DDP On Who Should Have Inducted Him Into WWE Hall Of Fame

Speaking fondly of his induction in to the WWE Hall Of Fame, DDP has discussed how he found out he was going in, and that he wishes the legendary Dusty Rhodes had been able to induct him.

DDP was part of the WWE Hall Of Fame Class Of 2017, and on a recent episode of DDP’s Snake Pit spoke about how he appreciated the chance to thank everyone who had guided him, making it the top moment of his career.

It’s number one because it is everything. I got to thank everybody. Past and present, people who weren’t here anymore from Dusty to Jake, to Dusty’s wife Michelle, Cody’s mom. All those calls I made to him in between working in Florida Championship Wrestling with him, coming into the WCW, and being in WWE, he became the polka-dotted guy up there.

And I’ll say it again, how you turn John Wayne meets Elvis, put him in polka-dots and he still gets it over. You know, that’s the talent. But Michelle was the person that answered the phone, Cody’s mom before Cody was here. She answered the phone and said, ‘I’ll make sure he calls you back, Dallas,’ because she was around me, you know, and she knew how much I cared about Dusty.

There was only one change DDP would have made to the evening, and that would have been to have Dusty Rhodes give his induction speech. Rhodes had passed away in 2015, and Eric Bischoff ended up doing the speech – but made sure that Rhodes was still a part of it.

And you’ve got to just breathe and keep throwing out into the universe. The law of attraction. When he told me, man, I got really choked up and I started welling up, and then I said, ‘I wish Dusty was here.’ That’s who should have inducted me. The cool thing about Bischoff was he noticed that and he knew that. And that’s something he put in there, that I’m not supposed to be the guy.

DDP also discussed the moment he found out he was being inducted in to the Hall Of Fame, and how the film crew he was working with orchestrated the situation alongside Triple H.

I was doing a documentary on me called Positively Living. It was the last shot that we were doing and it was in my hometown, outside one of my best friend’s bars called The Broadway in Point Pleasant, and it was a sunset. ‘We wanna film this outside, we wanna film this outside,’ ‘OK, awesome.’ So I walk outside because it’s their business, so they knew. They were showing all different facets of my life, and at some point, he goes, ‘someone wants to talk to you.’

I pick up the phone and it’s Triple H, and I’m like, ‘hey bro, what’s up, man?’ And he goes, ‘Hey man, so how’s the shooting going?’ ‘Really great. We’re at the last shot right now.’ We were talking just bullsh*t. And then he says something about, ‘it’s actually crazy when your whole life, and how you came in and when you were thirty-five and a half, and I’m thinking to myself because I’m there as Terra Ryzing, you know, what’s he thinking? Is he out of his mind?

He’s never going to be able to learn it, he’ll be too old by the time he figures it out. And then you’re down that PowerPlant every damn day.’ And then he starts really putting me over, and then I’m looking and I’m seeing the cameras and they’re filming me. Then I’m like, ‘oh my god, is this that call?’ One thing he told me was that they’ve always wanted to film someone hearing they’re going in [into the WWE Hall of Fame]. Like, how do they react?

The camera’s there and now you get the call, you’ve got a good idea you’re going in. I had no idea. Mainly because the calls that I’ve always gotten are in, like, maybe in late December, but it’s normally January. This was October. I had no idea.

DDP also recently gave an insight in to the character Vince McMahon initially had for the late Scott Hall when he joined WWE, before he settled in to his Razor Ramon character.

With thanks to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.