Ethan Page On Working With The Rock In WWE, CM Punk, NXT North American Championship, Ricky Saints

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Ethan Page (OfficialEGO) is a professional wrestler signed to WWE and the current NXT North American Champion. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Insight live at the Hollywood Improv to discuss his brutal match with Ricky Saints where he won the title, his backstage segment with The Rock, taking a GTS from CM Punk on the NXT on CW premiere, being able to keep his name in WWE, possibly becoming a Grand Slam Champion and more!

Quote I'm thinking about: “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” ―Henry Ford 

On his brutal match with Ricky Saints:

"Haven’t been arrested! Well he hasn’t been back to work. So, I mean, there's a good and bad in that, depending on who you're asking. For me, I think it's good. I would like to just add it to the list of terrible things I've done to human beings at work and gotten away with it."

On his mean streak in NXT:

"A part of me that I've known has been there my whole life, and then Shawn Michaels pulling it out of me. I don’t know, maybe he just sees a little of his crazy ass in mine, and he's just like, hey, let's be some pricks together."

On a possible babyface turn:

"That's an interesting question. It would take a lot in me to be nice to strangers [laughs]. At this stage in my career, with the amount of things that I feel like fans expect from me, I don't know if I would ever like to be nice."

On being NXT North American Champion:

"What an interesting question. It means a lot to me, and the more I think about it, I think it should mean a lot more to NXT. There was a moment in my NXT career where I was challenging Tony D for the North American Championship, and I told him in the locker room that this championship was beneath me, and now I'm sitting here holding this same championship, and I wanted to address that. After some time and thinking and using my logical brain in professional wrestling, which usually doesn't work out, I came to the conclusion that the North American Championship is actually the most prestigious championship in NXT. I mean, Oba Femi, current NXT Champion. In description he's the champion of NXT, which its home base is in Orlando at the Performance Center. So Oba Femi is the champion of the Performance Center. Ethan Page is the champion of three entire countries. Meaning that this championship is also higher than the United States Championship. So I wanted to actually thank Jacob Fatu for doing such a great job representing the US, as his superior. Because, born in Canada, made in America, and tomorrow will be beating some Mexican luchadors. I am the greatest American to ever hold the North American Championship, and this is truly the championship in NXT. Prove me wrong."

On his NXT debut:

"[It came together] Very quickly, within like a week or two. I just ended up getting a phone call. This story might already be out there, but I was in between events. I was flying from Winnipeg. I had to go to Detroit and then drive from Detroit to Ohio for Revolver wrestling. And in between my connections, WWE called and offered me a job. And I did not think the call was real. The first call happened, they hung up, and I was like, Yep, that was a crank call. Then the second call came, and I was like, 'Whoa, whoa, wait, this is real?!' And they're like, 'Yes, we would like to offer you a contract.' I was like, very nice."

On winning the NXT Championship in record time:

"Let's just add to that stat as well. Magically, because of how amazing I am. I won both singles championships in less than 365 days. It was 364, but still less than a year."

On taking a GTS from CM Punk after losing the title on the CW premiere:

"Let's also talk about how that was the last thing people saw on that episode is confetti falling in my stupid face after CM Punk knocked me out in the middle of the ring. You know what? There was some joy that I got out of it. It was the fact that Trick Williams won the championship. But the last thing people saw was my stupid face."

On his segment with The Rock:

"To me, doing anything with him was always the dream. I was very fortunate enough to be given the chance to pull him to the side and tell him what it meant to see something that I created on my own and envisioned my whole life would be on screen with my favorites. To do it with my actual number one, and in the position that he's in, and what he's been doing for the last couple of years, the amount of things that needed to fall into place for this to happen, pretty crazy. But I was very glad that I was able to express that to him and to get some one-on-one time, and then it just kept extending, he gave me great advice, and he's turned me into an absolute menace. Because, I mean, when the person you look up to the most, pretty much tells you to not hold back. Yeah, you ain't gonna hold back. I'm sorry Ricky Saints about your throat."

On how much inspiration he took from The Rock:

"Quite a bit, honestly. Mostly, I would say just in the confidence to say and do whatever you feel like out there, like on a microphone or in front of an audience. He's someone that's completely comfortable in doing some ridiculous things, or what he finds entertaining, or what he finds funny, but he's always, I feel like just at that perfect level of charisma, and I tried to keep the energy the same and give people their money's worth when I'm entertaining them."

On the biggest pinch-me moments:

"The obvious one would be to be on screen with The Rock, but having Undertaker backstage very often because they're filming the LFG stuff, and he's just constantly there, that is sometimes the most surreal. Mostly just because, I mean, I'm just having a conversation with a wrestler of that status and the amount of, I mean, just for him to compliment me at all is a pinch me moment. I won't get too much into it. But yeah, I've had a couple with him, and those have all blown me away."

On working with Shawn Michaels:

"I mean, that's crazy too. There are many days where I show up to work and I can't believe the cast of characters that I'm around. Yeah, I can't say enough good things about working for and with Shawn Michaels, I've never had that good of a relationship with anyone in that position in my career. So it blows my mind that I get along with one of the greatest wrestlers of all time."

On getting put through a table at the 2300 Arena

"D-Von brought that table out. What a jerk. Okay, I'll give you something positive out of this, and then I'll give you a little funny story too. The positive is that I had one of the worst matches of my entire career on my 19th birthday, which is ironic, because I turned 19 in America, would have made me legal drinking age in Canada, but I decided to go have a bad match in the ECW Arena instead, that match haunted me my entire life. So I have spent many years in that hole in the wall of a building. So to get to redeem myself and to go back there with the WWE was very cool. And a little backstory, I ended up winning that match, even though I was dealing with an infection that day, and my entire body broke out into hives, and we had to get that under control before the match. So yeah, I'm pretty much the most hardcore guy that's ever wrestled in the ECW arena. Just saying, your little cuts on your forehead, don't give a crap. My whole body sucked that day." 

On his SmackDown appearance:

"To actually perform on SmackDown, yeah, that was last week or the week before, and I was on commentary, which caught me off guard. Was very happy that so many people got to hear my voice for that long."

They just let you run your mouth 

"Oh, they sure did. They sure did. And I'm happy that they did. And if you would like to keep letting me Triple H, I would love it." 

What is Ethan Page grateful for?

"My family, my health, and the professional wrestler WWE has made me become."

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