Changing lives for the better: WWE Hall of Famer-elect Diamond Dallas Page's amazing exercise program

“I honestly believed that I would always get what I want in life, as long as I helped others get what they want. It’s what my life is about. And right now, I’m the busiest I’ve ever been.”

In the year 2017, Diamond Dallas Page certainly has everything he wants. And, true to form, he did so by changing many lives for the better.

You may have heard of DDP Yoga. As its previous branding of ‘yoga for regular guys’ suggests, the fitness and physical therapy program sought to enlighten the sizeable portion of the world who assumed yoga wasn’t their thing – just like it did for Page himself, when his wrestling career was in jeopardy thanks to mounting injuries.

Page’s particular style is the polar opposite of what a non-practitioner usually assumes when they hear the word ‘yoga’. So much so, in fact, that the man himself doesn’t like hearing it referred to as ‘yoga’.

“Plenty of stereotypical ultra-masculine males, especially age 28 and up, aren’t comfortable with the concept of yoga,” Page told Yahoo Sport UK.

“Under 28, funnily enough, the numbers are pretty strong – they’re down with yoga.

“But I can completely relate to the misconceptions of what yoga is, because that was me, once upon a time.

“If I could go back in time, maybe I’d have changed the name not to include yoga.

“My brand of yoga is nothing like what people think they’re gonna do when they hear that word. If yoga is on one side of the planet, DDP Yoga is on the other!”

Much like with Page’s previous career as a professional wrestler for WCW and WWE, his unwavering work ethic and desire are the life force of his venture, rewarding a ‘never-say-die’ attitude to realising your goals.

Said Page: “Our biggest market is people who have tried everything – whether it’s to lose weight or to heal injuries or walk without a cane again or whatever – and none of that worked for them.

“As a wrestler, I made one fan at a time. I wasn’t an overnight sensation but I won people over. And DDP Yoga is doing the same thing.

“Once people see second-hand what my program can do, it opens their eyes. Over a quarter of our subscribers come via friends and family.

“The results are making people say ‘wow!’ and the word of mouth is spreading.”

Though there has been resounding commercial success via DDP Yoga for thousands of people both in the United States and across the globe, it’s the more noteworthy success stories of the program that have touched the hearts of millions on social media.

War veteran Arthur Boorman’s extraordinary recovery continues to inspire people to use DDP Yoga to this day, and Page’s work helping fellow wrestlers Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts and Scott ‘Razor Ramon’ Hall made him the toast of the wrestling community.

Both Roberts and Hall were shells of their prime selves thanks to battles with addiction and personal turmoil, but were able to get sober and back into respectable physical shape after moving in with Page and following the program.

Docu-film ‘The Resurrection of Jake The Snake’ chronicled the trials and tribulations of all three under one roof, and culminated in clean Scott and Jake being inducted into WWE’s Hall of Fame.

Many felt DDP’s help saved the lives of his mentor and his longtime colleague and friend, so talk of a HOF induction for Page inevitably followed.

“People have always asked me about the Hall of Fame,” Page, who turns 61 next week, explained. “But until guys like ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts and Michael ‘PS’ Hayes were inducted, I was never in any rush.

“I knew that once those top guys, those really deserving guys, were in, that if the day ever came when I got the call it’d be the biggest moment of my career.”

All three of those wrestling icons are indeed now in the Hall of Fame, as far many others who help add an air of legitimacy that wasn’t quite there several years prior.

And this coming weekend in Orlando, Florida, Page joins the illustrious ranks two days before WWE’s annual Wrestlemania extravaganza takes place in the city.

Many who have followed his career since becoming an active wrestler at the relatively-ripe age of 35 would argue the ‘George Foreman of wrestling’ – as a man who like George won over his fiercest critics, reached the pinnacle of his profession in his 40s against the odds and went on to even greater success in other ventures – is one of the most deserving guys yet to be ushered in.

The honour comes in the same year a biopic looking at Page’s work, Positively Living, is released. And the two monumental moments dovetailed wonderfully, thanks to his crew.

“I was filming ‘Positively Living’ late last year in my home town of Jersey when I got the call from Paul (Levesque, AKA Triple H, COO of WWE),” DDP explained.

“I had tried to get in touch with him a few times in the weeks before that, and when he finally caught me on a call-back attempt I couldn’t remember what it was I needed to talk to him about in the first place!

“I’m letting him talk as I try to remember what it was I wanted to discuss with him, and he’s getting really deep on me. About how we go way back when we worked for WCW together in the early 90s and were both starting out as wrestlers, and then about how much he admired my work ethic.

“And it’s at this point, as he’s really starting to go on, I realise what’s happening and ask myself: is this the call?

“I didn’t think it could have been at first, since we were in October and they don’t usually finalise these things until January. But it was the call. And when he asked, I got super choked up.

“It was not long after that when I found out that Mike, the producer for my biopic, was all set up already to film both sides of the phone call, and that’s basically going to be the end of the film.

“I got that call early because Mike had arranged for it to be captured for the bio. So the fans will get to see the emotion for themselves at the end of Positively Living.”

By his own admission, Page may never experience a better calendar year than 2017. But as long as DDP Yoga continues to grow, he will have work to do. And he’s relishing what else the future may hold.

You’d expect nothing less from a man who, in his own words, has achieved so much by helping others.

One of those future goals will be to continue to lend support to his brothers and sisters in the wrestling industry. With so many stars of the 1980s and beyond dying at a very young age due to alcohol abuse, drug abuse and serious wear and tear on their bodies, Page’s role at the forefront of the battle against pro wrestling’s demons is an extremely important one.

He has been working with fellow former WWE and WCW star Vader, a masked behemoth who worked with many of the top protagonist performers of the 1990s, after the 61-year-old was told by doctors he may have less than two years to live if he doesn’t lose considerable weight.

Not only that, but Page has also helped relatively-healthy current stars such as 46-year-old Chris Jericho get into perhaps their best-ever shape, and as a result Jericho to name but one will be in one of Wrestlemania’s marquee matches the very weekend in Orlando ‘the master of the Diamond Cutter’ enters the Hall of Fame.

As for a UK tour? He’s been over before, but he plans to do it in style within the next 12 months.

“I hope to bring the program and the tour over to the UK in early 2018,” Page confirmed to Yahoo.

“I’ve already been talking to promoters and such about making it a reality.

“The thing is, I don’t want to come over for a whirlwind week, rush through a few cities then hop on a plane back to the States.

“It’d have to be the real deal – 2-3 weeks, DDP Yoga workshops and Q&As, all over from London to Manchester, Scotland to Ireland.

“I want to do the whole thing and do it properly.”

If Page is able to bring DDP Yoga live to Britain next year and help change even more lives for the better, it may not be able to top his incredible 2017 but it will run it pretty close.

For information on how to purchase DDP Yoga, the DDP Yoga Now smartphone app and details on the Positively Living biopic, visit https://ddpyoga.com/.