CBS Washington’s Chuck Carroll sat down with WWE Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page to talk about the current state of WWE, including their upcoming TV deals, in addition to Ronda Rousey’s status with the WWE including her upcoming title shot.

On WWE’s potential new television deals….

“Wrestling is cyclical. And if you look at the 80s, it had an unbelievable run and then it just fell down. 90s had the biggest run ever, because of the Monday Night Wars. People would say, “Do you think you’ll ever see that again?” I say to them, “You’ll never see it like that again.” See Vince [McMahon] has mainstreamed the television. And he’s the taken the wrestle and over the last 20 years made him a superstar not a wrestler. And the biggest star in the world is who? Is The Rock. Then out of wrestling the next guy would be John Cena. And then maybe Dave Bautista, because what he did in the wrestling world, but what he’s doing in Hollywood. He is an A List actor, now so is John.

You’re gonna see a lot of guys come out of that. You’re gonna see The Miz come out at some point and have a hell of a film career. Cody Rhodes just got five episodes coming up on The Arrow. He’s mainstreamed the boys, and the girls. Because it’s not like these crazy ratings that they had. We had better ratings than they had back in the day. But it’s more mainstream audience, so it’s a way more valuable audience.

So no, I’m not surprised at all. I’m super happy because they’re getting these kind of money numbers from the television and they own the network, the WWE Network. So owning your own channel on a spot where you’ve got it 24/7 and we’re talking about creating your own channel. Just like I did with DDP Yoga. My DDP Yoga channel with my DDPY workouts, it’s my own channel. And I’m constantly putting money into making it better. I’m like over $2 million into my DDP Yoga Now App, which is insane. And no one, and that’s including Beach Body or anybody else is doing it the way we’re doing it.”

On if contract values will go up with the influx of cash coming in….

“I imagine. It always goes from the top down. It’s the same thing in football. Who makes all the money on the team? The quarterback makes the most money.

And then it works its way to the running backs, and then key defensive players. But it’s the standouts that make the most money. And your guys at the bottom, they make a living. And it’s still a ton of money, but the guys who really work hard. And I’ll give you names. Anywhere from Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Derek Brooks, the 11-time All Pro linebacker for Tampa Bay. He’s not broke, nowhere near it. Because he worked his (butt) off. And he realized coming down, now you’re not gonna make millions of dollars anymore, how do you adjust, how do you get into other businesses that start to build those business while you’re doing your, while your name means something.”

On Ronda Rousey Getting A Title Shot This Early…

“My opinion is, I think she’s gonna draw. I haven’t been watching enough to see her work, but I know what she did at WrestleMania and she killed it. So I think the girls are so good today. One of the things when you’re a great worker like a lot of these young ladies today, from Bailey to The Boss Sasha Banks. Charlotte’s one of the best athletes in the company. When they get there and they realize you’re in a feud with Ronda Rousey, guess what, you just got mainstream attention.

That’s gonna hold on for a while. Because I would never even push Ronda out of maybe doing a comeback [in UFC]. And guess what. She’s still a draw. She wouldn’t come back and go right against the champion, but she’d go out there and everybody would want to tune in. So don’t discount that either.”

 

Check out the entire interview HERE or by clicking the source link below.