Diamond Dallas Page (DDP)

One may think its typical of someone like me to write my next Overcoming the Odds article on a Professional Wrestler.  However, I feel this particular person has Overcome more Odds than just in his Athletic Endeavors.  Wrestler Diamond Dallas Page (known as DDP) was grew up with dyslexia and ADD.  In fact, Page has admitted in interviews that even at the age of 31, he could still only read at a third-grade level.  Embarassed by this fact, Page became determined to read a book, a big one at that.  After a year, Dallas had read Lee Iacocca's first autobiography, a 352 page volume detailing the automobile magnate's career with Ford and Chrysler.  His perseverance paid off for sure.

Dallas decided to become a Professional Wrestler at the age of 35, an age not typically associated with athletic rookies.  After several years of wrestling in World Championship Wrestling, Dallas finally became a mainstream star around 1997.  Just as Dallas was entering the most successful point of his wrestling career, he suffered ruptures to his L4/L5 discs.  Discovering the health benefits of Yoga, Page made a recovery and would become World Champion and a household name in Professional Wrestling.  He Main Evented Pay-Per-Views with Sports Figures and Celebrities including Karl Malone and Jay Leno.  Eventually, he would enter World Wrestling Entertainment and TNA Wrestling.   He eventually would retire from WRestling but still makes occasional apperances including this past Sunday at WrestleMania 32 in Dallas in front of 101,000 people.

Since yoga had helped heal his body after injuries, Dallas would eventually form DDP Yoga. Mixing the best parts (in his opinion) of Yoga with his traditional principles of training, Dallas's DDP Yoga has swept the nation and has appealed to both men and women.  I do it myself in addition to my weight training and cardio.  I find it to have both strength training and cardiovascular benefits.  There are also suggested Nutrition Guides to go along with DDP Yoga.  You can purchase both at http://ddpyoga.com/

Combined with his DDP Yoga and a Positive Mindset, Dallas has helped various people turned their life around.  One man whose story was shown on National Television was Arthur Boorman.  Arthur had served and injured himself in the Persian Gulf War.  He risked never walking again, as was told to him by certain doctors.  His weight ballooned up to 300 lbs.  Most people gave up on him except for Diamond Dallas Page who reached out to him.  Arthur learned the positive aspects of living from Page in addition to the health aspects of DDP Yoga.  Although it was tough, Arthur would over 100 lbs. and is featured on several DDP's Yoga videos and workouts.
You can watch Arthur's story at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448

Of course, Dallas would also reach out to his fellow wrestling friends who needed some help.  Jake "the Snake" Roberts had lived with Dallas for a while and had taught him many of the aspects of the wrestling business that had helped Dallas become a success.  Jake's life had spun out of control with drug and alcohol abuse as well as bad health.  Dallas reached out to him and invited him to move in with him in Atlanta.  Jake lost up to 60 lbs. and was able to conquer his demons. In addition, Scott Hall (aka Razor Ramon) had experienced the same type of problems and was also invited to move in with DDP.  He eventually turned his life around.  Both he and Jake "the Snake" Roberts were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014.  The process that Dallas went through with turning Jake Robert's life around can be seen in the Documentary The Resurrection of Jake "the Snake" Roberts.  This also featured Scott Hall in his fight to overcome his demons.  This documentary, released in 2015 and Directed by Steve Yu, won best Documentary at Slamdance Film Festival.  Even Non-Wrestling Fans Praised the Documentary and past addicts have even credited it for helping them get them back on the right track again.  Some people called it the best Documentary of 2015 and there was some speculation that it would be in the list of nominations for Best Documentary at the Oscars last March.  It can purchased at I Tunes.  You can go to site of doc.
http://www.jakethesnakemovie.com/

Diamond Dallas Page has indeed Overcome many obstacles in his life.  Most importantly, he has proven to people that it is never too late in life to achieve certain reasonable goals.  He proved people wrong when he taught himself how to read at an adult level at age 30.  He proved people wrong by becoming a Professional Wrestling star passed the traditional age of an athlete.  He proved people wrong when he came back from an injury and became World Champion.  He has helped others prove people wrong such as Arthur Boorman, Jake "the Snake" Roberts and Scott Hall.  Many other people have turned their life around under the guidance of DDP Yoga, Nutrition and Dallas's positive thinking.

Diamond Dallas Page also serves as an Inspirational Speaker and has published two books.  He has also starred in several movies.

(Information taken from DDPYoga.com; DiamondDallasPage.com; Wikepedia; and Bigthink.com.