STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
By Diamond Dallas Page

Yo Cutters…

What’s up? I am from what I hear. There’ve been a lot of rumors about DDP pulling a Terry Funk and coming out of retirement. Well, it’s true. I announced it while I was visiting my buddy Marc Mero and his hot little honey Maxen last Sunday when Marc and I went on the Monsters of the Midway radio show. Russ, Bubba, and Savannah, Daniel, Blackbean, Jeff, Dirty Jim and the rest of the crew, were jacked to hear that DDP was stepping back into the squared circle. If your not in Tampa, Orlando or Jacksonville and you want to check the MONSTERS... you can hear them on XM Radio "Extreme" channel 152.Of course, their first question was would I be going back to the WWE? All I said was “Look, right now I’m just talking about doing independent shows”. I finally settled with Lloyds of London and now I can do whatever the hell I want. I’m actually thinking about going to see Nash and Angle’s doctor in Pittsburgh because he is doing a new neck operation that shaves off the bone spurs. This way I would be pretty much as risk-free as possible from a serious neck injury. Nash actually was baack in the gym working out two days after the operation. Right now, I feel phenomenal. After watching Wrestlemania and settling with Lloyds, I’ve got a little bit of that itch back.
So, if you want to book DDP, use the DDP Info link on the site.

If you make me the right offer, someone will feel the bang!

Speaking of Wrestlemania, I personally called Eddie to tell him what a phenomenal match he and Angle had. I tried to call Kurt, but I couldn’t find his number. The match of the night was the three-way. I thought Hunter, HBK and Benoit had the greatest non-porn three-way I’ve ever seen. I called and left a message for each of them telling them how impressed I was with their match. Hopefully, those kinds of matches will stir some more business for the WWE.

For any of you who tried to see last week’s pictures with Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, and John Schneider…sorry for the screw-up but they are working fine now. You can hit them by going to last week’s email and using the photo links. Anytime you come to the site for the pictures, just click the Photo of the Week button and this week you’ll find hundreds of them.

Just before my big trip, my attorney and little brother Brad Small, invited Kimberly and I to an L.A. Kings and Detroit Red Wings hockey game. What a game! I got to meet the guy from Seventh Heaven, George Stults. Ladies, I’ll make sure we post the picture of George and his brother, another good-looking son of a gun, next week. Thanks, Brad, Kimberly and I had a great time. Would you please have Liza send me the pictures.

I just got back from an eight-day tour of Jersey, Atlanta, and Orlando. I went to Jersey to speak to three schools in my hometown area - Brick Township, Point Pleasant Beach and the school I actually graduated from (and where I was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year) Point Pleasant Boro. Whenever I go to Jersey I always stay at my sister Sally’s house. There are pictures on the site of my niece Lexi who had just cut off 12 inches of her hair to give to Locks of Love for kids with cancer so they can make a wig for them out of her hair. How cool is she? I also have pictures of my other niece Sami who is doing some modeling for a wedding showcase. I love those nieces of mine.

The main reason I came home was because I was so inspired by my high school basketball team. In the quarterfinals of the state tournament, they beat the number seven-rated team in the state, Neptune, in their own house. Now, you’ve got to understand that the tallest guy on our team is six foot tall and is my godson, Nick Rossi. I asked him at the beginning of the season if he thought they would be any good and he told me he thought it would be a tough year. As it turned out, because of a great coach and a bunch of kids with a lot of heart, they had a great season. The Neptune High School team was all slam-dunking during the lay-ups and talking smack about burying my boys. Talent for talent, they would be considered far superior to the Point Boro kids, but the Boro kids came with ton of heart. It just goes to show you that anyone can be beaten on any given day, especially when you’re driven, focused and have heart. I’ve done so much speaking at different schools around the country over the past few years but I had never spoke at my own school. It was time, I was so inspired by what my boys had done and I wanted to do what I’m calling “An Inspiration Conversation with DDP” for my school. So I called my man, Ed Leibfried, who is a top guy in our school system. I asked Ed if he could help book me at a couple of schools in the area at the last minute. He bent over backwards to make it happen. Thanks, Ed!

I also had one of my closest friends on the planet, Tony Paligrosi, come on the road with me and work as a tour manager. Tony owns a company called Concerts East. He also owns the biggest music venue, called the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ. Tony’s been a musician and a promoter all his life. We used to run Night Clubs together back in the day. The Starland is comparable, if not better, than any of the House of Blues. This was like a vacation for Tony, to come on the road with me. He was indispensable because I just recently took “An Inspirational Conversation with DDP” to a PowerPoint presentation that’s off the hook. Tony really helped me put in all together ... Thanks bro.

I'm sure someone out there is reading this and thinking ... boy I would love to have DDP speak to my kids. If so here's the deal... First of all if you read this you know my schedule is ridiculous, but it is possible. Second they have to be high schools kids because my conversation is geared toward building a strong character foundation, setting goals, execution and Living Life at 90%. Younger kids really don't understand it as much ... but older kids do.

The fee to schools is FREE.

But all my expenses would have to be covered by the schools. I say schools because like my trip to Jersey I would want to speak at least two, or maybe three schools if my schedule permitted.

What's really unique about booking DDP for a wrestling match is if it lands on a friday night I'll come in the night before speak to a local school and then wrestle that night. I don't know any wrestler who has booked them selves in this way. It's good way for a promoter to give back to the local area and create awareness at same time. Once again if you are interested contact the DDP Info link on the site.

After my last engagement at the Boro (all pictures on site), Tony took me to the airport where I headed to Hotlanta to see who else, but my docs and the Leonard girls, Linda, Brittany, and Kimberly. When I first got to the girls’ house, I noticed some Happy Birthday balloons. I was sitting and having a beer with my friend Warren and I asked him whose birthday it was and he says skeptically, “You don’t know?”. I started to panic as I wondered whose birthday I’d missed. After making me sweat awhile, he eased my mind when he told me “It’s your birthday” and he started laughing. It was my first ever surprise birthday party. That may have had something to do with it being two weeks early. Thank you, ladies.

The next morning, I was up at 3:45 (couldn't sleep) to catch a plane to Orlando to see Marc Mero. We have a really hot business opportunity that I’ll keep you posted about. If you want to see his new hot honey, pictures on site. The next day I was on my way back to LA.

Kim picked me up at the airport Monday night and we grabbed our friend Jocilyn and went right to the Jimmy Kimmel Show to see my bros, Los Lonely Boys. If you recall, I’ve been telling you about LLB since I met them nine months ago when nobody had any idea who they were. Since then, they’ve played the Carson Daly Show, Conan O’Brien (who liked them so much he called Leno and told them he had to have them on, which he did). But nobody has truly gotten to see LLB go off like the Jimmy Kimmel Show did. My buddy, Rob, is one of the music promoters there who helps out in charge of talent. I told them about LLB playing guitar behind their heads, their backs, and playing each other’s guitars while they’re still strapped on each other. You’ve got to see it to believe it. If you haven’t gotten their self-titled CD yet, get it. They are Stevie Ray Vaughn meets Carlos Santana with their own flavor thrown in to create what they Texicana rock ‘n’ roll. Jimmy Kimmel absolutely loved them. We hung out, had a few beers, and finally made it home to crash. Damn was I tired.

If that’s not enough, last night Kimberly and I were at the premiere of Hellboy thanks to my mentor, Barry Levine, here in L.A. (the holding cell for hell, actually LA is hell ... with a cover charge). Barry, thanks for looking outyou’re your boy and his girl, we appreciate it. Also thanks to my boy, Chris, for the additional hookup. Barry sat John Landis right next to us who was literally on the edge of his seat watching the movie. If you liked Batman, the X-Men, Spidermen, you’re going to love this movie. The special effects were off the hook. I couldn’t even tell that the monster was CGI and Ron Perelman did such a phenomenal job as the big, bad-a$$ Hellboy. He was physical, funny, and still someone you could identify with. Doug Jones who plays Abe Sapien (picture on site) also did a hell of a job. If you get a chance this weekend, make it a point to head to hell, and I don’t mean Los Angeles.