Iconic finishes can be an important part of what makes a professional wrestler memorable, and sometimes it’s the defining element that brings wrestling closer to the audience. As the man who popularized the move it would ultimately be synonymous with Randy Orton as RKODiamond Dallas Page’s Diamond Cutter was featured on the roster and for many fans was a huge contributor to his popularity in WCW. However, as mentioned “83 Weeks” Eric Bischoff shared his belief that it was something else.
“I know for Paige, that’s the ending that made her, I don’t agree,” Bischoff said. He went on to praise the ending, noting that there was a lot of scene behind it. “That’s not what got him through. Which is what got her through when she became Paige Falkinburg, when she allowed herself to come out and be real.”
Bischoff argued that Paige was at her best when she began to move away from her larger-than-life gimmick, noting that at the height of her popularity she was just being herself and nothing more, while her previous gimmicks were unmemorable.
“Once he started to lose it all, then he started to cope, and I think as he coped, the Diamond Cutter became more effective as a finisher,” he elaborated. “So it seems likely that the Diamond Cutter was responsible. it was really Paige coming out of the ‘I want to be someone else’s gimmick’ phase and finally allowing herself to be real, because that’s what the audience connected with.”
Before Page, John Laurinaitis used the move in his career and Orton stated that he borrowed that move from Laurinatis and made it his own.
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