Diamond Dallas Page’s greatest gift to wrestling fans unfolded years after he stepped away from the ring. That’s because his DDP Yoga program literally saved the lives of fellow legends Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Scott Hall.

Page’s journey from reaching out to Roberts and Hall at the height of their addictions to seeing both men healthier, sober and in the WWE Hall of Fame is chronicled in the documentary The Resurrection of Jake the Snake. You don’t have to be a fan of wrestling’s 1980s or ‘90s boom periods to be moved by the film—or sold on the effectiveness of DDP Yoga. If the film doesn’t drive that point home, there’s numerous testimonies online in support of DDP Yoga—the disabled vet who regained his ability to walk is as miraculous and heart-warming as Roberts and Hall’s stories.

Long before building a program that’s given numerous longshots new leases on life, Page had his own unlikely journey from a 35-year-old rookie wrestler to a 42-year-old world champion in the heat of the war between WCW and WWE. Page recently chatted with Myspace about his wrestling career, dreaming big and his relationship with the late Dusty Rhodes.

Your wrestling career started in your 30s, which wasn’t typical at the time and still isn’t.

It’ll never be.

Surely you had doubters, even among your friends. Did you have be goal-oriented to make it happen?

Are you serious? They laughed at me. Of course I doubted myself. Could I really do it? You have to envision the ending. You have to keep your feet on the ground but keep reaching for the stars. I’d rather shoot for stars and miss than shoot for the curb and hit it.

When you first started in the ‘80s as a manager and an announcer, were you interested in being a wrestler but hadn’t taken that step? Or did you decide over time to make the jump.

I wanted to wrestle since I was a kid. I tried it at 22, and it didn’t work out for me. Then I came back at 31 as a manager when I was running night clubs. I was Diamond Dallas Page back then. I was living the life—booze, broads, and the party. I made the party happen. At some point, I got the opportunity to go to WCW. It took three and a half years, but at 35 I got a shot. When I got there as a manager and color commentator, I was one of Dusty Rhodes’ protégés. But he never saw me as a wrestler, you know. He never saw that part of me. About five months in, they wouldn’t let me manage guys because of the long hair and the rap and the diamonds and the Diamond Dolls. No one was paying attention to the wrestler. They paid attention to me and what I was doing. That’s not really good because the wrestler draws the money. The manager doesn’t… I had seven months left on my contract, so I said I was going to learn how to wrestle. People fell down laughing. It’s really tough to believe in yourself when everyone thinks you’re a fool.

You had mentioned running night clubs and drinking and being the party. Did you reach a point where you had to step away from those things?

I’ve always ran up to the edge and hung out on the edge. I never jumped off like Jake and Scott did. Mainly because I looked at how my dad was. Good guy, but an alcoholic his whole youth and into his 50s. Now in his 80s he’s not. He’s crazy healthy. Back then, he was the example of what I did not want to be and where I did not want to end up. So you can either learn from other peoples’ mistakes, or you can make your own. Now I’ve made plenty of my own mistakes, but I’ve also learned from others.

You not only had a wrestling career. You were on top in WCW when they were beating WWE. You were up there with Goldberg, basically, opposite the NWO. You exceeded…

All my expectations. I passed everybody at one point. I was the most downloadable everything. And it just goes to show you about hard work. When I inducted Jake into the WWE Hall of Fame, I said a quote that a lot of people have been quoting recently. Never underestimate the power you give someone by believing in them. Even more importantly, never underestimate the power you give yourself by believing in you.

You refer to Dusty Rhodes as a mentor. How did he guide you along the way?

There is no Diamond Dallas Page without Dusty Rhodes. He gave me every break that ever meant anything, and he mentored me. He used to say he had five friends he could count on his hand, and I was one of them.

Wow.

He’s a guy I looked up to in the business. I could say anything I wanted to him because he was my brother. When you’ve earned Dusty Rhodes’ respect, you’ve earned some serious respect.

Dusty is the guy Ric Flair wanted to be when he first became a wrestler. That alone puts in perspective the length of his career and the reach of his influence.

With Nature Boy, I’m sure they had their feuds one-on-one and personal shit. But they respected each other on a stupid level. I spent Dusty’s memorial having dinner and drinks with Nature Boy that night.

Dusty was one of the architects of NXT, and there’s been reports of Scott Hall wanting to be involved at the Performance Center in Orlando. Have you considered getting involved there, doing some training?

I’ve already been there, and I give my program to all the guys and girls. If they want it, they’ve got it. Now I can just beam it to them with the DDP Yoga Now app, which is insane. The app is going to be bigger than the movie.