Diamond Dallas Page says he was overcome with emotion watching Cody Rhodes fight Roman Reigns for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship at WrestleMania ... and tells TMZ Sports despite Cody coming up short, he knows he'll eventually win the title.
We spoke to DDP at LAX on Wednesday ... and the king of the Diamond Cutter told us he thinks Cody losing to Roman on "The Grandest Stage of Them All" will make him even more popular amongst WWE fans.
"When you're really over ... When it's done right [and] when the people are behind it, it doesn't matter who wins or loses," Page said. "He went and made AEW. Came back to here [WWE]. They were so happy to have him back because they knew what a talent he was."
"I couldn't be any prouder of the cat," Page added. "Very emotional for me."
Of course, some wrestling fans were confused by WWE's decision to keep the title on Reigns instead of giving it to Cody, who won the Royal Rumble in January -- but Page believes it's inevitable Rhodes becomes WWE champ ... explaining this is a part of the process.
Page feels Cody has no reason to be disappointed he didn't win Sunday. DDP said Cody's father, Dusty Rhodes, is proud of his performance in the main event against Reigns, who needed help from The Bloodline and Paul Heyman to defeat the American Nightmare.
DDP praised Cody for how he responded after tearing his pectoral muscle last summer before a match against Seth Rollins ... and for rehabbing as hard as possible to put himself in a position to be in the main event at WrestleMania.
Page also lauded Reigns -- who's held the Universal Championship for over 900 days -- calling the Tribal Chief "one of the greatest champions of all time" and saying he knows the day will come when Rhodes finally dethrones Roman, but "it's going to take time."