The DDP/Johnny B. Badd feud of 95-96

[Guest Loss]

10/29/95 - Diamond Dallas Page v Johnny B. Badd (Halloween Havoc)

11/26/95 - Diamond Dallas Page v Johnny B. Badd (World War 3)

02/11/96 - Diamond Dallas Page v Johnny B. Badd (SuperBrawl)

 

What an underpimped feud and an underpimped series of matches! Granted, these aren't hidden classics, but that's not really important -- what is important is that you can see both wrestlers improve with every match. Page was just coming into his own around this time. He won the TV title in September and the October match was his first major title defense. He also had a beautiful valet and had won $13 million in the lottery in an angle that was admittedly corny. The point was made, though, that Page was improving and life was finally throwing him something other than a curveball. Even winning the TV title is far more than anyone ever expected him to achieve at this point in time. Johnny B. Badd had been slowly transforming into a more serious wrestler over the previous year after holding his own against veterans like Arn Anderson. Even though he lost the TV title, he made a good showing. He had been where Page already was, and after winning a US title shot in a memorable match against Brian Pillman (on the same night Page won his first championship of any kind), he was also finding himself more successful than many had ever expected him to be. The setup for the match was that on the night Badd was to get his US title shot against Sting, he no-showed and Pillman ended up getting the shot anyway. We would find out later in the show, in an angle run by countless promoters countless times, that Page had slashed Badd's tires and as a result, he missed his opportunity. With that, the stage for the match was set. DDP's character as the Trailer Trash Gone Legit works well because it's believable.

 

The Halloween Havoc match was surprisingly good. The opening sequence was one where a Johnny B. Badd lookalike walked backwards to the ring, distracting Page long enough for the real Badd to come through the crowd and blindside him. It popped the crowd, but it would have worked even better had Tony Schiavone not given it away on commentary. The first minute of the match sees Page almost immediately take two huge bumps -- one from the ring to the floor and another back over the guardrail. Amidst the brawl at ringside, Badd puts a bucket on Page's head and starts smashing it in a terrific comedy spot. They don't really do a bang-up job of building on the momentum the opening sequence gave them, as they immediately do a criss-cross sequence when they return to the ring, but they fix the problem soon enough. They seem to have a fairly good command of the basics; they work an extended armbar sequence, but they do enough busy-body things to keep it interesting and keep the crowd involved before transitioning into Page taking control. He excels here, and even puts some nice mid-range offense out there, most notably a move the announcers refer to as a pancake, where he drops Badd from a piledriver position into a facebuster. He works the chinlock a little too long for my tastes, but he's quick to try something different, as they tease a Badd comeback with him attempting to power out, only for Page's ringside second Maxx Muscle to give Page illegal leverage to keep the hold locked in. There's even a mild Memphis flavor here, with him choking Badd out with his wrist tape while the referee is distracted. They do a nice job of paying off the sequence with Page unable to reach Maxx for a second time, leaving himself open for a belly-to-belly suplex. Badd's comeback is good, but Page in control was much better. Badd pulls out some nice moves for the time, including a flying headscissors, a somersault pescado, a slingshot splash, a flying double axehandle and even a Liger bomb, but flying was about the only thing he really did all that well. Page continues to impress though, turning a normal hiptoss attempt into a bulldog. They tried a little too hard at the end, doing a finish that was a little too complex for such a basic match, but this was still a surprisingly decent effort. Badd wins the TV title here.

 

The World War 3 match sees a stipulation where Kimberly will be allowed to leave Page's side if Badd wins the match. The crowd has really taken to the feud by this point, as both Page and Badd get strong heat for their entrances, and Kimberly gets a huge pop. Immediately, DDP gets cocky and tries to bully Badd, which causes a nice brawl. Page stooges like crazy here, talking smack and begging off almost constantly. The "start off with something wild before settling into a match" formula seems to be working for them, and the opening segment in this match was probably better than the one at Havoc. The hair pulling game starts again, although this time, it's not done as well. There are a few times I think that Page is going to go one direction where he doesn't capitalize. He starts stomping on Badd's arm and hand after yanking him to the ground, which would have been a perfect attempt to neutralize the power of the punch, but they really didn't go there, and there are a few times where Page seems to be drawing a blank on what to do. He redeems himself by pulling out a great counter for Badd's headscissors and doing more high-quality stooging, the highlight of which is Badd tripping him to avoid getting kicked in the gut. This match, unlike the Havoc match, is at its best when it's back and forth. The finishing moments are terrific and contain some awesome nearfalls, all of which the crowd totally buys and which includes some cool moves from both guys, including a nice recovery from Page after he almost botches a rotation bomb. They did try too much here at times, but the match is fascinating to watch because it's almost like you're actually watching them learn as they work. This match presents a good case against those who say that DDP can't work a good match unless everything is laid out in advance.

 

At this point, Page has lost his title and his woman, and now he's putting his money on the line because he wants to win that TV title back so badly. The improvement in both is very evident in this one, and there are some great, traditional babyface/heel exchanges, as the battle of strong wills ensues -- Page wants a reverse chinlock, Badd wants an armbar and neither is really willing to settle for anything less. Badd always had nice spots, but he tries a few new things here, including a gorgeous hammerlock floatover into an armdrag. There is a little sloppiness when they attempt a criss-cross sequence, but it ends with a really good stun gun, and it's so obvious they're working hard and getting better with every performance that many of the flaws are easily overlooked. Page executes a fantastic gutbuster and DDT off the ropes, but sometimes, he stalls too much afterwards. He's more aggressive here than he's been in the other matches because he has so much to lose. There was a really nice simple sequence here with Badd attempting to come back from a chinlock and Page actually sitting on the top rope to keep him in the hold. As is the case in all of their matches, the final stretch of nearfalls is terrific. Now, Page has lost his title, his woman and his fortune. The plan before Mero left WCW was for the two to have another match at the next PPV where DDP would put his career on the line and lose that too, only to return in a couple of months with a renewed push, and that did end up happening, but Mero wasn't around for that part. These matches aren't great, as I said, but if you enjoy watching wrestlers learn and evolve, you can't really go wrong with this series.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Was this when DDP inherited a bunch of money from some secret relative?

[Guest Loss]

Was this when DDP inherited a bunch of money from some secret relative?

It wasn't a secret relative. He won $13 million in the lottery with a bingo card he stole from Kimberly, who was his valet at the time.

 

You may be thinking of the period where he had a benefactor in May of 1996 whose identity was never revealed. After Page lost his money and his woman and his belt and pretty much everything, this mysterious person was supposed to be helping him get back on his feet.

[Vern Gagne 0]

That's it. Man, they where such different storylines.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I only had Worldwide at the time, and since this feud was featured prominently on it, I thought it was one of the main WCW programs. I never got to see any big stars (aside from Flair) until Nitro started airing up here in early 1996. At least I got to see a lot of Benoit/Pillman tag matches.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

"We would find out later in the show, in an angle run by countless promoters countless times, that Page had slashed Badd's tires and as a result, he missed his opportunity."

 

I remember a couple years ago watching a tape of old Florida wrestling stuff and being surprised to see an angle with the Freebirds and Austin Idol that involved the same exact thing.

[Guest Pariah]

That was a great recap of a feud that I had only seen brief clips of before, thanks a lot for that Loss. It sounds like a great midcard feud, however I'm surprised to hear that DDP was going to lose the career match as well, a victory there for DDP would surely make the more sensible blow off?

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

This somehow turned into a Booty Man/DDP issue while Mero lost the belt to tweener Luger, correct? (Badd/Luger may have even traded the belt)

[Guest Loss]

Right. The Booty Man basically ended up taking the spot Mero was originally supposed to have, just to finish out the feud.

 

Luger won the TV title on a house show on 02/17/96 and lost it back to Badd the following night. Luger won it again on 03/06/96 in what was probably Mero's last match with the company.

[Enigma 0]

Right. The Booty Man basically ended up taking the spot Mero was originally supposed to have, just to finish out the feud.

 

Luger won the TV title on a house show on 02/17/96 and lost it back to Badd the following night. Luger won it again on 03/06/96 in what was probably Mero's last match with the company.

I was at the Saturday Night taping where Badd had his last WCW match, jobbing the TV Title to Luger.

 

We got fucked over hard on that show. They were advertising Ric Flair vs. Sting for the WCW Title in the main event, and instead we got some crappy asshole 8-man tag match and it was like Flair, Arn Anderson, Kevin Sullivan, & Loch Ness vs. Sting, Lex Luger, and The Steiner Brothers.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Max: That's ashame you had four flat tires.

Badd: FOUR FLAT TIRES?!? I said A FLAT TIRE!!! (punches out DDP)

Okerlund: Ohhhhhhhhh!!!!!

[1234-5678 0]

Was this when DDP inherited a bunch of money from some secret relative?

It wasn't a secret relative. He won $13 million in the lottery with a bingo card he stole from Kimberly, who was his valet at the time.

 

You may be thinking of the period where he had a benefactor in May of 1996 whose identity was never revealed. After Page lost his money and his woman and his belt and pretty much everything, this mysterious person was supposed to be helping him get back on his feet.

In his book, he says the mysterious benefactor was Kimberly.

 

Funny how Ted DiBiase debuted with WCW that summer in the NWO. If there were no NWO, this would've been the perfect spot for him.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

Does this beat the epic "Baddblaster" fued with Max Payne?

 

"Give it back!"

"Give it back!"

 

"You want it, you got it!" *POOF*

 

ERIC B: "OH...OH MY GAWD....HIS FACE!"

 

 

"Consider it returned, Badd"

[Jericholic82 0]

And the reason Page returned in may 96 was that he found in a loophole in the uncensored contract, since the original match was him vs badd with his career on the line, since badd couldnt wrestle there, the contrcat was void so the booty man match never had that clause . at least this is how I remember the storyline

 

in fact before uncensroed, ddp was so ppor he had to sell his tights to a jobber. at uncensored he wearing old, ripped tights with holes in them. he came back, backed by his benefactor and won the battlebowlmatch at slamboree (and the battlebowl ring, which he proceeded to defend against marcus bagwell and hacskaw jim duggan, before losing it to eddy guerrero at the aug 96 clash)

 

anyhow that was a great recap of a feud that I enjoyed during its run

[Guest Loss]

That was one of the things I loved about that feud. You'd have a jobber out there in an unrelated match and then pick up on the fact that he was wearing DDP's wrestling gear because DDP sold it to him. Awesome stuff.

 

DDP even worked an angle with Pro Wrestling Illustrated around this time where he came to them begging for work and got fired after one day because of his attitude.

[Jericholic82 0]

That was one of the things I loved about that feud. You'd have a jobber out there in an unrelated match and then pick up on the fact that he was wearing DDP's wrestling gear because DDP sold it to him. Awesome stuff.

 

DDP even worked an angle with Pro Wrestling Illustrated around this time where he came to them begging for work and got fired after one day because of his attitude.

ah yes I remember that PWI issue clasic stuff

[MillenniumMan831 0]

And the reason Page returned in may 96 was that he found in a loophole in the uncensored contract, since the original match was him vs badd with his career on the line, since badd couldnt wrestle there, the contrcat was void so the booty man match never had that clause .  at least this is how I remember the storyline

They said the contract stated that if Page didn't win the TV Title, his career would be over. Since Booty Man wasn't the TV Champion there was no way Page could win the belt so he was reinstated.

[Jericholic82 0]

And the reason Page returned in may 96 was that he found in a loophole in the uncensored contract, since the original match was him vs badd with his career on the line, since badd couldnt wrestle there, the contrcat was void so the booty man match never had that clause .  at least this is how I remember the storyline

They said the contract stated that if Page didn't win the TV Title, his career would be over. Since Booty Man wasn't the TV Champion there was no way Page could win the belt so he was reinstated.

oh ok , thanks for the info.

[Guest Mos_Def]

Good post. Had Mero not ripped up his knee in early 97, that feud probably would have been looked upon more fondly as both were lost before the program, but they both came out of it with new found momentum.

 

Sad as it is to say, I think Foley was engaging in some petty jealousy in his book over money issues, because Mero was the shit in 1996. Mero’s rise in the WWF could have coincided DDP's rise had that injury not cut him short.