from age three to eight. His father took him, at eight years old, to live with his grandmother, who raised him. Falkinburg admitted in his autobiography he is dyslexic. He had many challenges hit him throughout his childhood and educational years. He attended St. Joseph's High School (now Donovan Catholic High School) in Toms River, New Jersey, for his freshman and second years, spending his first season on the JV basketball team and making the varsity squad as a sophomore. He transferred to Point Pleasant Borough High School in Point Pleasant, where he was a star basketball player with the Point Pleasant Boro High School Panthers. He attended Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina briefly before leaving school to work full-time. Professional wrestling career American Wrestling Association (1988) Page ran a nightclub in Fort Myers, Florida called Norma Jeans (known for its pink Cadillac) while he was working as a wrestling manager in the American Wrestling Association (AWA). He started managing in 1988, where he handled Badd Company (Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka), a team he led to the AWA World Tag Team Championship on March 19. Badd Company, was often accompanied by female valets known as the "Diamond Dolls" (Tonya, Jennifer and Torri). During his time in the AWA, Page also managed Colonel DeBeers, Curt Hennig and Madusa Miceli as the leader of the Diamond Exchange stable. He worked for the AWA at 12 dates over a period of nine months, where they filmed all the television shows in one day. Professional Wrestling Federation (19891991) Page also worked as a color commentator in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), soon renamed Professional Wrestling Federation (PWF), where he worked alongside Gordon Solie, before finally debuting as a professional wrestler. Page's first pro match occurred in May 1989 against Dick Slater. In 1990, Dallas received a tryout with the WWF as an announcer, but wasn't offered a job. At WrestleMania VI, he drove Rhythm and Blues (The Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine) to the ring in his pink Cadillac. At this time, he was virtually unknown in the World Wrestling Federation. When FCW went out of business, Page was still involved in the club business until Dusty Rhodes returned to World Championship Wrestling. Rhodes started booking and brought him in on a small contract in early 1991. World Championship Wrestling/WCW (1991–2001) Various alliances (1991–1993) Page came to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in