Ethan Page has described the AEW system as “chaotic and unorganized”, compared to the “machine” at WWE NXT.
The 34-year-old was speaking with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows for the latest edition of their Talk’n Shop podcast.
Page left AEW in early May. He said:
It was definitely time to leave. My thought was I could sit in catering for the next three years and my career would end. Or I try and do something before my career ends, and here we are, yeah.
He added that it was always his dream to work for WWE:
Yeah, my favorite wrestlers are the Macho Man, The Rock, Billy Gunn — like, those are all the guys I like — Razor Ramon.
Page was then asked what it was felt like when he was preparing to debut for NXT. He said:
Pretty crazy, ‘cause I went from somewhere that was so chaotic and unorganized to a place that — I mean, I’m still learning ’cause I’m still so new here — but it’s just like, this is a machine. And it’s incredible. And it feels good to not feel like I have to do everything myself or like to have people that want to see me succeed is kind of mind-blowing.
He added:
I feel like I’m 17 years in and I still feel like — I don’t want to say the word green — but I’ve essentially had to do everything myself. Pretty much teach myself how to wrestle and now I’m like, no, there’s geniuses here all day that I could be like, “Does this suck? Yeah? Okay, well tell me how to do it better.”
Page, who debuted on the May 28th episode of NXT, added that he and his family are still based in Michigan but are planning a move to Orlando:
I will be moving here, probably around August. It’s a whole process: got to sell a house, buy a house. I have two kids, a wife. I’m very late in the stage of my career to be moving out here so fast, but yeah, we’re making it happen.
The three also reminisced about their time together in Impact Wrestling in 2020. Gallows and Anderson had a hand in recommending Page to people behind the scenes at AEW, which led to the Canadian getting a green card to work and live in the United States. Page said:
It changed my whole family’s life. I have a green card now. They can’t get me out of the country. They gotta let me stay at least for I think five or ten years or something like that.
On how his move to NXT came about, he said:
I just got a random phone call on a layover. And I was like, “This is not real.” And they’re like, “Yes, it is. Here’s the offer. Does that sound good?” And I was like, “Yes” And then they hung up.
And then someone else called me right after and they’re like, “Did you just speak to so and so?” “Yes.” “OK, well, we’re gonna need this, this, this, this, this, and then we’ll have everything sent over to you. And I was like, “Wait a second, that was a real phone call that just happened.”
