– Below is video of WWE Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page talking to TMZ Sports about his good friend, WWE Hall of Famer “Mean” Gene Okerlund. Gene passed away at the age of 76 on Wednesday at a hospital in Sarasota, Florida. He suffered a fall two weeks ago and his health deteriorated from there.

“It crushed me,” Page said of Gene’s passing. “I loved Gene Okerlund. He wasn’t just great at what he did in our business, as a guy, there was no one that I loved hanging out with more than “Mean” Gene. I considered him a really good buddy of mine. He’s going to be really missed, like big time. Gene-o was the most fun guy to be around. It didn’t matter where I was, on any part of the road, I knew if I hit the bar there’s a good chance I’m going to catch him having a night cap before he crashed out. We would talk stories, you know…”

Page also noted that he kept in touch with Okerlund over the years, and recently became friends with Gene’s son Tor. Page said he was with Okerlund at an event in New Jersey back in November, and said Gene looked great health-wise.

“He was just a great, great, great guy that everybody loved. You knew you made it when you got to be interviewed by “Mean” Gene Okerlund. I got so many pictures with him over the years, when I heard I just started to flip through them, and there were a lot of good memories.”

Page was asked about Gene’s legacy and if he was as important to wrestling like WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan and names like that.

“I think he’s up there with Hulk, Flair, Dusty, you know, Jake “The Snake”, guys who really… when they had that big run in the 80s,” Paige said. “But Gene was timeless. He was still working for WWE, right now. He’s a cornerstone of so many different things. The WWE Universe, they’re going to miss him big time.”