Ethan Page (@official_ego) is a professional wrestler and a member of the WWE Raw roster. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in London, England to discuss being a tag team champion with Cody Rhodes in Alpha-1 Wrestling, MJF hitting on his sister, winning the North American Championship in NXT, getting a custom Canadian Title and hating the Lance Storm comparisons, why his pairing with Chelsea Green worked so well, his NXT segment with The Rock, why he hated his old theme song that fans loved, and more!

What an incredible full-circle moment, where you went back to the promotion that you started, Alpha One Wrestling, with the WWE NXT North American Championship

“Yeah, custom, which I’m sure we can get into that. But to one, be given permission while working for WWE to go to my hometown, that’s the company that gave me all the opportunities, because I had to give them to myself. Nobody was like, ‘Oh, here you go, Ethan Page, here’s this on a silver platter for you.’ There’s nothing. So to go back and give back to the fans that supported me, my family that was like selling tickets at the door for me, and like dealing with all that, and concessions, and merchandise, and it was just, you’re right, a full circle is the perfect way to describe it. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life as one of my career highlights, in front of 350 people.”

Did you ask for permission? Was it presented to you? 

“100%. So, when we changed the championship to the Canadian design, I really, really, really wanted to go as hard in the paint I’m the greatest North American as I could, and we had no shows coming up in Canada. I think TNA actually had some shows coming up in Canada within the window, because I had pitched. I was like, I’ll go to TNA to defend the championship in Canada on shows. I’ll do it on an indie, because my original pitch was to wrestle in Alpha-1, obviously, so that I could get a championship defense in Mexico, Canada, and the US to be the greatest North American. So the idea started there, and then from that, just through conversation, they’re like, ‘Wait, what? You have an indie company?’ I’m like, ‘I might have like something to do with it. But the first question out of Shawn’s mouth was, ‘What do you draw?’ I’m like, oh, okay, perfect! So I was like, okay, I’m not in trouble. What can we kind of get away with here? He was like, look, you could definitely go cut a promo, make an appearance, and the trade-off too. I was like, I have the local news, I can chat with the local news to one, obviously promote my appearance the next day. Shout out CHCH, so we end up doing that, but I’m promoting Netflix because we’re all across Canada at the time with NXT. So they get something good out of it, I get something good out of it, something great, actually. So it was a dream come true.”

You were tag team champions in Alpha One with Cody Rhodes.

“Yeah, who’s the booker there?”

So how’d you book it that you guys would be tag team champions?

“He did. What do you mean? Yeah, could you imagine suggesting that to a guy, by the way, our relationship started off very interesting, because we both worked in Evolve, we had to fight each other, it was a whole thing. Then my promotion in Canada seemed to be one of the stops that he wanted to make, and regularly, and my building only holds a certain amount of people. So if you’re good at math, you can figure out very quick that we probably can’t afford Cody Rhodes, but he made sure that we could afford Cody Rhodes, which the company will be indebted to him forever, because until now that was the hottest time the company has ever had, and the exposure that he gave us was like astronomical, and just for me as a performer in itself, he did a lot, but he always made sure that we could afford him. But the biggest issue that I have with Cody was the European standoff with his merch money, because it was always like, okay, if you’re going to do this and you’re going to be a good brother and you’re going to come out here, take all this cash from this meet and greet. It was just me and him, there’s wrestlers that had to witness this weird standoff where we’re fighting with each other about who’s gonna take the money. He fought to not take a cent. I don’t know what your deal is, what the purpose was, or why you felt that I have to now owe you some form of debt, but don’t come to claim it, okay? Because even back then I tried to turn this down, and now we are where we are, and I don’t want you to come around. What are we almost 10 years now? 10 years later to collect a debt I know I don’t owe.”

There’s a story of MJF meeting Cody Rhodes for the first time, and it happened at your promotion, Alpha-1. Apparently this all started because MJF was allegedly hitting on your sister. What’s your version of the story?

“So, my version, first of all, that is a true story. From my perspective, that is a true story. He [Cody] did come to me and tell me that MJF was talking about my sister, and my family is very touchy thing for me. It’s my hard, fast rule is you could do whatever you want, say whatever you want, get away with whatever you want, don’t mention my family, don’t talk about my family, don’t mess with my family. So all of a sudden, at the time, MJF is like the young wrestler, up-and-coming wrestler, like he literally just met Cody that day. So this is kind of like the start of him getting going, so I hear this guy’s talking about my sister. I confronted him, and we were friends at the time, and I just couldn’t believe it, and he was very defensive, which I understand why he would be, and yeah, he did. He confronted Cody about it.”

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 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. I left it 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. Brother put some stickers on some championships. I made the WWE bend the knee. That’s a lot different.” 

How many titles did he have?

“I don’t know. I stopped counting. Well, first of all, I only need one championship that I would hold for a record amount of time, and a record amount of title defenses, more than anyone that’s ever held the championship. So, yes, he might have held many championships, but still have guys like Ultimo Dragon. That guy sucks too. This to me, look, you can have as many props as you’d like to boost your ego. It’s great. One championship is enough for me, and it’s what you make the championship. And I’ll say, while I was North American Champion, it was the most prestigious championship in all of WWE.” 

It’s been really fun watching you at these meet and greets. Which one’s been your favorite experience?

“Honestly, so I’ve been dying to get the footage of this, but at the last WrestleMania in Vegas, they had this cool experience where they trap you in this room, and they make you look like you’re standing in a glass box on the floor of WWE World. It’s this huge glowing case, and it looks like a video screen, so everyone assumes that what’s airing is pre-recorded, but while they’re just walking around, you’re interacting with people. So some guy’s walking by, and I go, ‘Hey, you in the Stone Cold T-shirt, I can smell your breath from back here.’ He’s like wait, what? And he turns around, all of a sudden, now he’s having a conversation with Ethan Page on this giant billboard. I thought that was such an incredible experience for fans, but also me. I just did mic work for 60 minutes at one point, just nonstop, just back and forth, and creating a crowd, and then I see some guy standing off to the side, so I’ll pull him in, and someone wants to now cut a promo, so they’re grabbing the microphone and just going back and forth, and it was one of the most fun experiences I have ever, ever, ever had, and with fans. The best part about it all, nobody had to touch me, nobody had to be near me. I didn’t have to smell you. It was fantastic. Didn’t catch anything. I didn’t get sick. I would have stayed there all day. They had to kick me out.”

Were you always this comfortable in the mic? Were you the kid in high school that loved doing presentations? 

“Oh, yeah, 100%. I mean, I anything to get in front of an audience, and then once I realized wrestling was the thing that I enjoyed doing in front of people. Me and my backyard wrestling buddies for the talent show at our school put on like a triple threat hardcore match on a mattress on the high school stage.”

What’s your go-to cheat meal?

“I don’t know, it changes all the time, because I’ll have like some kind of crazy craving for one specific thing, and then I’ll have to wait whatever time to get there, but my real go-to, I have a crazy match coming up, or whatever. The first thing I’ll be begging my wife to make these chocolate chip cookies that she makes, and they are incredible.”

You had a segment with The Rock in NXT. Was there a chat before or after that segment with him?

“Honestly, both. That whole experience was fantastic. I would say the best part was getting to be able to tell him, ‘Hey, when I started all this, the number one goal was seeing what I created on screen with what I admired.’ He was the absolute pinnacle of what I admire from professional wrestling. So he’s, to me, the best. So to get to see what I cultivated in wrestling on screen with my number one wrestler. I mean, there’s nothing else that I need to do, unless he wants to have a match with me.”

Are you calling him out?

“Sure, why not? I’ll get you some clicks. Come on Rock, put your little underwear on. Let’s do it. Everybody wants to see your hamstrings. Anyways, that was an unreal experience. So I got to tell him that it was very, very good experience. I’m very happy that I could actually share that with him, and just be like, hey, I’m very proud of this. I wanted to say thanks, it was very great. But there was an interaction we had when we were going through everything and the situation is very interesting. So I ended up putting my hand up like I was in school because they were debating on like how to handle something, so I was like, ‘May I make a suggestion?’ They’re like yeah sure go ahead. So I say what I say, and they go, ‘Yep, that’s good. We’ll just do that.’ So after the interview, Rock’s like, ‘Hey, don’t ever second-guess yourself ever again. If you think it and if you feel it, say it. Worst is we say no.’ I was like, oh, okay. So I’ve definitely taken that with me going forward through the rest of my career in WWE, and it’s definitely helped me.”

You’ve had some brutal moments in NXT. You took out Je’Von Evans’ teeth with a chair. Talk me through that.

“Hey, sometimes you just got to do what you’re told. I will say this: that whole experience gave me something that I desperately needed in NXT, which was like a very hard edge, and it gave the character something that it desperately needed for the next, I guess, whatever time that I had in NXT, and that whole moment it was pivotal for Ethan Page.” 

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 available now. Go grab it!”

I loved your facial expressions when you get trapped into this box with Oba Femi.

“My favorite of that is the swimming, trying to get out of the box. But ironically, one of the most painful moments of my wrestling career happened when he pulled me back into the box. If you go watch it back, my head is genuinely bouncing like a basketball off of the walls, but then at the end he ends up palming my face into the glass before the door buzzes to open. I just remember my head hitting it like, oh my god, this guy is a maniac! So yeah, Oba Femi, great guy.”

Did you ever think it would come to a point in your career where you didn’t think WWE was ever going to happen?

“Oh yeah, dude, I have this clip, and I’ve texted to a couple people, because I’ve filmed everything in my life, pretty much, especially when I started. When I was with Evolve, my wife convinced me to get a GoPro and start vlogging, but I had no clue what I was doing, so I just have random footage from back in Evolve, then all through TNA, all through Japan, England, all through AEW. I like pretty much filmed as much of it as I could for YouTube, and there was the time I was leaving TNA, and I decided not to stay. In that window, I had gotten an email while in Nashville, recording the show for Impact, and the email was from WWE, telling me that they’re never going to hire me. So I had my camera, and I’m vlogging. I read the email, and I’m like, oh man, what am I going to do? I just told Impact that I’m not staying. AEW was a possible option, but nothing was concrete. Then I get this email being like, ‘Yeah, we’re not hiring you, just stop.’ Pretty much this is the end of the road, it’s not gonna happen, just let it go. So I filmed myself right after reading the email, and then had a conversation with myself documenting it, pretty much being like, ‘You gonna be okay with this, or are you gonna like shove it up their ass?'”

How are you and Chelsea Green able to make such magic together?

“You know, you could ask me that about pretty much anyone I’ve ever worked with. I don’t think there’s a wrestler alive that I haven’t been able to make magic with. But I will say Chelsea has the exact same intangible quality, so when you put us together, it’s like truly magical, and probably one of the most fun times I’ve had in my career. As far as like laughing at work, yes.”

It looked like you guys were just going for it all this.

“Oh, yes, of course. I mean, I’m always going for it, but with her it was like, I don’t know, you ever get with one of the friends that’s like a good influence, but also a bad influence? That was us for each other.”

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, and 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.”

What is Ethan Page grateful for?

“People’s generosity, my family, and my youth.”

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