iceberg…we both laughed and in the same expression sighed…. Ahh wresting. Click for More Photos I also ran into Ernest "The Cat" Miller who plays the Ayatollah that ends up being the arch rival of Mickey Rourke's Randy "The Ram" Robinson. I gotta tell you, Ernest did a hell of a job in and out of the ring. On a side note, Ernest will be playing a George Foreman in an upcoming HBO movie. As you will see he has already put on a bit of weight for that part as well LOL. Before the movie started Darren Aronofsky got up in front of the audience and talked about the making of the movie. He introduced the leads of the cast and then told the story of one of the screenings that was the highlight of all of the screenings. It was one when Hot Rod Roddy Piper was there and Piper said something like I don't know where you did your research from, but this is a story that needs to be told. It was very emotional for Roddy. What he said was way more elaborate and impactful than that but you get the idea. He then ask Roddy to please stand up "take a bow if you will". The crowd was very gracious. He then individually introduced Hammer, Brutus, myself, Flair and Lex….who wasn't there yet because of the flight delay. We all got a warm response. BTW Lex's journey makes Randy "The Ram" Robinson's journey a walk in the park...more on that later. So what did I think about the movie…I thought Mickey Rourke was outstanding. He is truly one of the boys. I mean look at his checkered past. Take actor out and put wrestler anywhere along there. I actually went to a screening of the movie before I went to the premier because I wanted to go and hear the Q and A with Mickey. For starters, I was a huge Mickey Rourke fan coming into this. From the Pope of Greenwich Village, Diner, Angel Heart to 9 1/2 weeks…this guy was the man. Then he fell from the grace of Hollywood, which he talked about in the Q and A. He talked about how wild and crazy he was and how he blew every unbelievable opportunity laying at his feet. He talked about all those years of not being able to find work and how grateful he was to have the opportunity to get back to work….I love the fact that this guys second chance came in the role of playing a wrestler. Which by the way, going into this movie he had no respect for wrestling at all…his words, not mine. You have to understand Mickey was a Pro Boxer. A lot of people thought he was nuts when he quit acting and started boxing. The back story is the Mickey was a Pro Boxer before he was an Professional Actor. There is a segment of boxers, Ali, Frazier, Tyson who love wrestling. And there is another sector of boxers who look down on it. Mickey was one of the latter of the group. That is until he stepped into the ring his first time as a wrestler. Click for More Photos Once Mickey got into the ring he realized what everyone realizes.. you can't fake gravity. After hearing the detailed stories from Beefcake, Valentine and others he realized what we do in the ring is an athletic art form. At the Q& A he said he had so much respect for those of us who made our living in the squared circle. From what I could see he really got it in so many ways. And those of you who are the biggest wrestling critics will see it not only in his acting but in the ring. I was amazed by how good the wrestling is in this movie. There were no stunt double for Mickey Rourke. He did things that made me pop. They even came up with his own finish that I have never seen done before…the Ram Jam…see the movie to see this move. The coolest part was that Mickey really cared what the boys thought of his performance. The Wrestler, the movie, is a heart wrenching tale of Randy "The Ram" Robinson. Rourke could be a number of guys, dead or alive that continue to go to the squared circle for the smell of the popcorn and the roar of the crowd. The Director Darren Aronofsky gives the brawler of his movie exactly the no BS honesty that it needs. Having worked some of the independent scenes watching the locker room scenes was a trip for me. I have to throw a flag though on the one scene with the Locker room steroids....that would never have happened. I am not saying it didn't happen but it would never have happened like that. But overall Aronofsky did a phenomenal job with this movie. Marisa Tomei plays an aging stripper, who by the way was smoking hot in this movie was dead on…I have always seen strippers a lot like wrestlers…once you get a taste of the money you can make in it, it is hard to walk away from it. That is one of the reasons why you see so many guys stay in the business for so many years….where can you go and make grand a night in the real world? You can't. Overall, the way I see it, Aronofsky legitimizes what we do not just as an art form but as a sport... showing the blood, the sweat and the tears. Click for More Photos After the movie I walked up to Mickey and waited as one fan after another came up and congratulated him. He was very gracious and made everyone feel important. When he finally finished he turned to me and I introduced myself and he said "I know exactly who your are, what'd you think?" My response was "I thought you nailed it bro" … and he gave me a big hug. We talked for a bit about the movie and the round table Q and A that I attended. We took some pictures of my signal for the Diamond Cutter and his signal for the Ram Jam. As I walked away from Mickey I caught Lex out of the corner of my eye. I snuck up behind him and gave him a huge hug. It's phenomenal to see Lex up and walking again. Of course he's taking baby steps with his cane but he's taking steps when all the odds where stacked against him that he'd never walk again. I'm going to get into detail on Lex in my next email but for now if you want to know where he's at read this article, it's very powerful. Click for More Photos The next day I went to Fox Studios to meet the boys for a roundtable discussion that was hosted by sports anchor Damon Andrews. Damon was a total pro and asked each of us individual questions so he kept the conversation going so that no-one stepped on each other. Beefcake, Hammer, Piper, Lex.. each one was powerful with their presence and what they had to say. This is an interview you don't want to miss. It was a very professional three camera shoot and will be seen on Fox Searchlight "The Wrestler" website (www.foxsearchlight.com/thewrestler)… I will let you know about it once it's up there.. It's definitely worth the watch! For now you may want to go to the site and check it out. It'll let you know when The Wrestler is coming to your town, or close to your town. It also has some great interviews and footage on it. In closing, we have had such a great response to the Holiday Pricing for the YRG Workout that we are going to keep the site up through the holidays and hold off on redoing the site for now. We just added another special, if you buy any 2 DVD sets you get Free Priority shipping (they tell me that means it gets to you in 2-3 days.) You can see the store at www.YRGWorkout.com Happy Holiday, Stay Strong and Be Unstoppable BANG! – DDP www.DiamondDallasPage.com YRG 4 Life!

12.06.2008

Hey Guys In my last email , I talked about the movie "The Wrestler". I also talked about how I did a round table with Lex, Piper, Beefcake and Hammer for the DVD . Well , if you wanna actually see the that round table discussion, just go to the bottom of this email and click on the link . Also, if you haven't heard , Micky Rourke won the Best Actor Golden Globe last week for his killer performance. The film opens nationally this Friday on January 23rd so check it out. I would love to hear what you guys think about it. Click here to watch the round table discussion about The Wrestler Ya know I'm often asked who inspires me, DDP, the guy who Lives Life at 90% . Well I would have to say Arthur Boorman would have to be at the top of that list.. Watching Arthur accomplishments over this last year and a half is pretty damn Powerful. The next person on my list would be Lex Luger. The people who inspire me are the people who lead by example. 14 months ago Lex was a quadriplegic. The only part of his body he could move from his neck down was his right pinky. While everyone around him was in a panic, Lex remained calm . His faith in a God is unshakable, and I believe it is the main reason he was strong that fateful day and continues to get stronger as the days go by. It's that inner strength he has that inspires me. He doesn't just talk the talk.. Lex Walks the Talk. Over the last 14 months , Lex and I have become closer than we we've ever been.. But it wasn't always like that. As a matter of fact , I think its safe to say that Lex thought I was a bit of a joke when I first got in to the WCW back 1990 , but to be honest he wasn't alone:) It actually took me years to earn enough of Lex Luger's respect before he would ask me to even ride on the road with him. Click for More Photos Today , Lex Luger is one of one the most Amazing individuals I have the pleasure of spending quality time with.. He is a total inspiration to everyone around him.. To really appreciate that statement you have to know the old Lex.. Back the day Lex had it all. He was a Main Event guy from the day he started in our business. As a matter of fact, he was the first wrestler to ever get a multi year million dollar guaranteed contact. Toward the end of his career , he had the multi million dollar home on the 18th hole on one of Atlanta most prestigious country clubs. He was the first to have the tricked -out base -banging Suv and a slant - nose Porche , which was also tricked out to the max. He had real money in the bank, he owned plenty of real estate , and 2 state of the art gyms (Main Event Fitness). He had a beautiful wife and two great kids who he loved , and who he always made time for no matter how busy he was. He also had the best body in professional wrestling. I called him the Cyborg - It was like he wasn't even from our planet. Lex Luger truly was the "Total Package". He had it all and he knew it. To say he was a bit of prima donna would be an understatement. The WWE didn't give him the gimmick "The Narcissist " by accident. He worked hard and played harder which is really saying something. I could never understand how Lex could come off a 14 day road trip, wrestling all over the country, party just about every night, and still make his 6 am flight home. He'd head right to the Main Event gym, workout like a mad man.. Example... I once spotted him doing squats and I'm talking full squats where your butt hits the floor. He had 405 pounds on the bar and I never ever needed to spot him till he got to his last rep which was # 25... Ye s , I said 25 reps with 405 pound on the bar ! . That's one of the reasons I called him the Cyborg. After a workout like , that he would play 18 holes of golf and then catch hi s son ' s basketball practice and his little girl 's dance recital. At the time I had no idea how he did it. But that was then and this is now. Today- It's as if God has stripped Lex of everything , including his perfect body , to rebuild Lex from the inside out. And by the way those are Lex's own words , not mine. Click for More Photos Today's Lex's life is much simpler and grounded but he's still as busy as ever. In my follow up email, my buddy Marlon will be doing an interview with Lex about where he is in his life today. I promise you it will be an interview you will not want to miss. The last time I saw Lex was a week ago and we did what I am calling the embryonic stages of YRG. It's the third time we did YRG together, and it was mind blowing to me how much he improved from one session to the next. I remember Lex asking , "So what are we going to do , Dallie ?", and I just smiled and said , "To tell you truth , Lex , I don't know because I don't know what you can or can't do. Let's just play and see where we end up. " A friend of ours , Steve Yu , filmed the entire workout to track Lex's progress. I put a few shots up on the site. Talk about inspiration. After hanging with Lex in Atlanta , I headed to Oklahoma City to speak to some of the troops for the second time in 2 weeks that were coming back home after 15 months from Iraq . This is the second time I made this trip to Oklahoma City in the past 2 week. I spoke to the troops about Living Life at 90%. . Both of these speaking engagements were set up by the Army as retreats for the soldiers and their families to help them reconnect with a positive attitude . The response from the first talk was so positive that they brought me back this Saturday to talk to about 30 of the single soldiers . After I finished my talk , I do a Q&A and then took them all through a YRG workout. I've got some of the pictures up on the site. Click for More Photos By the way here's something out of the vault by buddy Eric Pankowski sent me... You wanna laugh... Check it out - Back about 10 years ago I did this bit with the cartoon network. Check it out. http://www.ffwd.com/videos/228425 You may get a kick out of it... Lastly- This is your absolute last chance to get your first edition YRG dvds at www.YRGworkout.com . The present YRG site will be "closed for remodeling" in the next couple of weeks but we will be relaunching in March with the all new YRG Fitness System. I made all the new YRG workouts different so that you could interchange them with the originals ones. The Wrestler (official site) As Usual , it's been your pleasure as well as mine. Happy New Year! Now Get Healthy... Stay Strong... Be Unstoppable! and Do your YRG or else! DDP

12.06.2008

Hey Guys In my last email , I talked about the movie "The Wrestler". I also talked about how I did a round table with Lex, Piper, Beefcake and Hammer for the DVD . Well , if you wanna actually see the that round table discussion, just go to the bottom of this email and click on the link . Also, if you haven't heard , Micky Rourke won the Best Actor Golden Globe last week for his killer performance. The film opens nationally this Friday on January 23rd so check it out. I would love to hear what you guys think about it. Click here to watch the round table discussion about The Wrestler Ya know I'm often asked who inspires me, DDP, the guy who Lives Life at 90% . Well I would have to say Arthur Boorman would have to be at the top of that list.. Watching Arthur accomplishments over this last year and a half is pretty damn Powerful. The next person on my list would be Lex Luger. The people who inspire me are the people who lead by example. 14 months ago Lex was a quadriplegic. The only part of his body he could move from his neck down was his right pinky. While everyone around him was in a panic, Lex remained calm . His faith in a God is unshakable, and I believe it is the main reason he was strong that fateful day and continues to get stronger as the days go by. It's that inner strength he has that inspires me. He doesn't just talk the talk.. Lex Walks the Talk. Over the last 14 months , Lex and I have become closer than we we've ever been.. But it wasn't always like that. As a matter of fact , I think its safe to say that Lex thought I was a bit of a joke when I first got in to the WCW back 1990 , but to be honest he wasn't alone:) It actually took me years to earn enough of Lex Luger's respect before he would ask me to even ride on the road with him. Click for More Photos Today , Lex Luger is one of one the most Amazing individuals I have the pleasure of spending quality time with.. He is a total inspiration to everyone around him.. To really appreciate that statement you have to know the old Lex.. Back the day Lex had it all. He was a Main Event guy from the day he started in our business. As a matter of fact, he was the first wrestler to ever get a multi year million dollar guaranteed contact. Toward the end of his career , he had the multi million dollar home on the 18th hole on one of Atlanta most prestigious country clubs. He was the first to have the tricked -out base -banging Suv and a slant - nose Porche , which was also tricked out to the max. He had real money in the bank, he owned plenty of real estate , and 2 state of the art gyms (Main Event Fitness). He had a beautiful wife and two great kids who he loved , and who he always made time for no matter how busy he was. He also had the best body in professional wrestling. I called him the Cyborg - It was like he wasn't even from our planet. Lex Luger truly was the "Total Package". He had it all and he knew it. To say he was a bit of prima donna would be an understatement. The WWE didn't give him the gimmick "The Narcissist " by accident. He worked hard and played harder which is really saying something. I could never understand how Lex could come off a 14 day road trip, wrestling all over the country, party just about every night, and still make his 6 am flight home. He'd head right to the Main Event gym, workout like a mad man.. Example... I once spotted him doing squats and I'm talking full squats where your butt hits the floor. He had 405 pounds on the bar and I never ever needed to spot him till he got to his last rep which was # 25... Ye s , I said 25 reps with 405 pound on the bar ! . That's one of the reasons I called him the Cyborg. After a workout like , that he would play 18 holes of golf and then catch hi s son ' s basketball practice and his little girl 's dance recital. At the time I had no idea how he did it. But that was then and this is now. Today- It's as if God has stripped Lex of everything , including his perfect body , to rebuild Lex from the inside out. And by the way those are Lex's own words , not mine. Click for More Photos Today's Lex's life is much simpler and grounded but he's still as busy as ever. In my follow up email, my buddy Marlon will be doing an interview with Lex about where he is in his life today. I promise you it will be an interview you will not want to miss. The last time I saw Lex was a week ago and we did what I am calling the embryonic stages of YRG. It's the third time we did YRG together, and it was mind blowing to me how much he improved from one session to the next. I remember Lex asking , "So what are we going to do , Dallie ?", and I just smiled and said , "To tell you truth , Lex , I don't know because I don't know what you can or can't do. Let's just play and see where we end up. " A friend of ours , Steve Yu , filmed the entire workout to track Lex's progress. I put a few shots up on the site. Talk about inspiration. After hanging with Lex in Atlanta , I headed to Oklahoma City to speak to some of the troops for the second time in 2 weeks that were coming back home after 15 months from Iraq . This is the second time I made this trip to Oklahoma City in the past 2 week. I spoke to the troops about Living Life at 90%. . Both of these speaking engagements were set up by the Army as retreats for the soldiers and their families to help them reconnect with a positive attitude . The response from the first talk was so positive that they brought me back this Saturday to talk to about 30 of the single soldiers . After I finished my talk , I do a Q&A and then took them all through a YRG workout. I've got some of the pictures up on the site. Click for More Photos By the way here's something out of the vault by buddy Eric Pankowski sent me... You wanna laugh... Check it out - Back about 10 years ago I did this bit with the cartoon network. Check it out. http://www.ffwd.com/videos/228425 You may get a kick out of it... Lastly- This is your absolute last chance to get your first edition YRG dvds at www.YRGworkout.com . The present YRG site will be "closed for remodeling" in the next couple of weeks but we will be relaunching in March with the all new YRG Fitness System. I made all the new YRG workouts different so that you could interchange them with the originals ones. The Wrestler (official site) As Usual , it's been your pleasure as well as mine. Happy New Year! Now Get Healthy... Stay Strong... Be Unstoppable! and Do your YRG or else! DDP