My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 263 - DANA WHITE/DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE

Episode Date: February 27, 2023

Dana White joins Robbie in the Basement (2:19) to discuss the success of Power Slap, the latest on McGregor vs Chandler on The Ultimate Fighter, Jon Jones' upcoming return at UFC 285, and more! Then, “Diamond" Dallas Page joins Robbie (35:33) to talk about the new A&E Biography: WWE Legends episode on Jake "The Snake" Roberts! Robbie also picks DDP's brain about his relationship with Dusty/Cody Rhodes and how his infamous 'Self High Five' entrance music came together! Plus, Page shares a few of his all time favorite Diamond Cutters! 3Chi: Use code BASEMENT15 for 15% off your complete order at 3Chi.com! Gametime: Redeem code MMB on the Gametime app for $20 off your first purchase! **************************************** Subscribe to My Mom's Basement on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeZ96PqdsJYQ7DFLRx6MHw My Mom's Basement Merchandise: https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/my-moms-basementYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey, My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello, and welcome to My Mom's Basement, presented by 3Chi and Barstool Sports. I am your host, Robbie Fox, and today I'm bringing you an interview edition of My Mom's Basement, covering both MMA, power slap, and pro wrestling. I sat down with uncle dana dana white yet again he made his first appearance on the podcast in 2023 this week and we talked all about his new powerslap company we talked about ufc 285 the upcoming john jones return fight against serial gone and we talked about the ultimate fighter with conor mcgregor versus versus Michael Chandler. I can't wait for that fight.

I can't wait for the season of television that awaits us. And if you listen to this upcoming interview, I may even have an interview with Conor McGregor on the horizon. Now, before we get into that, I got to tell you guys about 3C. Of all the things in life, one of the best things has to be getting high wherever you want, whenever you want, with the paranoia of consuming some sketchy black market stuff. What's the best way to do that? With 3C, of course. 3C has the highest quality cannabis products from their delicious Delta 9 edibles and their industry-leading Delta 8 products to their new line of Delta 9 O-vapes and everything in between. When you buy 3C, you know you're getting the highest quality in purity,

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some root beer taffies, Delta 8-Ball candy, vapes, gummies, get it all. 3HE has the best stuff in the business. Must be 21 or older. Please use this stuff responsibly. This stuff is the best in the business though. I promise you're going to like it. All right, now let's get into my interview with Uncle Dana, Dana White. And on the other side, I'll meet you for an interview with Diamond Dallas Page, DDP. All right. Welcome back to my mom's basement, ladies and gentlemen. It is Robbie Fox, and I am here with Dana White for the first time in a while, Dana. We haven't done an interview together since October. I was looking back. I was like, geez, it's been a while. How are you? I'm great. You've been slacking. You haven't done any interviews lately. What's going on? I'm slacking. I'm just waiting for the call. I'm waiting for You've been slacking. You haven't done any interviews lately. What's going on?

I'm slacking. I'm just waiting for the call. I'm waiting for the bat phone to go off. I pick up the bat phone. I answer it. I got to call you. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, that's it. You have your people talk to my people. Hey, Pat, pass me that. Yeah. So, you know, this was the this was the T-shirt that you brought to me, right? I turned it into a pillow and it's back here in my green room at the Apex. Pretty good pillow. My favorite pillow.

I love that pillow. So we're here to talk about PowerSnap today, something we've never talked about together. How is it being in the PowerSnap business right now? It's been pretty good, actually. You know, we're going into our sixth episode here. And I mean, the numbers have been off the charts for us over a billion views on social media. I mean, on Instagram alone, it's doing 38.5 million views a week. And on TikTok alone, we're at we're at almost a billion. And, you know, Rumble had the international rights for it. And those numbers are up around 10 million views. So this thing works.

I was at the first press conference for this Radio City Music Hall, and you spoke about getting into it because you saw the big numbers for slap fighting on social media. Where is power slap compared to where you thought it would be at this point? No, that's that's a great point. So what I told you guys is I started to take a deep dive into this thing and started looking at it and I was like, holy shit, this thing has 350 million views on YouTube. What would happen if you did it the right way and you did this, you did that? Well, the answer is over a billion. That's the answer. Um, so, so, you know, did what i did and now the thing is over a billion views and basically five episodes and uh yeah we we got something we got something real we got something good here so i'm excited about it and uh i'll break some news with you real soon okay very interesting i'll uh

stay tuned for that yeah the other thing is too too, that these guys love to shit on the ratings that we're doing on TBS. But the thing that you have to realize is TV isn't what TV was when we were doing The Ultimate Fighter. You know what I mean? TV is not where the younger demographic is. A lot of people aren't watching TV like most of these kids don't even have cable or direct TV anymore. But even if you look at it, there was one night that we went head to head with the NBA. And that game was when Kyrie first moved over to Dallas and played for Dallas that night against the Clippers. And ESPN, you know, obviously that got a shitload of coverage because Kyrie was playing that night. And they did 570,000 viewers.

We did 317,000 viewers on like our fourth episode. And they promoted the shit out of that game. We got no promotion for the slap. So when they talk about these, and we're killing it in the demo. And we hold 50% of the AEW audience. So it did everything. This whole thing, you know, this whole first season, and, you know, what we did with this, we were testing the water.

So what we did is we built a whole digital strategy around it, social media strategy around it, and obviously we tried it on television too. And this was sort of a let's tweak this thing and play with it and see how it works. And we figured it out. we tried it on television too and this was sort of a let's tweak this thing and play with it and see how it works and uh we figured it out we got it so i'm looking forward to the future you had mentioned the very vocal group of haters that powerslap has as a league or a show is it at all comparable to what you felt when you were starting the UFC? It's fucking deja vu. It's exactly the same. It's, there's no difference between it. Um, you know, all the media talking about this is horrible. This is

disgusting. This should never happen. Yada, yada, yada. You know, all these guys that want to act like they're, they're big UFC fucking guys. Now, nobody was, was touching this shit back in the day. Nobody, nobody would, you know, write about it. Nobody took us serious. Nobody said that this would ever be a real sport. It's absolutely deja vu. I love this shit. This is what I love. I love, you know, it's just like when we went through COVID, you know, and I had to listen to all the bullshit as we went through COVID. And then after I came out with a, you know, a little documentary I did about the media going into COVID, which is going to be even bigger. I'm working on even a bigger piece about the media and the guys.

Oh, my God. Another one? Oh, yeah. Wait till you see this bad boy. We've been working on this. Are you going to put their faces on it like they were the mob again? Faces, publications, names, what they said, the whole deal it's gonna live for up and i'll do the same thing with power slap once this thing once we get where we're going now you said you love the backlash

obviously you feel it just adds fuel onto the fire did you expect it though going into this um yeah you know i didn't know what to expect you know this whole thing has been a work in progress you know we on an event last March to test it out, look at it, see who was good, who we thought was good, who wasn't good, train the commission. We had to learn. There's a lot of things, much like the UFC. We bought the UFC, and two weeks later, we had an event,

and we had to pull off the production. We had to do all this stuff. It's exactly the same. It's identical. It's literally deja vu. You know. You know, when I read some of that, first of all, I mean, the media knows less than nothing about this business. They literally know nothing about the business of MMA. And, you know, we all knew nothing going into slap, you know, it was something, you know, it's going to be an evolution here as we continue to grow. And, you know, you, you, you learn by trial and error. And that's, that's what we've been doing this season. It's been good. It's been a good experience. Are there criticisms that piss you off? You, I mean, obviously you love it. It's adding more talk to the discussion, but are there specific things that aren't being said about PowerSlam where And number two, there's the negativity. When you write negative

stuff like that, they get more traction and they get more hits. But they really know nothing about the sport. They don't know anything about it, just like they don't know anything about the business of UFC. And for me, my entire experience now is 2018, deep diving, looking at this, looking at that, looking at this. Then you have to get out and you have to do it. You have to put on an event. You have to run a show. You have to start to meet the guys.

You have to start to work with the Athletic Commission. One of the things I would say that was – I wouldn't say it was – it's just disgusting is, again, my hometown newspaper, Las Vegas Review-Journal. Let's not forget that this is the same guy that when we were putting on the first event with fans 12 000 people are willing to die to watch a ufc event that was the fucking headline of that pussy ass fucking story that the review journal wrote okay, as you look back on that,

pretty fucking ridiculous. And I blasted the Review Journal for being the hometown paper for writing such a fucking disgusting story. Now, they come out writing a story about how could the Athletic Commission sanction this thing? This is ridiculous. Well, let me put it to you this way, fucko. I didn't invent slap fighting. Slap fighting has been around for 10

years. Okay. What happens is when somebody like me and the Fertitta brothers come in, we clean it up, we make it better. The Nevada State Athletic Commission regulates it to make sure it's safer. The fighters get paid and many, many other great things that these athletic commissions do. That's why we always ran toward regulation. But it's always fascinating to me when grown men try to tell other fucking grown men what they should or shouldn't do. When it comes to that, when I when I was first seeing the slap highlights at the first presser, I was wincing and almost cringing with the slaps going into the show, watching it week to week. I think there were also a lot of misunderstandings. There was the video that

went viral of a different slap company where someone got slapped like 27 times and their face blew up. I was like, this is what we're doing. Not really. No, it's three smacks, right? And I think I said to you you i can't sit here and praise fights like yoana and zhang one where they each ate 150 significant strikes and then turn around and call this barbaric it would feel hypocritical of me to do that so it did feel strange for me to see a lot of people i guess in combat sports turning around where I don't know, it felt a little strange. You're absolutely right. I mean, did, did anybody not, you want to own J check and Whaley Zhang? Did you not see the, the,

that's just the first one that came to mind, you know, like over to share a fight was a few weeks ago. Yeah. Shins, the knees, the, all that stuff that he, that he took. A hundred percent. The wars that happen all the time in the UFC. In boxing, you know, these guys are like, well, in boxing, you can defend yourself. Okay. You can defend yourself in boxing, but you still take four to 600 punches a fight.

And that doesn't include the shots you took in sparring to get ready for that fight, right? These guys take three or less slaps per event and they go through the exact same medical testing, right? And I've said this before, and I'll say it again to you. From 2001, when we bought the company, to 2023, zero deaths and zero serious injuries in the UFC. In boxing, 2001 to 2023, 34 deaths. So nobody has a better health and safety record than I do.

And, you know, we're going to do the same thing for these. So that's the other thing. When we bring these guys in, we put them through a full, you know, top to bottom medical testing before, during and after the fight. You know, when you do that and you actually spend that money, it takes a lot of the, you know, you can control the health and safety aspect of it better than these guys right now. Like Adam Hill, who thinks that this shouldn't be regulated by athletic commissions. These guys were fighting in like bars and basements and shit, you know, no medical testing whatsoever.

And some of them were doing it for no money. And another big misconception for all the, you know, all the guys out there that were talking shit about the money, the, this isn't a UFC thing. This is me and the Fertitta brothers, right? So we funded this thing, the first season, just like we did the first season of the ultimate fighter. We put up the money and it was fucking 10 million dollars same same as fucking tough and you know we uh and here we are here we are today when it comes to the actual like workload at the first

presser someone asked about adding this to your already busy schedule and i remember your quote you were like i don't know i'm just demented that's what you said about it is it a crazy workload now on top of the UFC stuff has your schedule changed a lot um yeah I mean obviously you know to to build a business you have to dedicate a lot of time and energy to it and yeah I've definitely dedicated a lot of time and energy to slap over the last six weeks um Um, but, um, you know, the UFC is doing just fine. Yeah. What's next for power slap? Like, how does it evolve? Are you looking at ways to evolve it next season? I was thinking maybe you strap them into like a snowboard type thing. So there's no fouls. They can't lift their feet up. Uh, yeah, well, no, what I want to do is I want to bring in people that, you know,

just off the first season, we have over 700 people now that have reached out and want to compete. So we're going to start going through those. We're going to hold a combine out here. A slap combine? 100%. Have trainers and, you know, guys who work with them on not only strength and conditioning, but, um, you know, their neck strength. And there's a lot of, a lot of things that I've learned over the last, you know, couple of months that, that go into this. And, uh, you know, we're going to bring people in and start training them. Yeah. This shit's all about to get to the next level here. So the finale, I'll make some announcements with you soon all

right i'm looking forward to that the finale is coming up march 11th on rumble are there going to be like a ufc commentators and crew for this a different crew for it well bisbing bisbing is one of the commentators for it yeah and yeah it's it's a completely different crew other than bisping yeah okay cool i'm looking forward to that now i have a couple ultimate fighter slash ufc questions i'd like to ask you you're doing the ultimate fighter right now with my boy connor just how's that going in general it's going good yeah we just had the first fights last friday um and uh yeah it's to be good. It's going to be a great season. I expect to get an invite from Connor any day now, part of his coaching squad, and I'm sure, yeah,

he'll call me. If you want to fly out here and watch a couple fights for tough and do an interview with Connor, let me know. We'll do it. Make it happen. I'll let you know right now. I'd like to make that happen. Done. Lene, we'll talk to you after this interview and she'll get it done for you let's make that happen done um we've seen a lot of different versions of connor over the years different ways that he's went into fights

respectful more get into the mind of his opponent how would you describe 2023 conor mcgregor well i think the thing is here is that I think him and Chandler respect each other. You know, Chandler was here last night for the fight at the Apex, and he had nothing but good things to say about Conor and this experience. You know what I mean? But when you think about Conor and Chandler, they're both a couple of guys that no matter if they respect each other, they like each other, they respect each other they like each other they hate each other you know that when they step in there and they fight that fight is going to be just absolute pure violence and uh i mean that's why that's why fans want to see this fight so bad are you guys are you guys looking at dates for that fight already or is it too far out i know connor's got to do the like six months in usada and all that we're trying to figure all that out right now. Just a heads up.

I'm going to a concert festival, September 16th and 17th. If you could avoid that weekend, that'd be great. What concert are you going to? It's a see here now festival. So it's a little bit of music, a little bit of professional surfing on the beach. Asbury Park, the killers, Foo Fighters. It's a good lineup. Damn, that's cool. You surfing fan?

I you know what? I liked the show you put on i just watched the whole documentary on kelly slater and his whole squad i'm kind of getting into surfing i've been i've been a surf fan since i was a kid love it yeah great sport um so you also have an amazing card coming up this weekend obviously john the return of john jones what is your relationship with john jones like at this point obviously him and the ufc has gone through as many ups and downs as anybody yeah we're good we've been texting a lot and uh you know john jones is one of those guys you know he might not always fight consistently and you know he's i always i always describe dealing with these fighters like dealing with, you know, he's, I always, I always describe dealing with these fighters,

like dealing with artists, you know, they're, they're built differently. And, you know, I think that's been one of our strengths is that we've always really known how to deal with these guys and these different situations. And when bad things happen,'re able to uh move quickly and uh turn a shitty situation into a good situation but john and i are are are in a good place we're in a really good place you know we've been texting a lot and i'm looking forward to this week looking forward it's going to be exciting to have him back and uh you know from the press conference to the weigh-ins to the fight, you know, and Cyril gone is a very, um, easy going, good guy. So I don't, I don't, I don't see any problems with those two this week should be good.

But again, it's one of those, one of those cases where there's the, the respect is there between the two of them, but the fight should be awesome. And one of the greatest things for John Jones going into this heavyweight fight is he's actually the underdog in this fight yeah you know if the fight with francis would have happened he was the favorite he's actually the underdog in this fight so winning this fight if he can pull it off it's even bigger for him and his legacy it'd be absolutely insane i i don't think they'll get into a pre-fight but i noticed i just watched the countdown today jones pronounces his first name Serial. He just calls him Serial all the time, and I could see that pissing Gon off. You know, you don't want to be called Serial all the time. Oh, that's fucking funny.

What did you make of Gon's comments? I don't know if you saw them recently, where he said he gets lazy in between his fights. He doesn't like to train. Who said that, Jon? No, Serial Gon. Oh, Gon. Yeah. said he gets lazy in between his fights he doesn't like to train who said that john no serial gone oh god yeah that might not be a good idea yeah i was shocked by it by that yeah i couldn't believe that i think his coach came out though and kind of clarified he was like no no he you know he trains but i don't know it was just an interesting thing to say maybe that's a little mental warfare maybe it is maybe yeah he's just trying to get him prepared like that uh Valentina Shevchenko and the co-main event will take on Alexa Grasso it's a

great fight and that division is kind of heating up right now Talia Santos took Valentina to her limit in the last fight and Aaron Blanchfield just put on a crazy performance with Andrade do you want to rebook that Santos Blanchfield fight to see who the next number one contender is from here? I agree with you. No, you know, she doesn't want to come to America right now. So we're in a weird spot with her. We'll see how that whole thing plays out. But should Valentina beat Grazzo, Blanchfield makes a lot of sense, actually. She looked fucking

unbelievable, badass. And I was describing last night at the press conference how, you know, many fighters over the last 22 years that I've dealt with, when you're getting your first ever main event, that's nerve wracking as it is, right? Then your opponent gets pulled out a week before the fight. And then, you know, you've been training for that style and getting ready for this opponent. Then we throw somebody like Andrade in there and that has to be a total mindfuck. Um, but you saw the way she walked into the apex that night, like a savage savage like a killer she she went right at androge she uh tasted her power and still kept coming forward and and mixing it up with her that was as as gangster of a performance as i've ever seen it was crazy she looked very competitive great on the feet and then as soon

as she took her down it was so dominant it was like easy for her which against someone like androgyne is insane like you said former champ 100 and and the whole mental aspect of her game was was very impressive yeah um something that i thought was interesting the ufc recently signed bella mere as the first ever nil ambassador for the company bo nickel is on this card he's got a crop of Penn State fighters. We just spoke to him this week that he thinks can make the jump to MMA. Is this going to be something we see more of

out of the UFC signing more college athletes? Yeah, I think so. You know, obviously, Bellamere went to Gorman, where Lorenzo and I went, and I started to talk to her parents a few years ago and started to look at the things that she was doing. Then I met her and her and I, you know, have a relationship now and she's a fucking amazing, amazing kid, man. I just, I've never

seen anybody wired the way that she is and so focused and so driven. She is a really, really fucking good kid, a really good kid. And, uh, I expect big things from her in the future. So it's, it's actually an honor to be able to, uh, to do this with her, you know, it's, uh, and yes, I mean, the answer is yes to your question. We will definitely start looking at other athletes to possibly sponsor. Would you even look into doing something like obviously Bo Nichols put in like an American top team in Penn State? Would you look into putting UFC gyms in colleges? We talked about that a long time ago. I mean, we've always been supportive of colleges, military police um and the list goes on and on of of supporting uh these types of organizations with gyms so we've all run into that i love that shit um random question don't

hate me for asking it you're gonna watch jake paul fight today oh what what time is what time is it it's four o'clock i think it comes on in like an hour that's an hour um no i'll probably just wait for the results i didn't even remember what you just said that but uh who you got probably jake i think tommy's kind of a schmuck have you seen the record of his opponents yeah actually somebody texted to me yesterday. It was like 30 and 300 or something like that. I mean, it's ridiculous. Like 0 and 10, 0 and 20. But I mean, this is a money grab fight. That's what these fights are.

They're just money grabs. They're trying to get people that'll tune in, pay the money for it. Listen, I just heard that he was ranked number 10 in the WBC. I don't know if that's true. Jake? jake no no someone must have got you with that i don't know the winner gets ranked by the wbc that's what it is yeah huh okay i mean if that's where boxing is at right now that that's you know it's just good luck what do you think the talks the talks between Logan and Jake are like about you? Cause Logan obviously has a great relationship with you. He's sponsoring the UFC and everything.

Now Jake seems to hate you. I think there's a fascinating relationship between those two. You know, they're obviously complete opposites. And, uh, but I think as brothers, they respect each other and the decisions that each one of them make. Like, like when I'm around Logan, you know, we don't talk about. You just pretend like the Jake rivalry doesn't exist. Not even like, listen, I don't, I don't hate Jake.

I don't even know him. I really don't even know. Have you ever met him? Have you ever like met him face to face or no? The first time I ever met him, I took my son to the first boxing match i want to say it was uh it was wilder and fury i think that was the fight we went to and this kid rolls up on me and he's got like a fucking jacket on with no shirt and you know first of all this this fight was a shit show fucking no security in there somebody was sitting in my fucking seats name everything that could go wrong when you go to an event and that's what happened when we were

we're going the fight's getting ready to get going they're ready to walk some fucking guys are sitting in my seats and there's nobody there's no ushers there's no security it was the fucking worst event that i've ever been to in my life. And I'm trying to get these fucking guys out of my seats and figure all this stuff. He rolls up to me the first time. I didn't even know who he was. I didn't know who he was or anything. And he's a total fucking wise ass. Right. And, you know, so I'm trying to talk to the guy and he's, you know, he's being a total fucking wise ass. I'm like, listen, man, I'm fucking trying to get my seat situated here. He's like, okay, you go on and keep being famous or some shit like that. I'm like, who the fuck is this guy? My son told me who he was, right? That was the first time I

ever met him. So that was our first ever interaction, which, you know, wasn't a good one. But no, I don't know him. We've never ever had a conversation that was the only conversation he and i have ever had um and uh yeah so i i don't really know the guy but logan and i have and obviously i don't i i don't hate the guy uh the warlock his manager i'm not a big fan of but uh yeah you know i i have i have no problems with this kid listen if those guys can go out and get people to buy the fights and they can make some money, good for them. They're doing their fucking thing. And you know what?

If there's enough people out there that want to buy their fights and they're out there doing their thing. Their thing isn't my thing. It's not what I'm into and what I do. But if they can make money doing that, good for them. It was interesting seeing the ads for it

during ufc last night i was like wow this feels like pigs are flying hell is frozen over brendan fitzgerald is doing ad reads for hey check out jake paul's fight tomorrow it's like woo espn can do whatever they want to do you know what i mean that's an espn move um let me tell you what if espinoza yeah the weasel the guy the weasel if the weasel would let him go after investing the money that he did in his earlier fights that tells you something yeah there's no fucking way that guy would let him go if he was able to make money with him all right just. Just a couple left. This one's a real serious one in your prime. Could you beat Tito Ortiz in a slap fight? That's a good one.

No, probably not. I would prefer to box him. Maybe if you, maybe if we won the coin toss though, that first coin toss is fucking huge. I would prefer to box Tito. Can I say this about the slap fights?

I want to see more of the coin tosses. Cause those are huge. What we're working on right now. There's going to be a whole going into the finale. Can I say this about the slap fights? I want to see more of the coin tosses because those are huge. We're working on right now. Okay. There's going to be a whole going into the finale. There's going to be a lot of emphasis on the coin toss. This fight that's coming up with Vern and AJ.

It's funny because when you build this type of, you know, competition to get to a finale, the best always rise to the top you could not have a better fucking slap fight than aj versus burn going into this finale it's fucking mind-blowing and um yeah by the way was it a crazy effort to keep this thing secret in the months that you were doing it and we didn't know about it because i feel like i didn't hear a word about it yeah no no uh we did the first fight that we did in march to to figure out you know how we would first of all you know we did the first one in march i'm looking at the lighting the walks the the uh you know the canvas and how we would lay it out and all that stuff so that was how it all began then after we did that one we started working on the production for it and uh then once you know obviously the doing the show was great for us um and not only us learning a lot about it but the commission and then uh we're actually going

to have an event two days before the finale we're doing another event two days before the finale to to get our shit dialed in and and together to make sure that we pull the live off as best we can can people go to that or is that like closed off private event i'll be closed closed can they go to the finale though we're doing fucking what are we doing that 10 fights on that one or 13 fights or something 10 yeah 10 fights two days before the actual finale. Have you reached the point where you stopped wincing every time you watch a hit? Or are you still like, holy fuck?

Tell you what you got to do, Robbie. When you come to one of these things live and you hear how loud these fucking slaps are. I saw some stuff online where people thought we were putting in fake noises for the fucking slaps. We do not. It sounds like cartoon smacks. They really do. It's do not it sounds like cartoon smacks they really do it's insane what it sounds like in the arena that's why i said it's it's also rewired my brain in that i watch some of these guys they're not always the biggest like muscly dudes right so now i'm thinking if i ever need to in a bar fight maybe i don't throw a punch maybe i just throw a

fucking dialed in smack and sleep somebody you know what i'm saying i know what you're saying if you look this kid chris thomas yes he knocks everybody out everybody out and if you saw chris thomas out in the street you would never expect it no but he'll smack your head into another fucking dimension yes it's crazy shit. It is truly you can't look away from it. And what I get wrapped into is the house stuff. When you go back to the house, you watch the antics. It's just like the ultimate fighter.

It unravels into chaos every season and it creates stuff as entertaining as the fights. The one kid saying, like, you know, I got into this because my girlfriend cheated on me. And then I liked this other girl and she left me, too. So now I'm here slapping. I couldn't stop laughing. Yeah, no, it's true, man. And, you know, if you think of all the television shows that Craig Polizian has done in his lifetime, Polizian said that the episode that's coming up this week, episode seven, is the best television show he's seen in two years. Holy shit. Wow. Episode seven. week episode seven is the best television show we've seen in two years holy shit wow episode seven the last of us yeah well that was episode seven this week that was the great thing about

this season too the thing that we knew that we had in our pockets that every episode got better and better and better so the the last episode episode seven is fucking awesome. And it's very structured and edited well, you know, like every episode seems to move along. You don't get bored because you watch a fucking smack and you're like, holy shit, I'm awake again. You know, so true. I love it. It's a one two punch. It's Tony Khan and Dana White on Wednesdays. You got it.

Exactly. And he's been great. He's been great to us. He's a good dude and we appreciate him. All right. There you got it exactly and he's been great he's been great to us he's a good dude and we appreciate him all right there you have it ladies and gentlemen dana white's power slap uh the finale going down march 11th only on rumble so check it out there and some potential big news in the works so stay tuned for that as well always a pleasure my brother reach out to uh lenay if you want to seriously come out and do the ultimate fighter uh i will watch a couple fights and then uh do an interview with connor

i would love to do that me and dave are going to disneyland in a couple days and then maybe after that i'll come out that would be a hell of a one-two punch disney and then some violent fights sounds good you guys are walking right into some shitty fucking weather in california let me tell you no no disney, no. Disney World, I meant. Oh, World. Orlando. So that'll be even better. Probably safe then.

All right. All right. All right. Really appreciate Dana for joining yet again. And stay tuned. I'm already setting up that Las Vegas trip to interview Conor McGregor. I'm definitely taking him up on his offer there. How could I not?

Now, before we get into the next interview with Diamond Dallas Page, I want to tell everyone about GameTime, the exclusive ticketing partner of Barstool Sports. If you don't know already, GameTime, created by fans for fans, is the ticketing app that makes it easier than ever to score last-minute deals on tickets to sports, concerts, shows, and more. They guarantee the lowest price, and they've cracked the code on how to score these deals on last-minute tickets.

Go to Broadway shows with this, Disney on Ice, Harlem Globetrotters are in town. I just saw that. Concerts, obviously, sports. You got hockey going on right now, basketball going on right now. Go to GameTime. I swear, I've used it in the past. It is so easy to use. The purchase process just takes two taps and 10 seconds. Once you buy your tickets, they're also delivered right

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I can't wait to use GameTime more this summer. There's so many good concerts coming to town, and I know I'm going to rely on GameTime for the best deals on last-minute tickets. Now, if you download the Game Time app or go to their website and enter your email, redeem the code MMB for My Mom's Basement, and you'll get $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply, but I want to know what you guys are getting with your $20 off. So use this promo code and then tweet me a screenshot

or even just tell me who you're going to see. I'm very curious who the best tours are this summer, who you think the best tours are this summer. So use that promo code MMB on the Game Time app or on their website. And again, you'll get $20 off that first purchase. Now let's get into this interview with Diamond Dallas Page. Bang! All right, hello and welcome back to My Mom's Basement.

It is Robbie Fox Fox and I am here with the legendary Diamond Dallas Page, DDP. He's in the basement. He's been a long requested guest. People have been telling me you got to get Diamond Dallas Page on the show. So thank you for being here. I really appreciate it. Good to be here, man. I love it. My mom's basement. Yeah. Yeah. We're here to talk about the return of biography, WWE legends on A&E and it will feature a Jake, the snake episode this Sunday, 8 PM. I can't wait. I love this series and I just wanted to thank you for not only being on the show,

but for all the work you've done in helping the legends of this business in retirement. Obviously it was very public with the resurrection of Jake, as we called it. So thank you for that. And I love that Jake is alive and gets to see all his flowers and all his praise in moments like this, right? Oh, 100%. Like, you know, you always say cat's got nine lives. If he had nine lives, he'd be dead. He'd be gone. But Snake's got 13. You know, he's just been able to go through this ride and watch him, like, become the man that he is today. Like, just from his confidence to, you know, I mean, he has,

he's in such demand and he's back with Cheryl, which to me is like the greatest thing of all, because, you know, you look back to the stuff that Cheryl did back with the Rick root angle back in the eighties, you know, and that was electric. And, you know, for them to be back together, you you know this proves anything's possible and i know you and jake have a long-running relationship can you bring me back to the start of that the first time you met jake the snake roberts first time well let's take it to the beginning because for me you know i tried wrestling i was 23 it didn't work out and i got derailed in the bar

business and never went back and then wrestlemania happened and i was so bummed 23 it didn't work out and i got derailed in the bar business and never went back and then wrestlemania happened and i was so bummed that i didn't put that work in you know because i knew i belonged i was gonna i should be there and i stopped watching wrestling until 1986 that was 79 when i tried to wrestle and so the 80s, WrestleMania took off. In 86, I was flipping the channels, and I just happened to stop at WWE and watch this guy walk through the curtain with a bag over his shoulder and a Fu Manchu. And, you know, I'm watching him staunter to the ring,

like with a level of swag and confidence. And like, you know, compelled me to watch him. Okay, who is this guy? And then I watch his work in the ring and I can't see through it. Like, I know I tried this. It was brief and I didn't learn much, but surely it's still the same thing or is there i called my buddy up who started working with me you know who went for his dream being a wrestler he did it two years after i did never went anywhere for him but he got to work a little bit

but i had to call him and say dude did i miss something because i'm watching this guy jake snake robertson his stuff looks real and he goes don't be a mark he's just amazing but to hear him cut the promos and immediately i'm sucked back into the tv because of jake snake roberts and then i became a fan and then one day i've got this big club you know probably about nine months after i first seen him um and i'm in my office place is packed and i might say packed a thousand plus people we got seven bars the place is electric and i was reaching for my keys and on the monitor i see someone because there's a you know a camera at the front door and the back door and I see some guy walk in and I'm like

no way and I start to go to the club but it's so packed I ran around the side like Mickey Mark and got to the front door I go Johnny the guy walk in here look like Jake the Snake Roberts he's like yeah everybody thinks it's him so I run in there and I see him

and I slow down. I don't want to fanboy all over Jake Roberts. And eventually I work my way towards him. Like the place is so crowded. He's waiting for a drink. And I finally get up near him and I go, hey, man, you Jake Roberts? Who wants to know? The guy who runs this place and he said yes what can i do for you i said what are we drinking and it's really funny that you know the resurrection of jake the snake

which is you know now up on amazon prime that the resurrection was all about Jake getting sober and, you know, changing the story, tells himself and turning his life around. But back then when we meet, it's all about getting shit face. Yeah.

And we got so drunk and Jake wanted me to go with him afterwards. Cause he was headed to, uh, that next level of, uh, uh, you know, part partying but by that time i didn't do that anymore and mainly because i saw it ruined so many people's lives about cocaine or whatever came along with that you know that ride where he went to from there but he never paid for

anything and he told all the boys and one night, these guys, let's see, we're going to be right here. These guys roll in the club. And that is me with Luke, the Bushwacker and million dollar man, Ted T.B. I see. And, uh, I'm not diamond Dallas page yet. Yeah. I'm just page J, Page Joseph Falkenberg like everybody, I took care of everybody

so guys were coming in there so I just kind of put them as part of my commercial, oh yeah, don't miss hot legs on Wednesday night you know, might throw some Muck in or some Hulk or Jesse Ventura but I was just playing and it just, all of that spurred me, Jake had come in a couple I thought some Muckin or some Hulk or Jesse Ventura, but I was just playing.

And it just, all of that spurred me. Jake had come in a couple of times. So we got to know each other, you know, drinking buddies. And he had a buddy that he could just go turn to and knew he'd be taken care of. I don't have to deal with it, any garbage, you know? Cause those guys were crazy over at that time, you know? Oh my God, all of them. And you mentioned how good Jake was in the ring. The first time you saw him my god all of them and you mentioned how good jake

was in the ring the first time you saw him he captivated you and i agree i've seen you put jake on your mount rushmore of in-ring workers and i want to know what makes him so great to you was it his master psychology work was it the fundamentals that he was so good at it's not like he was doing you know the top rope planches and crazy dives. He didn't need to. It was all, like you said, it felt real with Jake. It was the storytelling, you know, from the interview to the, well, really,

from the entrance to the work in the ring to the interview. Everything was believable. If Hulk wasn't so huge the man at that time you know in the 80s jake could have taken that spot yeah but would they trusted him with that because they knew back then he already had issues you know so do you go with the guy the golden you know the golden cap do you keep staying with him even though they're all chanting ddt like no one ever really talks about that yeah and you know he's just about to work with him and he's so over he's so believable. And this is what happened in my career too. The diamond cutter was so over that surprise out of nowhere and how I'd come from nowhere.

But I wouldn't come from nowhere. It took me eight years to get there. An eight-year overnight success. And I had Jake Roberts and Dusty Rhodes in my ear the whole time. So it wasn't just I did this. I had incredible mentors. And next thing you know, I go from being a heel to people chanting DDP. It's kind of like weird when you think about it.

DDT is so much like DDP. There was a lot of similarities. And I stole so much stuff from Jake. You know, and he loved it because everything I made my own. You know, it was supposed to be there. It was like God put us together. And you mentioned your mentors, Dusty Rhodes and Jake the Snake Roberts, two of the greatest legends that the business has ever seen. Did they look at the business from a similar mindset and point of view or did they

have very different takes on how to you know navigate the wrestling world i think they had very different takes uh dusty would be he never was mad at me for anything but he was mad at me at times with jake rober Like, why is that drug addict your other mentor? Like, you're putting him on the same level as me. And you know what a really cool part? When he read Positively Page, and I'm talking about Dusty Rhodes, because he read it, he told me he read it three times because he loved the way that book was written because he wanted to tell the stories himself that way and uh he said now i understand your relationship with jake wow that was really cool you know that he got it you know and, Dusty was, I mean, oh, God.

He was, he really loved me and my energy. But he never really stood up as the wrestler until I tore my rotator cuff and spent a year with Jake Roberts. Yeah. You know, independently working and learning and watching tapes and like he said to me when i tore my rotator cuff and he moved in my house for three months i mean charlotte were on the outs at the time and he had said to me like uh i i i said i can't wait to get in the ring with you so you can teach me.

And he said, you already know how to do all the moves. What you don't understand is the psychology. You're going to learn more sitting on the couch, watching your matches with me than you will in the ring with me. And he was partially right about that because I actually did get to work with him a couple of times and I learned a lot from him in the ring but the the mental storytelling was uh you know it all came from him teaching me that that's really awesome and i actually just had cody rhodes on my show and i know you two are very close as well what has it been like for you to have dusty as your mentor and then to watch cody go on this journey you know

all the way up to the royal rumble recently where i saw a picture of you guys backstage together is that so surreal for you not surreal to me it's about time yeah you know i mean one of the things that cody me dusty have is belief in oneself. And no one else has to believe it. Just you. And we all have that. That's a really unique, different thing.

So when Cody left WWE, he just made stupid money. He wasn't a good spot. He's a mid-card guy. But guys made great money because they were drawing, you know? Yeah. So for him to walk away from that, like with no real knowing where it's going to take him, you think you do.

You think you know, but you don't know. And him getting to get together with the Bucks and Kenny, that was all really huge. I mean, you know, I was there for all in, you know, he wanted me to come and walk him to the ring, you know, with some of Dusty's close friends and his, I was both. And I got to remember, I was also there when this kid went 48. No, he told me his sophomore year, I was, I was getting ready to work for New York WWE and I was going to get in the ring and just work off some ring rust

and he'd come out and I always called him Young Buck back then. And I said, so Young Buck, when you start football practice, he was like, I'm not playing this year. I go, what? And Dusty had me come twice to two different teams that he played on to talk to him

because he could get Diamond Dallas Page to show up and uh so i knew he loved football he's like nah he goes not this year i'm gonna be a sophomore you know not this year but next year i'm gonna i'm gonna win the state championship i was like really i go that's a bold statement i say you know what that's gonna to take? And he goes, yeah, work. Like, he got that way back then. And when I was there, we went 48-0. I flew from LA to Atlanta. And the next year, I can't remember if it was 11th or 12th match, he lost.

And I would call him. I'm living in LA. I'm like, hey, young buck, what's up, man? He's like, Dallas, I lost. I lost. And I said call him. I'm living in LA. I'm like, hey, Young Buck, what's up, man? He's like, Dallas, I lost. I lost. And I said, thank God. And he went, what? Why would you say that?

I said, Goat, you don't learn anything from winning. You learn from losing. You learn from falling down, making mistakes. I said, let me ask you, would you rather have been 44-0, met that guy in the quarterfinals of the state's championships, and he beat you then? He's like, hell no. I go, exactly. I said, here's what that guy doesn't understand.

He thinks he beat you. So he thinks he owns you. But he don't know you. What did you learn from that and the biggest thing he learned it would be later nobody wanted to get pinned by cody rhodes so that they didn't go out there to win they went out not to get pinned and once he realized that he'd take him down and once he saw him realizing he's just doing everything they couldn't. He let them go. And he'd stand back up. They'd take him down. And then he'd let them go.

Take them down. Let them go. By this time, they're so blown up, bam, he pins them. And he went straight to the state championship. I was there with my daughter, Brittany. And he got on that mat. And you have five people that your family can family can be on this can only be family and he said dad get dallas down here and i came down and grandpa had to leave and uh watched him

go against the same kid that beat him and he ate him alive that That's an incredible story. I've known who that kid is forever, you know, and he's got a different belief system, but it's all wrapped around not just belief but work, you know. So, you know, going to the Rumble and now, I mean, coming back from that peck, if that didn't get him more over, like, Tony Khan did not realize what he lost. Because, and not as the worker, because he's great, and obviously he's going for the universal title, the top title in the business. Not for that.

It was for his storytelling. Think of the guys that Cody either put over or went to a draw. Darby Allin. Whoever heard of Darby Allin? Cody goes 20 minutes with him in a draw. MJF. He brought MJF in. Yeah. a draw you know mjf he brought mjf in yeah i mean bringing uh if if cody would have been booking they never would have screwed up wardlow because he was goldberg hot

goldberg hot you don't fuck with that because that don't happen you know that don't happen but it was and now you know it is what it is yo i i really like tony a lot but he let a key person he forgot who that person was so that is what it is so we've talked a lot lot about Jake the Snake Roberts today and Dusty Rhodes and even Cody Rhodes. I would love to talk about Diamond Dallas Page and ask you as a huge fan of your wrestling career and specifically all the variations of the Diamond Cutter. Do you have one that sticks out as your favorite variation? You know, I don't, but I have a couple like the one with big show which kept chokeslamming up the top rope and going into the finish turning i'm in gutter eddie guerrero came up to me one night when i was getting ready to do the thing with baloney rodman and hulk and he goes d he goes

i got a new one he goes let's do it out of a powerbomb. And like Eddie Guerrero was one of the greatest athletes ever. And I'm like, out of the powerbomb? I go, how do we do that? He goes, don't pull me straight up. He goes, roll me up on your shoulder. So I pick him up, and he's laying on my shoulder, and he's like backbending.

His head's over here, his feet's over there and i go what do i do now he goes boost me and i went and he just flipped and slid down on my back right on his feet right eddie could have been a olympic gymnast him ray you know ray mysterio those guys just were such unbelievable athletes ray still is i don still is how he's going he's still going it's unbelievable because i watched him fly through the air and i mean through the air like 15 feet here and land on the railing like a number of times uh does it but eddie when he dropped behind me i went wow if we could nail that and that was picture perfect that that because no one's like oh he's going for a powerbomb no he's going for a diving gun

i was like that's my favorite he was amazing um is it you know that's probably got to be the top you know top one but i love a giant one and goldberg yeah because goldberg you know that should have been to me you know for me personally at that time like i was so hot at that time that it would have been believable if i would have beat him with a diamond cutter and would have taken that character to another level just like it did with savage but it also wouldn't hurt bill and i could have put bill over the following monday or the following pay-per-view rematch you know and of course you'd be and then you know it would have been to me for me personally at that time not that it wasn't done the right way uh could it was it was different you know it was just a different way to do it that you know i'm sure bill was not a big fan of you know so i love that one and i also love there's a classic jericho one where

he goes to throw a kick you spin around for the diamond cutter that was a classic or again another ridiculous athlete jericho has had the run that he's had like to me him and sting you know are like the guys you know like but chris is working singles on top all around those two guys have lasted the longest but chris you know he's like the rick flair of of the generation you saw rick flair in the 70s and the 80s and the 90s and 2000s. You saw Ric Flair forever, and Jericho's in that spot. You know, he did come on at the end of the 80s as a kid, and then 90s and 2000, 2010, now 2020. And he's still working on top,

and he's still believable as hell out there. And who gets an entrance like chris jericho when they stop the music everyone sings your song until they stop yeah and it's the song he debuts you know 30 years into his career it's not even like it's a classic song that's been around forever it was a new song that got over right yeah you know what i'm sitting next to the guy right now nathan maury who directed that video in the ddp yoga performance center oh wow that was shot in the performance center hey nathan how many how many how many views does it have now 60 million views not bad eh not bad another song that i'd like to ask you about is your old theme song self high five selfishly i'm a huge nirvana fan i've got a kurt cobain phone case i've got the

same poster up there right so i want to know this was commonplace for wcw at the time to kind of rip off popular songs did you have a say on what song your theme would be based on or at least what band your theme would be you know in the realm of no one gave a shit about me then you know what i mean uh i was the you know the top maybe the top of the bottom the bottom of the of the middle maybe you know and jimmy hart loved my energy and he loved my workout and he was like diamond we need to come up with a new song for you you should come down to tampa so it's like okay and we got he goes think about what you want to do and it was really a choice of two nirvana songs that i that that was it was uh what was the other one that was really hot too that I can't remember the name right now? That Come As You Are.

Come As You Are. Come As You Are. I thought about doing that one. But there was just something about Smells Like Extinct Spirit that just stuck with me. I thought those guys were amazing. And look at the freaking career that David's had. You know, like everywhere. And I think they need to do a Super Bowl commercial.

You know what I mean? Nobody can be hotter than David Grohl right now. But being able to do that. And Jimmy, I said, how do we get to do that? And he goes, we just reverse the notes. It'll sound very similar, but we reverse the notes. And what's really funny is that when me and raven i was trying i'm on you know beat savage you know i'm bringing again a few year in 1997 and now i

want to work with rave because i love raven and his work was he was very similar to jake you know what i mean and i really wanted to elevate him. And also Benoit. You know, that triple threat match that we had was unbelievable. I wanted to elevate both of those guys within our company and make them. And so we shot this thing on MTV because I had a bunch of influences. With MTV, let me see if i can see a picture of this guy this guy right here when i managed this guy right here and his name is smitty

and um that's a 62 pink cadillac and i had known this guy named joe davola and do you remember in seinfeld they would talk about crazy joe davola yeah that's the joe davola come on swear to god and i was back in the club days before i'm doing any wrestling stuff at all and we opened up this club and i said, I got on the microphone and I said, everybody check out MTV because I'm going to get Smitty on MTV. He was a visual comedian. He did the curly shuffle. It was a show called putting on the hits and they would do lip sync to songs.

The Michael Jackson guy, he looked like curly from the three students. And I brought him to, I told everybody watch MTV. You're going to see Smitty on MTV. And the night before we went out, he was dressed like Curly with a little hat and a bow tie and a white shirt. And everyone's like, oh my God, the guy from Putting on the Hits. So I realized, wow, a lot of people know who he is. Kids, you you know because that was a kid's show putting on the heads so i paid the dj 20 bucks to play the curly shuffle where i saw cameras come out from mtv

they ran to him because all the kids ran to him and he's singing along you know lip syncing along doing that and you know all the you know spinningack, yack, and all the, woo, you know, spinning around and people going crazy. MTV filmed it, and this guy Joe DiVolo came up to Smitty and said, what else do you do? He goes, talk to my manager. And long story short, frigging, I got Smitty'd all over MTV over the next four years,

and I wanted to make him the MTV wrestler and me be his manager. That's how it all started, of something in my brain that maybe I could make happen. And a guy named Doug Herzog, who was the president, would go on to be the CEO of Fox and everything. But Doug Herzog at the time was the president of MTV. And he said, no, I like the idea, but it's not something that we really want to be a part of. And I asked Smitty if he wanted to do this wrestling thing,

and he's like, no, I'm not really into it. And I go, you know, I'm going to mention everybody else, and I'm going to live this journey. Right on up to getting, it took three and a half years to get to WCW, and at some point they were like we can't have you manage anymore because you know i'm like why i go i what did i do wrong i'll fix it you didn't do anything wrong but you can't really fix it why because it's you what do you What do you mean it's me? It's the hair, it's the clothes, it's the bling, it's the diamond dolls. It's like, no one wants to stop paying attention to the

wrestler. And Scott Hall warned me about it. But I thought I knew everything at that time. And he was right. And now they let they wouldn't let me manage anymore. But they did let me do color commentating. And I had seven months left of my contract. I was 35 and a half. That's when I decided I'm going to be a wrestler. Michael P.S. Hayes fell down laughing in my face. And that was in 1991. In 1996, he called me after a match that Sting and I had and put me over huge.

That's really awesome. All right. Well, thank you, Dallas, for doing the show today. I really appreciate the time being able to pick your brain about these legends, about your own career as well. Obviously, the show that we were promoting today, the Jake the Snake biography special, will be on A&E on Sunday. It's going to be an awesome show WWE rivals right after that so look out for it again DDP thank you so much anybody pleasure man see ya