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What's the story?
WWE and WCW legend Diamond Dallas Page was in conversation with Joe Rogan on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience recently. You can listen to the full episode here.
During the conversation, the topic of concussions and brain trauma came up and DDP had an interesting anecdote to narrate, while explaining the proper way to hit your opponent with a steel chair, so as to not cause serious injuries.
In case you didn’t know…
DDP was one of the biggest stars in WCW during the late '90s where he was a former 3-time World Heavyweight Champion, 2-time United States Champion and 4-time Tag Team Champion.
After WCW went under, Page went on to immediately sign with WWE. His first storyline in WWE was an uncomfortable watch, where he was revealed as the stalker of The Undertaker's wife Sara. Sadly, he could not reach the same level in the company as he did back in WCW, just winning the European and the Tag Team Championships once each. He was inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017.
The heart of the matter
On the podcast, Page went on to narrate an incident surrounding a tag team match back in 1998 where he teamed up with Karl Malone to take on Hulk Hogan and Denise Rodman. Since Malone and Rodman were not actual professional wrestlers, they were not exactly aware of how exactly a chair shot should be executed.
DDP explained that a chair shot should always be hit with the chair perfectly flat, and stated how he demonstrated the same to Rodman before their segment. He says that he showed Rodman how, if the chair was at an angle such that the railing of the chair made contact with the body instead of the flat portion, it might end up breaking DDP's ribs. Fortunately, the former Basketball player executed the shot perfectly, according to Page.
What's next?
WWE banned chair shots to the head around 2010, after the dangers of concussions came to light and it is unlikely that it will be allowed ever again keeping in mind the safety of the wrestlers.
However, chair shots to the back and ribs are still allowed and thanks to DDP, we now understand that even those can be extremely dangerous if not done perfectly!
