DDP On WWE Changing His Theme Music To Avoid Nirvana Lawsuit

During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet on "Insight," Diamond Dallas Page recalled collaborating with Jimmy Hart to compose his WCW theme song titled "Self High Five."

"Jimmy Hart's a musical genius and you know, he had a number one hit at one time with The Gentrys," Page said. "Did you know that? Again, number one hit... So I went down to Florida. [Hart] said, 'So what music do you like?' I said, 'Right now I'm listening to Nirvana. I really like them. I think they're the sound of the '90s.'"

"And he goes, 'Which song do you like?' It was between 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' and I can't remember the other name of the other one, but it was between both of them. And I said, 'Let's pick 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.” And then he did something with the music. I go, 'That sounds amazing. Sounds just like it.' He goes, 'All I did was flip the beat.'"

Hart reversed the chords to make the song different, but that didn't stop WWE from eventually changing it.

Page continued, "So instead of going 'bump, bump,' it went 'bump-bump, bump-bump. So if you played both at the same time, you'd hear the difference. Dude, I tell you, I was so bummed out when WWE changed my music. And on all the WCW stuff, all the Peacock stuff, they changed the music, because they didn't want to get sued. And then I also found out that it wasn't [Nirvana drummer] David Grohl who owned it. It was Courtney [Love]. She probably wasn't even aware I was using it."

When WWE purchased WCW in 2001, Page was one of the talents signed. He was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Insight" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.