DDP Says Eric Bischoff Said He Could be Fired for Kimberly Page’s Playboy Pictures
Chris Jericho recently interviewed WWE Hall of Famer DDP for his Talk Is Jericho podcast earlier this month. During the interview, he reflected on his feud with Randy Savage, and also how Eric Bischoff told him he could’ve been fired over Kimberly Page’s (DDP’s ex-wife) Playboy issue. Below are some additional highlights (transcript via WrestlingInc.com).
DDP on his program with Randy Savage and how it was Savage’s idea: “No, dude, this had nothing to do with Eric [Bischoff] or myself. I could never say, ‘can I work with Savage?’ When Randy saw what was going on with the nWo thing, he’s the one that went to Bischoff and said, ‘I want to work with him.’ [Savage] asked to do it.”
DDP on his ex-wife Kimberly posing for Playboy: “So [Kimberly] was in four different [Playboy] issues, right? They call her up and they say that they want to do a book called ‘Celebrity Nudes’ and since she was on TV with me coming to the ring, so they say they want her ‘and your husband’. So I’m like, ‘what do you mean me?’ So she said, ‘they want to do something where you’re getting ready in the ring and I’m just about to pull up my dress, you’re painting my toenails, fun shots like that.’ It’s supposed to be two pages. So we’re supposed to be in a two-page spread, and they see it and they want to shoot more. Now they’e got me in a towel, smoking a cigar, massaging her, and she’s on all fours in like a cat lift position, but she [has] got nothing on, right? And so I have to tell Eric that this is going to come out. Now, at the time, again, I’m a midcard guy and I’m figuring, ‘hey, I’m doing it! I’m doing it! I’m doing it!’ And so, I tell him and he goes, ‘are you crazy? You have’ – what it is it when you sign – ‘a moral clause in your contract! They could fire you!’ I’m like, ‘if they end up firing me, bro, maybe then Vince [McMahon] will do something with it.’”
DDP on working that into his angle with Savage: “So Randy asked to work with me and there’s that magazine, so they used that as the angle for Randy exposes Kimberly being my wife, and not that it matters or anything, but that was just the angle they came up with. So we shoot the angle. It’s red-hot. It elevates me because I’m just coming off dropping the nWo, so it elevated me to a whole different level.”
DDP on how Savage tested the waters by losing to him in dark matches before their match at Spring Stampede: “[Anderson] said, ‘well ‘Diamond’, I hope you know what this could do for your career.’ I’m like, ‘uh, yeah.’ But again, this isn’t the pay-per-view. This is the dark [match], no cameras, and we went out there and Randy was testing the waters. He wanted to see what would happen. And so we had a hell of a match, eventually, we went home, and him kicking my ass, he went to slam me, and he went, ‘Diamond Cutter.’ And bang! And it was like a moment of silence and then an explosion! And then, I covered him. And when I got the three [count], those people went berserk and it was so loud. And [Jericho] know[s] what that feeling’s like, but I could hear Randy. And he goes, ‘well, I guess we know what we’re going to do for Spring Stampede.’ He was going to put me over with that finish.”