Ethan Page was on the latest episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast with Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone. Page made his AEW debut at Revolution, and he revealed when he found out about his debut.
“Probably a week or less before the match. I was given the date and start time, but it was up in the air because of the whole visa process,” Page recalled. “So before it was actually confirmed, which is literally probably about a week before, it was just a hope and a dream, which is a lot in pro wrestling, until it happens, it might not happen.”
Page then talked about how hard it was to keep his debut a secret.
“Honestly, the hardest part for me was between my previous employment, which was all pre-taped. The last thing I did in a ring was in November and the PPV was in early March,” Page noted. “There’s a big downtime, maybe about four months of not being active in the ring.
“I had to book private sessions in a closed-down wrestling school, during a pandemic, and Canada is very high restriction level. I’m trying to manage that, have a training partner that I trust that will keep a secret or not care why he’s coming to train with me.
“Then from there manage to come all the way from Canada to Jacksonville and not be spotted, and I think this was one of the first real openings of the crowd for AEW where they had people traveling into Jacksonville to see the show because I did get spotted at the airport and felt like such a dick that I just ignored this fan and just kept walking. And thank goodness the masks are there too because maybe there was a question of, was that really him, but it was stressful.”
Page later made his Dynamite debut in a match against Lee Johnson. He revealed his reaction to finding out that Johnson was his opponent.
“I had been watching the product, everything that was put out, leading up to this, and when I found that it was Lee, I was very excited because I knew he was very capable in the ring and an up-and-comer, and it was, I think, the perfect match,” Page said. “Going back to watch it, I’m very happy with how everything went, and there was a lot of risky things that, on a debut, I probably shouldn’t have taken the risk, like the body slam off the top rope. There’s so many parts that could go wrong, slipping the feet and the balance and everything like that. He was the perfect opponent to pull off so many things that highlighted me very well.”
Page had said on his vlog that he was glad that it took him over 15 years to finally sign with a big company like AEW. He explained why he felt that way.
“I just do not want this to come out in a negative way. I feel like, especially recently, a lot of wrestlers are getting to these high level jobs very quick in their careers, and not to say that they don’t understand the gravity of the position or the job, I just feel like I have a different understanding and appreciation for it, knowing how hard and how long it took for me to get here,” Page explained. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t get worried I’m getting fired.
“To me, this is the ultimate opportunity as a professional wrestler, and I couldn’t be happier that it took me this long to get here because of that. I will have forever an insane understanding of how special this job is. To say I wasn’t nervous would be a lot.
“I was having many panic attacks before this because I understood the gravity of the situation and the position, but it’s almost like muscle memory and just 15 years of experience, I can almost shut it off and just go out and do the job without even thinking about it. It puts me at an advantage with a lot of the younger and less experienced talents for sure.”
Page revealed previous interest AEW had in him, and he revealed who reached out to him and finally got him signed.
“There was interest originally before the company even opened. People didn’t know that I was under contract with Impact,” Page revealed. “They thought that it was a per date thing, and I kind of had to give them the, ‘Oh sorry, I’m locked up for a little while,’ and that was Cody that originally reached out to me, but then as time went by, my contract was coming to an end with my previous employer. And it was actually Matt Jackson that finally got things moving and locked me in.”
