Torch editor Wade Keller answers: The story as he remembers isn't at all accurate. The person who wrote those things about DDP was Mark Madden, a columnist for PWTorch Newsletter at the time. DDP, as he has said numerous times in our recent interviews, and I always got along since we were both around near the start of our respective careers in the AWA. The idea that DDP called me and suddenly I "was digging Page," as Triple H said, is just not at all how things happened. First of all, the Torch doesn't speak with one voice. I was an advocate of DDP pretty early once he started showing he could be a great common man babyface character to go opposite of the NWO. All of the back issues of PWTorch Newsletter lay this out.
In fact, at one point I compared DDP's rise in WCW to Steve Austin's the WWF. Of course Austin was a much more well-rounded wrestler and would go on to greater heights, but both WCW and the WWF at that point needed fresh babyfaces who fans saw as "one of them," and when DDP had that series of really good career-making matches with Randy Savage, that's when I really began to get behind him. The idea that a phone conversation made me "dig DDP" is pretty lame. My "digging DDP" coincided with his hard work and opportunity leading to a successful push and a hot series of matches. My "digging DDP" coincided with a lot of other people suddenly seeing DDP in new light and complimenting him, too - those people did not have a conversation with DDP. (I also "flipped" on my opinion of Triple H work in the ring when it got better; it didn't take a phone conversation or "being charmed" by him. What it took was his changing the pace of his work in the ring which coincided with his getting over with fans and becoming an effective main event wrestler instead of that guy with all the potential who just wasn't getting over with fans.)
Also, if I have a rep for anything, it's for ruining "friendships" or turning away people who think they've "worked me" by speaking the truth as I see it despite their being friendly to me or providing me with information. It's one of the reasons three of Triple H's best friends in the industry have given me the longest interviews they've ever done. Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman have each done ten-plus hours of interviews with me. Funny thing is, I've ripped on all of them, including Waltman who is on my PWTorch Livecast tomorrow. They all understand it's my job to give opinions, and as long as there's no malice or a disregard for fairness, they are man enough to take it. There have been times in history where a wrestler has called me and it's changed my perspective on things based on new information, but nobody's ever "charmed me" on the phone and suddenly they went from a waste of time and total crap to being saviors who do wonderful work. I have nearly 26 years of a track record of the opposite being the case, and Triple H disrespectfully disregarded that based on one anecdote he remembers totally wrong.
What's frustrating is that sometimes people like Triple H think "the dirt sheets" or "the Internet" speak with one voice. PWTorch itself doesn't even speak with one voice, and I certainly don't want to be grouped in with the conventional wisdom of "the Internet" when it comes to certain things, including what Triple H complained about in the next paragraph - that the Internet makes him out to be evil and out to kill careers. I take heat for it, but nobody has defended Triple H and The Clique more than I have. Not blindly and not without some qualifications, but the notion that The Clique killed careers that could have blossomed if not for Triple H and his buddies sabotaging them has been debunked by me more than anyone the last 15 years, most recently including when I challenged Bob Holly on that assertion he made in his book in an interview I did with him on the PWTorch Livecast recently. So it's ironic he'd complain about people misconstruing his role behind the scenes, while the one thing he said about me was badly botched by attributing to me something someone else wrote.
Such a great mind for the business. Allstate Paul, we in good hands
