| The Diamond Exchange | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Stable | |
| Members | See below |
| Name(s) | The Diamond Exchange The Diamond Mine |
| Debut | 1988 1991 |
| Disbanded | 1989 1992 |
The Diamond Exchange was a professional wrestling stable led by Diamond Dallas Page in the American Wrestling Association from 1988 to 1989. Page led a spiritual successor known as The Diamond Mine in World Championship Wrestling from 1991 to 1992.
Diamond Dallas Page worked in the nightclub business in Florida before and after he started working as a wrestling manager in the American Wrestling Association (AWA). [1] He started managing Badd Company (Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka) in 1988, a team he led to the AWA World Tag Team Championship. [2] Badd Company, was often accompanied by a pair of female valets known as the Diamond Dolls who were the girls that worked at his club. The team's first feud was against The Midnight Rockers, whom they defeated for the AWA World Tag Team Championship on March 19, 1988. [2] Badd Company then feuded heavily with Chavo and Mando Guerrero.
When the AWA World Heavyweight Champion Curt Hennig [3] began being associated with the AWA World Women's Champion Madusa Miceli, [4] they joined the Diamond Exchange. [5] [6] Hennig would hold the AWA World Heavyweight Title for about 53 weeks, before losing it to Jerry Lawler on May 9, 1988. [3] On August 27, 1988, DDP introduced Colonel DeBeers as the new member of his stable. [7] During that short time, DeBeers would try to force his opponent to leave on a stretcher.
As many other promising-yet-underexposed AWA stars had before him (including Hulk Hogan, Rick Martel, and Bobby Heenan), Hennig left the AWA for the World Wrestling Federation in the fall of 1988, weeks after his AWA Title reign ended. Badd Company and Madusa faced the team of the Top Guns (Ricky Rice and Derrick Dukes) and Wendi Richter at the only AWA pay-per-view SuperClash III on December 13, 1988. [8] Both Badd Company's Tag-Team Title and Wendi Richter's AWA World Women's Championship were on the line, but since Richter pinned Miceli, Badd Company remained the champions. [9] In 1988, Madusa was also the first woman to be awarded Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Rookie of the Year. [10]
Badd Company held the AWA Tag Team titles for a year before losing the titles on March 25, 1989, to “the Olympians" (Brad Rheingans and Ken Patera). [2] Shortly after their loss, they split from Page and had a short feud against each other before wrestling in singles competition until early 1990. At the time, DDP also worked as a color commentator in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) where he worked alongside Gordon Solie, before finally debuting as a professional wrestler. In 1990, Page received a tryout with the WWF as an announcer, but never got the job. [1] When FCW went down, Page was still involved in the club business until Dusty Rhodes returned to World Championship Wrestling. Dusty Rhodes started booking and brought Page in on a small contract in early 1991. [5]
DDP came to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1991 as manager of The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin and Michael P.S. Hayes). [5] [6] Page managed the Freebirds to a shot at the NWA World Tag Team Championship where they defeated Doom (Butch Reed and Ron Simmons) on February 24. During this match, DDP introduced the Diamond Dolls in WCW. Page also worked as a color commentator for WCW with Eric Bischoff. [5]
When Scott Hall, the former tag team partner and former co-holder of the AWA World Tag Team Championship with Curt Hennig, [11] [12] [13] made his return to WCW in 1991, DDP added him to his stable. [14] Hall was named the Diamond Studd, whose gimmick was similar to Ravishing Rick Rude's with the added element of a monster big man heel. It was during this time that he also started using toothpicks and debuted his trademark toothpick fling. He squashed Tommy Rich in his debut on the June 14 edition of Clash of the Champions XV , [15] and he defeated Tom Zenk at The Great American Bash. [16] Hall received a significant push in his early days with WCW, but by the end of 1991 this began to fade, starting with the September 2 edition of Clash of the Champions XVI , where Studd was defeated by Ron Simmons. [17] At Halloween Havoc: Chamber of Horrors, the team of Studd, Abdullah the Butcher, Cactus Jack, and Big Van Vader lost to Sting, El Gigante, and the Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott). [18] On the November 19 edition of Clash of the Champions XVII , Studd lost to Zenk in a rematch from The Great American Bash. [19]
With rumors that WCW wanted to take the Diamond Studd away from him, [1] DDP decided to take the advice of Magnum T. A. and begin to wrestle himself. He headed to the WCW Power Plant where Buddy Lee Parker, The Assassin, and Dusty Rhodes trained the 35-year-old rookie. He debuted as a wrestler in a tag team match later that year. With the Diamond Studd, he faced Kevin Sullivan and his partner. He was relegated to the "jobber" list. He made his wrestling pay-per-view debut at Starrcade in 1991, teaming with Mike Graham in a losing effort to Jushin Thunder Liger and Bill Kazmaier. [5] Page continued wrestling and brought other wrestlers into his stable, such as Scotty Flamingo (who later became better known as Raven) and Vinnie Vegas (Kevin Nash) in 1992. [20] [21] The relationships between DDP, Flamingo, and Vegas were used in many angles over the following months. Page went in the corner of Scotty Flamingo, at Clash of the Champions XXI on November 18, 1992, when Flamingo fought Johnny B. Badd in a worked boxing match. Flamingo won this bout with a little help from Page and Vinnie Vegas who filled Flamingo's glove with water. Studd formed short-lived tag teams with Vinnie Vegas and Scotty Flamingo, while also teaming with members of Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance, [14] a stable that also included Madusa. The idea of adding him to the Dangerous Alliance fell through, however, and he left WCW shortly after. [14]
The following year, after Scotty Flamingo also left the stable, Page teamed with Vinnie Vegas as the Vegas Connection. [20] The Vegas Connection never returned to WCW until 2001 under the name "The Insiders", because Page was fired from WCW shortly after the team's debut due to his torn rotator cuff. [1] The injury occurred in late 1992 in a tag match with Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce (later known as The Godwinns). [6]
The Diamond Dolls were the professional wrestling valets that accompanied Diamond Dallas Page to the ring in the American Wrestling Association and World Championship Wrestling. When DDP was signed to appear as a manager in the AWA in 1987, he wanted to be over the top. So Page decided to bring along some "Diamond Dolls", pretty women who accompanied him to the ring. They would clean his rings and brush dirt off his coat and strut around the ring to distract his wrestlers' opponents. They were basically there to look good and give his wrestlers an edge.
Page's Diamond Dolls in the AWA were waitresses from Norma Jean's, his bar in Ft. Myers, Florida. They were Tonya G. (real name Tanya), Lee Ann and Wendy. Page claimed to have dated all of them and he says he did date Lee Ann in his biography, Positively Page. Tonya G. was the one that was always there. Page rarely had them all there at one time.
When Page arrived in WCW as the manager of The Diamond Studd and The Fabulous Freebirds, he brought a different Diamond Doll each week. Page's wife, Kimberly Page, made her debut on April 6, 1991, on TBS as one of his Diamond Dolls. When Page started wrestling, he did away with the Diamond Dolls. He brought them back in 1994, when Kimberly became his regular Diamond Doll. She first played a ditzy bimbo, but quickly changed character to innocent and disapproving of his cheating ways. In 1995, she left Page (kayfabe) when Johnny B. Badd freed her from Page in a match. The Diamond Doll name was not used after that as Kimberly went by her first name until leaving the sport in 2000.
The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club, originally founded in 1933, which served as the Minnesota-based territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1948 onward, before breaking away from the NWA and becoming an independent territory in 1960.
Scott Oliver Hall was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenures with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his real name and with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Razor Ramon.
Curtis Michael Hennig, better known by the ring name Mr. Perfect, was an American professional wrestler. Considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time by many peers, critics, and fans, he performed under his real name for promotions including the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and NWA Total Nonstop Action. Hennig was the son of wrestler Larry "The Axe" Hennig and the father of wrestler Curtis Axel.
Dallas Page, better known by his ring name "Diamond" Dallas Page, is an American yoga instructor, retired professional wrestler and actor. In the course of his wrestling career Page has wrestled for mainstream wrestling promotions World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the World Wrestling Federation, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Marc Mero is an American retired professional wrestler and amateur boxer, as well as a motivational speaker. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation under his real name and with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and NWA Total Nonstop Action under the ring name Johnny B. Badd.
Debrah Ann Miceli, better known as Madusa, is an American monster truck driver and retired professional wrestler. She is currently signed to National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as a producer. In professional wrestling Miceli is also known by the ring name Alundra Blayze, which she used while in the WWF/WWE. Outside of the WWF, she wrestled under her professional name of Madusa, which was shortened from "Made in the USA". Her early career was spent in the American Wrestling Association, where she once held the AWA World Women's Championship. In 1988, she was the first woman to be awarded Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Rookie of the Year. The following year, she signed a contract with All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, making her the first foreign wrestler to do so.
The Dangerous Alliance was a professional wrestling stable who was active in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1987 and in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling in the early 1990s. The group derives its name from "Paul E. Dangerously", the ring name of its founder and manager Paul Heyman.
Lawrence Whistler, better known by the ring name Larry Zbyszko, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his feud with his mentor, Bruno Sammartino, during the early 1980s as well as his work as a wrestler and color commentator for World Championship Wrestling. Among other accolades, he is a two-time world champion having twice held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Zbyszko was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 28, 2015, by Sammartino.
Scott Antol is a retired American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1993 to 1999 under the ring names Scotty Riggs and Riggs. Antol is also known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) as Scotty Anton.
The Insiders were a professional wrestling tag team in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) composed of Diamond Dallas Page and Kevin Nash. Together, the two wrestlers won the WCW World Tag Team Championship twice; the reigns were Nash's eighth and ninth and Page's third and fourth. Nash had previously been tag team champion six times with Scott Hall and once with Sting while Page's two other reigns were as part of the Jersey Triad with Kanyon and Bam Bam Bigelow.
Patrick Tanaka is an American professional wrestler best known for his work in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as one half of Badd Company and the World Wrestling Federation as one half of The Orient Express. He is the son of Duke Keomuka.
Thomas Boric is a Croatian-Canadian retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Paul Diamond. He is best known for being one half of the tag team Badd Company with Pat Tanaka and for his time in the World Wrestling Federation as Kato, one half of The Orient Express, also with Tanaka. Before he was a professional wrestler, Boric was a professional soccer player.
SuperClash III was the third SuperClash professional wrestling event produced by American Wrestling Association (AWA). The event was held on December 13, 1988 from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. It was the only AWA show to be broadcast on pay-per-view (PPV). The Texas-based World Class Wrestling Association, women wrestling promotion Powerful Women of Wrestling (POWW), and Memphis-based Championship Wrestling Association (CWA) also provided wrestlers for the show.
Derrick Dukes is an American retired professional wrestler and boxer. He best known for his appearances in the American Wrestling Association in the late-1980s as one-half of the tag team "The Top Guns" with Ricky Rice.
Ricky Rice is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearance with the Minneapolis-based promotions Pro Wrestling America and the American Wrestling Association.
AWA Championship Wrestling is a professional wrestling television series that aired on cable sports network ESPN from 1985 to 1990. It was a continuation of the earlier ESPN program Pro Wrestling USA, the co-operative venture between the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and several National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliates. On February 26, 2008, ESPN Classic began reairing AWA Championship Wrestling episodes. Along with the ownership of the AWA intellectual property by the WWE, all episodes are available on the WWE Network.
SuperClash II was the second SuperClash professional wrestling supercard event produced by American Wrestling Association (AWA). The event took place at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California on May 2, 1987. The show was promoted as the AWA's most important show of the year. Unlike SuperClash I and SuperClash III, the second event featured mainly AWA wrestlers. While not the last match of the show the main event was a match between Curt Hennig and Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, in which Hennig defeated Bockwinkel to capture his only world championship.
Team Madness was a professional wrestling heel stable in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) led by Randy Savage, that began in April 1999 and ended three months later in July.
WrestleWar '92 was the fourth and final WrestleWar professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It took place on May 17, 1992, from the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida in the United States. In 1993, WrestleWar was replaced by Slamboree as the May PPV and the event’s WarGames match moved to September’s Fall Brawl.
The 1995 World War 3 was the inaugural World War 3 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The event took place on November 26, 1995, from the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.
Ricky Rice, Derrick Dukes, & Wendi Richter beat Paul Diamond, Pat Tanaka, & Madusa Micelli beat (5:43) when Richter pinned Micelli.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)