By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest Ethan Page
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Podcast available via Podcasts.Apple.com
How did you pitch the idea of the Canadian version of the North American title? “Had nothing to do with me. It was presented to me. A fantastic idea, and there was a legitimate reveal to me before the event. I remember we were in Houston, Texas, because I remember it as a top five career day for me, it was like an eight-minute get to stand in the middle of the ring with a microphone; the flags are in there, the podium, I get to reveal the belt, it was awesome. It was a perfect town for it too, just what a dream scenario that was. But before the show, I knew that they were customizing this belt because they had told me. But I had not seen anything, so I actually got like a [sees ttile] whoa! Just personally, just for me. So I got to actually see it. I’m like, this is insane. After the experience, it really kicked in. Wait a second, I have a custom championship in the WWE, specifically for me. I don’t think anyone’s ever going to get that belt again. It’s literally hanging in my house. Don’t take it, WWE, please! I have no clue how it got there. After I lost the championship. I left it at the Performance Center, but somehow it’s hanging up in my house.”
Did you have any conversation with Lance Storm after your belt came out? “I did not.”
Because there were a lot of comparisons: “Which offends me!”
How does that offend you? “He got stickers! I got a legitimate custom championship in the WWE. That guy slapped on magnets. He put some stickers on some championships. I made the WWE bend the knee. That’s a lot different.”
The chair has become your weapon, because you used it with Ricky Saints, that was bad. “Yeah, so it could have been worse. He almost lost his eye. So he ends up injuring his trachea the way the chair fell. Give him a twisted grin, and I’m trying to pull his throat down in between the legs of the chair, so as I’m yanking him down, if you see the footage and you watch the leg closest to the camera, it literally grazes his cheek, and you see his cheek after, there’s a mark, it’s purple. Maybe like an inch to a half an inch, he would have lost his eye. I don’t know why I’m smiling, but yeah. Also that night I became North American Champion, and Mattel enjoyed that so much that they commemorated the moment by giving myself and Ricky Saints a two-pack with the North American Championship from that match.”
Take me through the day when you get the call that you’re going to go up to the main roster. “Honestly, I wish I could. I was in Vegas for WrestleMania weekend. I had a bunch of appearances, and there was, I guess, half-ass rumors, you might have something there, might be something, but nothing was concrete. I had Shawn Michaels’ panel for his documentary, check it out on Peacock, so they had me out there for that. So that was, I think, on Saturday in the morning, and I still didn’t know what was happening. My hotel ended Saturday night, so my flight was that day. So I finished the interview, and after that they were like, ‘Hey, you’re staying, something’s going on Monday.’ But still nothing. I had no clue, and I had already been to SmackDown before and done backstages at Raw, so for me I was like, oh, okay, they just have me doing something or sitting in the crowd and waving or whatever. So they said something was gonna happen, I said, oh crap. So I called my family, and just by luck, my mom was on vacation in Florida at their spot, and I was like, do you mind driving down two hours to my place to watch the kids, so I can fly my wife? I think I’m doing something on Monday Night Raw, and she’s like, yeah, sure. So, last minute, get my wife a flight, fly her to Vegas, and then we end up going out for some crazy dinner, and as soon as I got back from eating 10,000 calories, they were like, ‘Oh yeah, you have a match tomorrow.’ But I literally found out either like the morning of or like very late the night before.”
People are very upset that you changed your entrance theme. “Good! screw them. It sucked. Everyone just wants to take everything and make it their own. Guys, this is professional wrestling. This is not some sing-song happy time. The way wrestling is now, music starts, and everyone thinks that they have the right to play along, like it’s for them or something. But every wrestler has some catchy tune, everyone sings, so I come out, and everyone was going ‘Ego!’ right away, and then they turned it into ‘asshole.’ Which you’re killing my entrance, especially on CW Network, where NXT is airing the whole time, where people are supposed to be talking about me, the commentators, legendary Booker T. Nobody’s hearing what he’s saying, because the crowd is doing what they want. They are literally cutting the audio. I have full entrances where you can’t hear anything.”
I know he was in character, but bravo for shitting on the indy asshat NXT crowd.