Dawn Marie spent years feeling like she never got the chance to pay wrestling back the way Jimmy Snuka once told her to — then Paige Collett came along. The former WWE and ECW star says Collett immediately stood out to her, and Dawn basically decided on the spot that the younger wrestler was getting under her wing.
Speaking on Velvet Ropes, Dawn explained that Snuka was one of the veterans who helped shape her career. He got her booked, introduced her to people and taught her that wrestling knowledge was supposed to be passed down instead of hoarded. Dawn said Snuka once explained exactly why he was helping her. Snuka then gave Dawn the part of that lesson that really stuck.
“And I remember him going, ‘Sister, because I see something in you.’ And I said, ‘Okay, what does that mean?’ And he says, ‘In my business, you’re given the business. You give it to the next generation. When you see someone or find someone that you believe in, you give it to them and you pass it along.’”
“And the reason why you do that is because if I don’t do that, my legacy ends.”
Dawn promised she would do the same thing when her turn came. The problem is, once her active wrestling career started winding down, she felt like she never really got that shot. Dawn said she took that promise seriously, but for years she didn’t feel like she had found the right person or the right situation.
“And, and, and I gotta be honest with you, that’s the one thing that makes me really sad about my career is that, like, I was never able to give it to somebody else, right? Like I feel that, and even at that time in the diner, you know, Jimmy said to me, he’s like, ‘And when it’s your turn, you give it to somebody else.’ That’s what he had told me.”
“And I was like, ‘I promise I will.’ And I never had really that chance to do it, you know. Um, although I was a hand in the industry and, like, I was always giving.”
Eventually, Dawn stopped waiting for that opportunity to happen inside the ring. She started watching for younger talent who immediately grabbed her attention. That is where Paige Collett enters the story. Dawn said she knew there was something different about Collett the second she saw her.
“Yeah. Yeah. So as time has gone by and I wasn’t able to do that in the ring, I have sought out people that I saw had something special and I, and I go, ‘Come here. Get, get over here. Get under my wing. Get under the wing. Let’s go.’”
“So, you know, like I love Paige Collett, the Black Dollium. Love that girl. There’s something about her that is so super special and I knew it the second I laid my eyes on her.”
Dawn said she first saw Collett at an appearance in Philadelphia while she was sitting next to Marty Jannetty. There was no slow introduction either — Dawn basically summoned her over.
“I saw her actually in Philly at that, that appearance and she was sitting next to Marty Janetti and I looked at her and I just said, ‘Come here,’ like this. She was scared of that. I go, ‘Come here.’ And she’s like, ‘Huh?’ I go, ‘Get over here.’ I swear to God, this is exactly the conversation where I go, ‘Get over here.’”
Collett apparently had no clue what Dawn wanted at first, which made the whole thing even funnier. Then Dawn got serious. She told Collett she had something special, but also warned her that talent alone wasn’t going to save her from getting in her own way.
“And she’s like, ‘What?’ I go, ‘No, no, come over here.’ She thought I wanted her to smell my armpit. I don’t — and she’s so damn cute.”
“And I said, ‘Get under my wing right now.’ And she goes, ‘What?’ I go, ‘You have something special.’ I was like, ‘But you’re also going to be your worst enemy and you’re going to get yourself in a lot of trouble.’”
Dawn wasn’t tossing out random advice and walking away. She told Collett she planned to look after her because she believed too strongly in what she saw. Dawn said what really separates Collett in her eyes is how much she genuinely loves the business.
“So, you get over here right now and you get under my wing because I’m going to take care of you because you have something very, very special. So, she’s my wrestling daughter.”
“I love that kid. I love her. She’s such an inspiration. She truly loves the business. Like it’s from her heart.”
That matters to Dawn because she believes there are only two kinds of people in wrestling — those who love the business itself and those who love what being in the business does for them.
“You know, like there’s two types of people in this business and you’ll know. There’s people who love who they are when they’re doing it, and then there’s people that love what they do when they’re doing it. There’s only two. There’s no in between. Either you love it or you love yourself when you’re doing it. That’s it.”
The relationship didn’t stop after that first meeting either. Dawn said Collett regularly comes to her for advice, and she tries to give her the same old-school lessons that were once passed down to her.
“I truly, like, that girl loves the business. Like she’s, you know, she’s always calling me and asking me, like, and I try to teach her old-school way, you know, like listen, no, you don’t do that. Even though it’s maybe not how I do it, like, now, but I don’t care. I’m going to teach you what I was taught. You do with it what you want, you know?”
Dawn’s desire to pass something back to wrestling has been a recurring part of how she talks about her career. Ringside News previously covered Dawn explaining why she eventually cut ties with professional wrestling, and that larger theme of giving back has clearly stuck with her long after her active days ended.
Dawn Marie may have spent years thinking she missed her chance to fulfill Jimmy Snuka’s lesson, but Paige Collett appears to have changed that. Dawn saw something she couldn’t ignore, pulled her close and now proudly calls her a wrestling daughter — which is about as direct a passing-of-the-torch moment as you can get.
What do you make of Dawn Marie taking Paige Collett under her wing and calling her a wrestling daughter? Do you think this kind of veteran mentorship still matters in wrestling today? Let us know your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
