By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet and guest Ethan Page
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Interview available at Chris Van Vliet’s YouTube Page
On his AEW debut: “I was trying to explain it to my wife because it’s been… I mean I’ve known for a while but I’m still on this weird high. Now I debuted on a pay-per-view I’ve had my Dynamite debut. But I still can’t comprehend that I’ve finally been able to achieve my dream. Because it’s like you’re one step closer, one step closer, one step closer. I’ve never actually made it to the point where I had envisioned from when I was a kid. I don’t even know how to digest it or comprehend that it’s happened. It’s great obviously, but I can’t explain it.”
How his family celebrated his debut in Canada: “Nobody knew I was debuting other than my parents. So they got the pay-per-view at their house and threw a little pizza party. My daughter is there, my wife is there. They made an AEW cake with the world title on it, they all wore my T-Shirts. But I think for my dad to see Jake the Snake clothesline me on a pay-per-view is the most full circle moment, because my dad is the one that introduced me to wrestling. We would watch in the early 90’s. Taking that line from Jake was cool for me, but I can’t imagine how cool it was from my father.”
How being with AEW differs from his time with Impact Wrestling: “The exposure is like nothing else. The reach that AEW has around the world is like nothing else. I’m going to bring my wife up a lot because she has been on this crazy journey to get to this point and has trusted blindly that I would find a way to make it happen. But I talk to her about this all the time, and she was blown away by the fact that locally in my hometown of Hamilton Ontario, I made the cover of the sports section of our newspaper. Family members mildly scoffed at the fact I’m a professional wrestler and now they’re like ‘wow, congratulations. I’m so proud of you, been bragging about you.’ I think there’s an undeniable amount of reach and exposure and importance of AEW in the sports entertainment world.”
AEW was interested in signing him in 2019: “I know there was definitely interest, but at the time I was under contract with Impact, so it wasn’t really a possibility. But yes, I was I guess spoken to, to see what my situation was. But me personally, I’m very glad with the way it played out and getting to have those years with Impact Wrestling. It was an experience that I kind of needed, to grow personally and professionally. It’s like to get those reps in, to get comfortable being on television, timing, cues all that stuff. It made me a better performer in the end. I think AEW will benefit from that now that I did have those experiences.”
On being a singles star now after a successful run with Josh Alexander as “The North”: “I’m very proud of what we accomplished as a team, and if there is potential down the road for The North to do a tag team then I’m in. I think now, especially for both of us, it’s best to venture off into singles, I’ve always wanted the spotlight to shine on me. So this is a Natural fit for ‘All Ego’ Ethan Page. I had a singles run with Evolve prior to Impact Wrestling, so I’m comfortable with both, so I’m excited to see what happens.”
Who he can’t wait to wrestle in AEW: “Every time I see Rey Fenix wrestle, I want to burn my wrestling boots and retire. He is so good, I would love to test myself [against him]. Anyone on the roster would love to wrestle Rey Fenix.”
The title is misleading, it says the AEW wrestler “WANTS” to make him burn his boots and retire. It should say AEW wrestler that makes him want to burn his boots and retire…
I’m all about misleading headlines. Or it was a typo. But I don’t make typos, so my keyboard must be doing strange things again. Or it was John Moore’s fault. Yeah, that’s it.