Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Ethan Page Is Absolutely JACKED Now, MJF Title Match, Why He Stopped His Toy Hunts, Darby Allin Coffin Match

Episode Date: December 7, 2023

Ethan Page (@officialego) is a professional wrestler currently signed to AEW and Ring of Honor. He is previously known for his time in IMPACT Wrestling. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood,... CA to talk about getting into the best shape of his life, his AEW World Title match against MJF in his hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, the most painful part of his coffin match with Darby Allin, why he asked to be put on Ring of Honor, working with UFC Legend Junior Dos Santos, why he stopped doing toy hunt videos on YouTube, the return of his Alpha1 wrestling promotion, working with Matt & Jeff Hardy and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: How you do anything is how you do everything. - Martha Beck Sponsors: ZBIOTICS: Get 15% off with the code CVV and have a better morning after you drink at http://zbiotics.com/cvv FITBOD: Get 25% off when you use the code INSIGHT at http://fitbod.me/INSIGHT MYBOOKIE: Bet on WWE! Get up to $200 cash bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com GHOSTBED: Get 40% of your purchase with the code CVV at http://ghostbed.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to http://TryMiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 25% For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 All systems are go. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleleet. All right. Welcome back to another one on Insight. I'm CBV, Chris Van Fleet. Thanks for being with us, whether this is your first episode
Starting point is 00:00:17 that you've ever tuned into or whether you've been with us for all 541 of these. Also, also, thank you for making Insight one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. It's because of you,
Starting point is 00:00:32 because you show up. each and every week. And this, you might have noticed, has become unintentionally AEW Canada week here on the show. We had a great conversation with Chris Jericho on Tuesday. Actually, one of my favorite conversations I think we've ever done. I've done, I think it's five interviews with Chris Jericho, but there's just something about him. He's just so open and honest. And look, he's been wrestling for 34 years. It's tough to put all of that into an hour. But, But we covered a lot during that conversation, and he just tells such great stories.
Starting point is 00:01:07 So if you haven't checked that one out yet, when this one's done, go check out the episode with Chris Jericho. And then we got my good friend Ethan Page back on the show today. It's our fourth interview. And I've known Ethan for, my goodness, well over 10 years,
Starting point is 00:01:23 maybe even 15 years. And I've seen him at every stage of his journey, from the Indies to impact to signing with AEW. and now he's on the cusp of doing some big things in Ring of Honor slash AEW. And as we record this right now, he has a huge match against Kenny Omega on collision this Saturday in our home country of Canada. And I just feel like Ethan Page has been the best kept secret in wrestling. Between his title match with MJF, now this match with Kenny Omega in a few days. I mean, I guess it feels like maybe it's not a secret anymore.
Starting point is 00:02:01 He's just fantastic. And if you haven't noticed, he looks like a million bucks. I mean, he went from Dad Bod to like Bodybuilder. And we talk all about that. And maybe, you know, Bodybuilder is not your goal here for you that's listening to this. But just the small changes he's made in his life has completely changed everybody's perspective of him. Because when you look at a guy who looks the way that he does, it's hard to ignore. It's hard to look past him.
Starting point is 00:02:33 If you're listening to this right now and you're one of the many, many people who have unfortunately not clicked follow on the show yet, could I ask for just one thing? Could you take a second right now to hit follow on whatever app it is that you're listening on? That one little thing, which is free, by the way, helps the show so much. And you guys have seen the guests we've been getting this year. So as Insight keeps getting bigger and more and more people keep, following the show.
Starting point is 00:03:02 Oh, just wait to see who we have lined up for 2024. Oh, I've been trying so hard locking down a date. I don't want to say specifically who it is, but I will say that when this interview happens, you won't be able to see him. I have said too much. If you enjoy this conversation, please snap a screenshot, tag us and share it online,
Starting point is 00:03:25 and we'll share it out as well. Ethan Page, very active on social media. So if you tag him, How cool would that be if he retweets you or takes your story and puts it on his story? He's that official ego. I'm at Chris Van Fleet and let's do this. Enjoy my conversation with me and Ethan Page. So off camera or on camera, I don't really care.
Starting point is 00:03:52 This is the most, you've interviewed me now at every stage of my career that I needed help. Wow. I don't know if you know, if you can sense it or if it's just, that's just, that's just, my timing with the universe. But yeah. I mean, I'm honored. Did you say that? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:09 But it's true. I was like, oh, this is my guardian angel. He's back. Well, we can start right with that. Well, that's the thing that we will start with that. Oh, sure. Yeah, putting you over? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:22 I think, I mean, the interview is going now, so. Yeah. Yeah, no, for real. Like, the first, the first interview we did, I was at impact. Yep. It was here in LA too. Yes, it was, yeah. And in a hotel.
Starting point is 00:04:37 Yeah. I remember I had the tag team championship. And you were about to give up your YouTube channel. You're like, it's too much work. Nothing's happening here. Yes. Don't give up. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:48 And that changed my career. One, that interview gave me the exposure I needed to grow like a new pocket of fans. And then through that, like once it's like the ball gets rolling. And that was the first one. And then the second one was my transition from there to AEW. You interviewed me right. Like, I don't even think I had a match, maybe one match or two matches. It had just been announced that you had signed with AEW.
Starting point is 00:05:14 Yeah. And you put in a word. You were like, I want to do this interview with Chris. Yes. And we made it happen. We got it up quickly. Yeah. That was, and that meant a lot to me too.
Starting point is 00:05:25 Yeah. Because at that time, I wasn't getting a lot of AEW interviews. Well, my thing was if. Someone's willing to help me when I really need it. And like your platform was much bigger than mine. It still is. We were talking off camera that you are legendary content creator right now. But for me, if someone is willing to help me out when it's unbalanced,
Starting point is 00:05:51 the second that I have any weight at all, I'm going to throw it around for the people that help me out when I needed it the most. And then the next interview we did was in Las Vegas in the studio. And that I feel like, I was on a high in my career. And now here we are, this is our fourth one. Yeah. I'm still trying to compete with The Rock with most interviews with you.
Starting point is 00:06:09 He's done 10. Okay, well, I'll catch up. I think Don Gisler's done 16. 16. The most recent one you did with him was incredible. He sat in that very chair. Thank you. I've been texting with Nick.
Starting point is 00:06:21 And I'm like, so. Oh, you're trying to get scoops? Is that your nude thing? Not really. I know it's not. The show is not about scoops at all. That's why I like talking to you. You know what the prize.
Starting point is 00:06:31 problem with getting scoops is, and this is a little insight, pun intended for everybody, is if we get a scoop here, then someone can't go and watch this interview a year or two or five from now because what we're talking about is probably 17 storylines behind. Yeah, okay, I get what you're saying. And too, you bank stuff too, so you have content that's not going to... A little bit. Yeah. But I think that the idea is like, I want these interviews to be as evergreen as possible so that people can learn about the guest. Yeah. They can borrow some, you know, things that happen in their life and apply them to their own
Starting point is 00:07:05 life. Yeah. And if someone watches this interview in 2027, they can go, oh, wow, that thing that Ethan said about this or this, man, I'm starting to do that now. Yeah. And that's viewers' point of view. Now, imagine my personal point of view, because I'm remembering things that we talked about. And then from that interview to the next interview,
Starting point is 00:07:28 so much has changed. Then it's like, to me, I'm like, oh, he interviewed a completely different person because I wasn't even
Starting point is 00:07:35 the same guy than the last time. And now we're on the fourth one. The last time we interviewed was when I was with American top team. Scorpio Sky was T&T champion. I think we either just
Starting point is 00:07:45 wrapped up with the inner circle stuff and had the match with Paige Van Zant that weekend. So, like, that was insane high for my career. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:57 Amazing time. Now we're at a different crossroad of my career. And a lot has changed since the last time we talked to. You certainly didn't have these dad glasses on. No, actually, I remember the last time we interviewed, I did have glasses and I hid them. And I was like, yeah. Do you need LASIC?
Starting point is 00:08:17 Oh, yeah. Oh, I can, I will love LASIC. I will yell from the rooftops how great least this is. Okay, try and sell it on me because other people have said, I will tell two words that we'll sell you go the rock I got LASIC at the same place the rock got LASIC so I got to go to the same place you might as well Wayne Johnson I went in there I went in there and they're like big show was on the wall and the rock was on the wall I'll talk to Paul about it for sure then same guy okay Dr. Lessner was his name not Lesner
Starting point is 00:08:48 Dr. Lesner imagine Brock Lesner doing it stand still he's he's I mean it's in Miami I you'd have to go there but yeah i mean the technology is so good right well that's the thing is i'll talk to you and you're saying yes 100 percent do it i've i've talked to wrestlers that i've said it's changed their careers but i've also talked to wrestlers that said they're on their 10th lacing wow it's like oh it just keeps going away i had it in 2018 and my vision's still like it's better than 2020 damn yeah and here's the crazy part about it so you go in they test your eyes they do all the measurements and everything the surgery in quote itself, you're in that room for like six minutes.
Starting point is 00:09:32 Like they zapped one eye for 10 seconds. They zapped the other eye for like 15 seconds. I sat up, like so I'm laying on the operating table or whatever I sat up and immediately I could see the time on the clock. And I was like, oh my God, I could see. No way. I almost started crying. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:51 And then I went into this other room and they wanted to just test to make sure everything was fine. I immediately could see 2020. And then a week later, when I went in for the follow-up, I was seeing better than 2020. So in your mind, you're like, oh, I'll never have that good vision. So the second that you get off the table and you're like, oh, my God, it's back? Like, how is that? It's got to be a crazy feeling.
Starting point is 00:10:11 It was like living life with contacts all the time without the irritation of contacts. I can't do context. That's why I just wrestle blind. Maybe that's why I don't win that much. This episode is brought to you by Blue Chew. And if you've ever been thinking of trying Blue Chew, how about your first month for free? Yeah, when you use the promo code CVV at checkout at bluechew.com, you'll get your first month for free. You just have to pay $5 for shipping.
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Starting point is 00:12:13 Go to try miracle.com slash CVV. They're already on sale right now like 40% off. But if you use the promo code, CVV at checkout, you'll get an additional 20% off and three free towels on top of that. So go to try miracle.com slash CVV and use that promo code CVV. We had a few moments from the last interview go viral. Like you talking about never wearing the same shirt twice. Oh, people loved commenting on that.
Starting point is 00:12:46 Well, they're going to hate me because I almost packed a duplicate shirt. And as I'm leaving, my wife's like, what are you going to wear for the interview with Chris? And I was like, oh, I was thinking this one. She's like, you've worn that one before. I'm like, yeah, but. She's keeping tabs. Well, no, she's like, you said it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:05 On the interview. Yeah. You got to honor it. So this shirt is yours, Chris. This is it? It's the only time you'll ever see it? Yeah. I think you could have undone a few more buttons there.
Starting point is 00:13:15 Okay, so I was about to faint in this Uber because this material, I had no clue what I ordered. It is like a sweater. There's no breathability. It does not mobile at all. I just want to look good. I'm so sweaty right now. The other thing that went viral is me talking about how, like, I had a candy addiction. Dude.
Starting point is 00:13:38 Your gum thing is getting me through this, like, training program I'm doing. Like, it is saving my life. You need that sweet hit. Sugar-free gum. And any time I have some kind of craving, which is always later in the night when my meals are done, I know I don't have anything left. Yeah. That's always I'm grabbing the watermelon food. flavored gum just to have some kind of thing or even the cinnamon one just so that my taste buds
Starting point is 00:14:02 just get a backhand and it's just something different. For people that don't know what we're talking about, I was one of those people that would buy like the movie size bag of like Swedish fish or sour patch kids and destroy the entire thing. Like eat the entire thing in an afternoon. And I knew that that was just terrible for me, like 66 grams of sugar or whatever. It's pretty logical thought. But like I would really start to feel it like you'd feel great and then I would come off that sugar high. and it would be like this terrible sugar crash. Of course. So I started buying candy flavored gum.
Starting point is 00:14:33 Yeah, sugar, Swedish fish, sugar-free gum, like Swedish fish flavored gum. The airhead one is great. The airhead one's so good. It is great, yeah. The ice cubes gum, they have such good flavors. I think I'm allergic to those. Oh, what? Yeah, my tongue swells up.
Starting point is 00:14:48 And you're talking about the ones that are square, right? They have like the crystallized stuff. They're so delicious. So, but something happens. I don't know what it is with the chemicals or whatever. we got to stay away from that one. Yeah. I found one that is,
Starting point is 00:15:00 because the deeper I dive into this, I'm also realizing how bad dyes are, like red 40 and blue 5. Yeah. So my wife and I are chewing a gum called Pure Gum, P-U-R. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's great. Yeah, there's no flavors.
Starting point is 00:15:15 It's aspartame-free. So not only sugar-free, but aspartame-free. Boy, we've gone down quite a rabbit hole here. But it leads us back to, you're in phenomenal shape. Oh, right. Thank you very much. And you're only halfway through this journey?
Starting point is 00:15:30 Yeah, I think I have three or four weeks left. Well, my plan was the Ring of Honor Paperview is coming up on December 15th on the Honor Club app. And that's where I'm wrestling now. So I had a goal and I don't want to assume I'm on the pay-per-view, but in my mind I'm trying to manifest the fact that I've gotten in great shape. I'm on a roll there. I'm having better matches, physically better, mentally better. my confidence is up. So in my mind, I'm on the pay-per-view. Yeah. So make sure you watch it. But that's going to be my last day for this diet. So that's my
Starting point is 00:16:07 like end goal. So whatever, however long that is, that's what I have left. And how long, how long was the whole nutrition plan? Uh, 12 weeks, but because of the pay-per-view, I think it might have added a week or maybe two weeks or a week and a half. Yeah. Because I did the same type of thing. Yeah. So I turned 40 last May. Yeah. And I saw your pizza photo with your abs, bro. I hate you so much. Pizza. That's the secret to getting out.
Starting point is 00:16:32 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I've always taken my health pretty seriously, and I've always taken my diet and nutrition pretty seriously. But for my 40th birthday, I really wanted to dial it in. I had a lot of big life changes happening. I was about to turn 40, which is a huge milestone. Yes.
Starting point is 00:16:46 It's also about to become a dad. Have we seen each other since you've had a kid? No. Congrats. It's amazing, isn't it? It's the best. Okay, we will talk about that. Sorry, go back to your diet.
Starting point is 00:16:57 Because I'll talk about kids with you for this whole interview. I'm going to cry. Oh, it's the best. But I, so Logan was about to be born, my daughter, 40th birthday, all of this stuff. Thank you. She's the best. So I was like, I want to redefine what the dad bod looks like. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:17:16 So I worked with AJ Sims who at Cement Factory on Instagram. He's worked with Tomaso Champa. Moose. Anyone that goes through that program ends up a savage. Yes. To shred it. treaded. Elias was with him.
Starting point is 00:17:29 Like EC3 was the guy who connected me. It's not easy, as you know. Yeah. But man, if you have the dedication to stick to it, it is so rewarding. Yeah, but I got to go. I think maybe I got to go through your, listen, Cesar Bononi is the guy who's doing my program. And it's working, by the way.
Starting point is 00:17:48 It's a hundred percent. It's a little closer. I feel like our handshake kind of ruined it. Okay. Yeah, my bad. Okay. Are we good? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:17:53 All right. So Cesar Bononi is the one doing my program. He writes everything. It's like a 24-7. I have to take pictures of everything that I eat and send it to him. If I'm on the road and then I don't have my meals with me or they don't have what I'm looking for, I have to send him a picture of the menu and then he orders for me. My workouts are all planned by him.
Starting point is 00:18:15 They're all time to have to write down every weight that I lift, the amount of weight, all that stuff. It's amazing. But every time I see these. Cement Factory, you guys. They're always eating cereal, and I'm not getting any cereal with Sessar. Cereal is the post-workout meal. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:32 When he sent it to me, because he doesn't send a grocery list, he sends the meal list. Yeah. And I'm going through this, I'm like, all right, turkey breast and rice, broccoli, okay, protein shake. I'm like, rice Krispies? Right. And it was like the frosted rice Krispies. So we went to Walmart.
Starting point is 00:18:49 Right. And we bought the family size of frosted rice Krispies. and the other one was like some checks, was one of the other post-workout meals. And it's a lot. It's two cups of cereal. Which is amazing. As a post-workout,
Starting point is 00:19:02 but your body needs the carbs. So that's the science behind you. So I'm learning the science. And one thing that I was really stuck on was this thought, if I don't eat food, I will lose weight. Which is like, I get there's some truth to that, but I was not fueling my body enough.
Starting point is 00:19:20 And then I was working out to just bring, calories. So I was eating away at my muscle while storing fat. Like this is all nerdy science bodybuilding stuff. But I was not eating enough food. I was like malnutrition, overworking, and never resting. And now I understand the science of rest and working certain body parts on certain days. And this is all just, I don't know any of it. I'm being told what to do. And I just shut my brain off and I do it. I'm a robot. That's actually the best part about working with a nutritionist. Yes. You don't have to think about what your next meal is because you know exactly what it's going to be. Right, yeah. I was shocked at how much I was eating and also losing weight.
Starting point is 00:19:58 Same. Like, it was six meals a day that includes a pre-workout meal and a post-workout meal. Okay. So then four like, you know, real solid meals, yeah. The meal six, which is like an hour before bed, which was sauteed spinach with ground bison. Oh, bison's good. Really good. Yeah. It was so difficult to eat that with a little bit of rice. It was so difficult to eat that meal because It was already so full. Full. Yeah. That was my first three weeks.
Starting point is 00:20:24 And you're still cutting weight while eating all this food. It was blowing my mind. I remember wanting to quit. I was telling my wife, I was like, I asked this guy to help me lose weight. Like I asked him, I said, I want abs. That's what I said. He said, okay, that's our plan. No problem.
Starting point is 00:20:41 And I'm like, this is too much food. I can't even finish this last meal. Like, he's making me eat bread. I have two pieces of toast for breakfast every day. Now I'm eating rice. Like, I'm going to be so fat. Yeah. Boom. And then everything changed. And now, like, I'm sitting in this chair right now, having had a meal today. I'm starving.
Starting point is 00:20:58 You can have an F3 energy. I just cracked mine open. Caffeine, that'll suppress my. There's only 120 grams of caffeine in there. Oh, actually, I need a drink like this. Well, because if we have the pre-workout in the morning and then you get a little crash midday, I don't want to have another 200 milligrams of caffeine. You've already worked out today. Yeah. So you did the pre-workout. Yes. You worked out? You didn't have anything after that?
Starting point is 00:21:23 No. Whoa. You're a priority, my friend. You may pass out during this interview. We'll see. We'll see how amped up we get. But maybe not, because I've got F3 fuel for fighters. And it's, I mean, I don't even, I mean to, like, make this an advertisement, but these are fantastic.
Starting point is 00:21:40 It was delicious. Yeah. Like, right? Original. Kind of tastes a little bit like cotton candy. Yeah. It's fruity. This has been a big thing in the streaming world.
Starting point is 00:21:47 Like with Kik, people that are streaming live on Kik. Everyone's like... What's kick? It's kind of like Twitch. Oh, okay. Yeah. So my buddy actually started this company, Harrison Rogers, and he's fantastic. He has, he also started UFL, the United Fight League, and the United Fight League, and the United
Starting point is 00:22:03 Fight League is the first MMA league to give health benefits and revenue sharing for their fighters. What? Yeah. That's amazing. I don't know why everyone's not talking about that. That's so cool. So Harrison's a, there was a huge thing about pay and MMA, right?
Starting point is 00:22:19 There still is. There still is. Yeah. Yeah. So the fact that he's actually like saying like someone ponied up to it. Yeah. We're going to put our money where our mouth is. So nothing but respect for Harrison and cheers.
Starting point is 00:22:30 Oh, dude, cheers. Here we go. Thanks for keeping me awake. I don't know how much leaner you can get. You're already extremely lean. I'm trying. I think, you know, I'll say in the interview, so I have to do it. Screw it.
Starting point is 00:22:43 I'll probably do a fitness competition in 2024. Wow. Yeah. Something happened. I don't know. Maybe it's just kind of the way the landscape of wrestling or just my age or point of my career. I've kind of just come to terms with the fact that I can't control anything other than what I do with myself. So like career-wise, I mean, it's kind of in somebody else's hands.
Starting point is 00:23:10 But my body, like no one's going to force me to eat a donut. So I can control that. I can control what I eat, what I do, what I lift, how I train, how I do. sleep. And then that got me excited. And I just got obsessed with the fact that if this is a thing that I put my effort into and I dedicate myself to, no one can stop me from succeeding in it. Whereas with professional wrestling, there's a lot of things that you kind of have to magically line up to get to where you envision. Whereas with this, it's just me and only me. So is that a goal of like, I want to get on stage and compete? Yeah, just once. Just once? Yeah, yeah. Okay. And then
Starting point is 00:23:49 I've done stand-up once. I got to say I did that. And this is just like another, I don't know, I'm a weirdo like that. And I just get excited by putting myself in awkward situations and challenging myself. Yeah. I feel like there's been a big transition happening
Starting point is 00:24:05 on your YouTube channel. So. Oh, God. Yeah. Yeah, we could talk about that, I guess. So it was vlogs for a long time. Yes. When you were an impact, it was backstage vlogs.
Starting point is 00:24:16 Yeah. You on the road. Mm-hmm. And you stopped the vlogs. You realize that there was a lot of interest in the toy hunts. Yeah. So you went hard on the toy hunts. Committed.
Starting point is 00:24:26 Your numbers were great. You're so close right now to 100,000 subscribers. And I'm losing every day. Really? Oh, yeah. No. About 200 a month right now. But I have a plan and there's a whole thing and I'm a lot less like knee-jerk reaction than I was a couple of years ago.
Starting point is 00:24:41 So I'm okay. I'm sitting in what's happening right now. So you're losing the toy fans? I think it's. I made a promise to my viewers that I didn't understand what would take the key. And then what was the promise? That I would put out a video every single Sunday. I would go to a new toy store in America.
Starting point is 00:25:07 I would promote that store. I would have guests. It was just a, it wasn't just me doing something. I don't know. It was a lot to line up and it was a lot to promise. And then it also, in a way, kind of like killed the joy of toy hunting and collecting toys. And it made it almost like I had to. And there were like you can go back and watch.
Starting point is 00:25:37 I had videos out every single week. There were weeks that you were like, oh, this guy made a video because he said that he was going to make a video. Not because he was enthusiastic. And obviously, like, I put the effort in and stuff like that. And then through that time, too, I was also dealing with some crazy depression and some personal stuff happening in my life. But then also I have kept this promise. So it's like, while my life's happening, while no one knows what's happening, I have to deliver these goods because I don't want to disrespect the people that got me to the place that I am. And, you know, obviously my life is going in perception-wise very well.
Starting point is 00:26:15 So I don't want people to be like, oh, come on, man, you can't go on through tough times. Like, you know, television, you've got beautiful wife and your kids. And that's always in the back of my mind. So while I was dealing with what I'm dealing with and you could just go look at how my body looked, like I was going through something. That's when I was like, oh, man, like I'm falling out of love with something that I was obsessed with. And then it just became like crazy work. And then I was like, I don't want my fans to consume content that I don't love. So where is the turn now?
Starting point is 00:26:46 What's the content you're making now that you love? Nothing. That's not true. You're putting out a lot of content. No, no, no, no. You just don't love it. It's something that if I'm putting something out, it's something that inspired me. And also, I've decided to kind of, once I realized that, like the last time we did the interview,
Starting point is 00:27:06 I was doing American Top Team stuff. things were going fantastic. Not to say that I'm not happy. I just noticed a change in my career and I realized that I really needed to start focusing on professional wrestling more and dedicating myself to that, which is actually why I requested to do the Ring of Honor stuff
Starting point is 00:27:25 because our roster has grown so big that the opportunities to be physically active in the ring come a lot less. And that's just the nature of the beast. Tony wants to have the best wrestlers in the world and I commend them for it, we have them all. But the matches come less. So I wanted to be more active.
Starting point is 00:27:44 And as I age, I started to notice that my body was starting to feel a little bit tighter. And when you're not wrestling as often, your body is adjusting way different. So I was like, okay, dude, you're either going to end your career by just getting stagnant and fatter and more depressed. And I could definitely kept continuing to do the YouTube videos and selling ads. through an agency and I was doing very well and things were great. But that was kind of my full-time job. And then everything else kind of took a back seat and that in like the trajectory of that, if that makes any sense.
Starting point is 00:28:21 There's a quote that I say often. It's the man who chases two rabbits, catches none. Yes. And it's so true that if you're chasing just the YouTube thing, how are you going to be the best wrestler? Correct. Because your focus is over here. Correct.
Starting point is 00:28:34 So, but I feel like we saw a glimpse of this. That match with you and MJF. It felt like a very different version of Ethan Page. Thank you. You coming out to the ring, that promo had so much intensity. Yeah. And I know that the stakes were high, you know, AEW World Championship. You were in your hometown, Hamilton, Ontario.
Starting point is 00:28:51 My dream venue with my parents in the front row, my daughter and wife in the front row. Is it Cops Coliseum? Cops Colesum. Well, that's the, you're the man for saying that, by the way. Because now it's like the first Ontario center or something like that. No, it's Cops Colesium, home of the first ever Royal Rumble, won by, I saw Jim Duggan. You know what's so funny to me, though, is wrestling fans are so quick to say the new name
Starting point is 00:29:16 of the person, right? Like, the second that Adam Copeland debuts, he's no longer edge. He's like, no, Adam Copeland. I think you're talking about Adam. I think you're talking about Daniel Bryan Danielson. Oh, yeah. Dude, when you were talking about the LASIC earlier, in my brain, I'm like, say Paul White, say Paul White, say Paul White, don't say picture.
Starting point is 00:29:35 But what's so funny is those exact same people. People will go, it'll always be the Skydome to me. Oh, yeah, always be the Staples Center. It's like, so you do it all, it's not Crypto's Outcom Arena. It's the staple center. So you'd rather just promote that other company that used to have the naming rights. But you're so quick to go, it's, he's Paul White. It doesn't make any sense to me.
Starting point is 00:29:58 The exact same people. It's always going to be Skydome to me. It hasn't been Skydome for like 15 years. Right. It will always be Copts Coliseum, though. Fair enough. Yeah. But there was a real intensity there.
Starting point is 00:30:09 Thank you. I had something to prove that day. You absolutely did. Yeah. And to be able to do that with, you know, the biggest prize in AEW, with the biggest star in AEW who has that in your hometown, I don't think it gets any better than that. No. And that was because I wasn't in kind of the pathway to get to that and it kind of just came out of nowhere. And the way it ended up playing out, everything made sense.
Starting point is 00:30:37 and it was fantastic. I was like, whoa, this might be one of potentially the biggest nights of my career. And then that's when I started to kind of look at my career a little bit differently and was like, okay, I don't know how many more moments in my life I might have that kind of resemble this. So either I go all in and try and get the most out of this, and that was a big part of changing my body and asking to do Ring of Honor, was like, okay, it's kind of now or never. I turned 34. I was like, oh man, I'm 35 next year.
Starting point is 00:31:09 Some time left on this contract. Like, what's my plan? Yeah. And then that's everything kind of changed. So what is the plan? Like, obviously getting the best shape ever. Yeah. And then I'm guessing you're going to stay in that best shape.
Starting point is 00:31:23 My goal is to look like my favorite wrestlers become... List them off. Who are you going to look like? Oh, listen, I will never look like Billy Gunn, but he... is one of my favorite wrestlers. Billy guns in better shape now than he's ever been in. Which is, which is so hopeful for me, okay? Because that man just turned 60 years old.
Starting point is 00:31:51 And he is in the best shape on the entire all elite wrestling roster. He is shredded. Yeah. It's impeccable. So he's the goal? I mean, he is the mecca. of bodies. But I loved guys.
Starting point is 00:32:07 Like my favorite wrestlers were macho May Randy Savage, the rock, Scott Hall and Billy Gunn. Those are my four. Well, Razormone,
Starting point is 00:32:14 but, and they're all always be Razor Ramon to me. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. So all,
Starting point is 00:32:25 all those guys, tall, Jack, yeah, all charismatic, all larger than life, characters. I mean,
Starting point is 00:32:33 there was five minutes, where I thought last night I was going to show up in my wrestling gear today because I was like, I got to do something. I got to bring old wrestling back. I got to try and stand out. So that's where I'm at now. I'm just focusing on wrestling
Starting point is 00:32:46 and trying to build my body and to look to look the part. And there's also part of me too. Like I told my wife when I started this diet, I kind of want to do it just to throw it in people's face. Yeah. I read the comments. People call me chubby or fat or lazy or whatever.
Starting point is 00:33:04 And it's just like, yeah, I did it. It's not that hard. Now you go do it. And the thing is, most of those keyboard warriors will never do it. Oh, right. No, no, no. For sure. But that's the amazing thing, like, that the people that are leaving those comments
Starting point is 00:33:18 are not looking in the mirror and going, oh, you know, I could probably lose some weight too. And that's why none of that stuff. I could probably go for a walk, you know, like, that's the bare minimum. Hey, walking's great. Walking's my cardio. I walk every day. I do like 12,000 steps a day. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:36 Yeah. I think that there was a time in wrestling when people would look at 40 as kind of like, ooh, probably not going to wrestle much past 40. Yeah. And now we've got people like Chris Jericho or Billy Gunn or Adam Copeland proving that like you can wrestle well into your 40s and continue to do some great work. So I don't feel like there's a timeline here for you. So that's if I follow other people's forewere.
Starting point is 00:34:03 footsteps. I think for me, I just, I don't know if I want to be physically active in wrestling for that long. So I'm almost putting like, I'm shortening my own career for sure. I just, well, the version of you at 65 will probably be a lot happier. Well, that's my thought. You'll be able to get out of bed without pain. My son is young. Like, he's only just turned two years old and my daughter's turning six in February. So my kids are so young. I'm 34. I want to be able to enjoy. the entire experience of being a parent. And I don't know, like, I feel it in my body every year more and more and more. So obviously I feel the best I've ever felt in my life right now. This obviously won't last forever. Age is going to kick my ass eventually.
Starting point is 00:34:50 I just, I don't want to be the guy that's 55, 60 years old that's like, yep, got to go to a show this weekend. I think I'd rather just do whatever I want. And if that's wrestling, amazing. Amazing. Because I know some guys that are doing it, they do it because they love it and I respect the hell out of it. How much yoga are you doing? Yoga?
Starting point is 00:35:11 Or DDPY. None? Should I? Yes. Okay. That is the secret. That's the fountain of youth. That is the fountain.
Starting point is 00:35:19 I mean, look at the mobility that DDP has now. Oh. And the guy's shredded. DDP's almost 70. Look at the mobility now that Chris Jericho has. Also true. And he says it's all because he made some big changes in it. incorporated DDPY into it.
Starting point is 00:35:33 Damn. I'll make an introduction for you. Please. Even though I'm related, but yeah. Sure. Yeah, you're related to all the pages. Even the one's spelt different. But Diamond Dallas Page is, I mean, you see the changes that he's made for people where,
Starting point is 00:35:53 you know, it's taken them from addiction and changed their life. But I think the biggest things like mobility, like people that couldn't even imagine touching their toes are now doing, you know, full-on yoga poses. Yeah. So that's something I think that if you want to continue your career, that's a big thing. I'm 100%.
Starting point is 00:36:10 I do the, this for stretching. The Jean-Claude Van Damme leg split machine. I bought one of those. Okay. I had the, I challenged myself as I was talking to the butcher in the blade about old martial arts movies.
Starting point is 00:36:26 This was like a year or two ago. And I was joking with them that I would eventually learn how to do the splits. So I could do. like random RVD spots like the guy sits through up, I'll do the splits out of nowhere. I have not gotten there at all. Are you close? No.
Starting point is 00:36:40 No, no, no, no. I'm so inconsistent with it. But I bought the machine and at least once or twice a week, minimum once or twice a week, I'll sit and play video games and get as far as I can. And it is slowly incrementally getting better. But yeah. You're such a goal-driven person that I feel like if you were to actually make it your goal, of like, 100%.
Starting point is 00:37:03 I'm going to do the splits by the time I'm 37. Yeah. You're going to do the splits. So I used to be able to when I was a kid because I did martial arts, literally jump up in the air, do the splits and land. I don't know how well that helped my body, but that was like my dad. Land in the splits? Land in the splits.
Starting point is 00:37:21 It was like my dad's bar trick. You're poor nuts. I was avoiding saying he'd be like, oh, you want to see my kid do this? And I'll jump up and do the splits. just we love martial arts and martial arts movies but yeah so i used to be flexible and i think that's why i can still throw high kicks and i like i'll do um leap frogs and stuff like that but oh you've still got this in you oh i i think i do too this is just a matter of like tearing the fibers down a little bit and getting back to it oh my we look at this because of this interview oh great
Starting point is 00:37:52 now i have to you're going to be doing split-legged moonsault okay i didn't say i was going to start doing high flying. I said my legs would be flexible. You know, in terms of like longevity, I don't think that a casket match with Darby Allen really helps the longevity. Oh, no, it definitely doesn't. That coffin match was, I mean,
Starting point is 00:38:14 I think it still is taking time off my career. Yeah, that one was rough. I was easily the scariest moment of my career. It's so wild. Last night I asked Matt Hardy. I was like, hey, what's the one thing that happened in your career that was easily the scariest moment? Like the anticipation.
Starting point is 00:38:39 It's like, oh, this is about to happen. Like, what was that thing? And while he was thinking about it, someone was like, whoa, Paige, what's yours? And I was like, oh, laying in the coffin. The coffins closed. The lid is shut. I have no clue what's happening. If I'm going to get hit.
Starting point is 00:38:56 When I'm going to get hit, I'm just, thank God the match is over. That was extremely painful. But also, I'm alone in this box. Yeah. No one's talking to me. It's not like I have something in my ear or like there's no like, and then here comes this body crashing through this box and it's landing right on my knees. And like I, I'm in the fetal position, which is not something you want to be in just to be cramped in the box.
Starting point is 00:39:22 Anyways, that was the scariest thing for me. he said it was when Jeff Hardy jumped off in Orlando to swaned on him through the table that ended up turning him into broken mat. He said the anticipation of how high he was 20 feet in the air. He's like, I'm going to die. He's going to kill me. Break my ribs. But yeah, the being in that box was the scariest thing ever in my career probably will be ever. I feel like just walking through a match, like talking through a match with Darby Allen must be terrifying because the guy
Starting point is 00:39:55 seems to have no boundaries. Like you could be like, hey, I'm thinking about doing this. We're like, yeah, cool, let's do it. Yeah. It's never the other person thinking about anything. He's a psychopath. The thing that, do you see him in Nitro Circus? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:10 You know, he tried, like, what, four times in a row? I can't. With, with his elbow busted from landing on the steps. That was the craziest part about it. Yes. I can't believe he did it more than once. Here's the worst. After not landing it.
Starting point is 00:40:22 Here's the worst part. he landed it last year and they just pretended it didn't happen so they're like Darby Allen attempted this three times and never landed it and the whole time I'm like I've seen this dude do this last year and his arm is busted now he's following them on the road to make sure he can hit it again he is a maniac
Starting point is 00:40:45 the guy's going to climb Mount Everest apparently I don't know he's one of the craziest dudes I've ever met in my life not just professional wrestling and now he has a face tattoo. Anyways, anytime you want to fight me, Darbyo, I'm down. I hate you, Darbyale. By the way, climbing Mount Everest is not just like, hey, I'm going to climb Mount Everest today.
Starting point is 00:41:05 Like, I interviewed Colin O'Brien, Brady, who's, like, climbed all the tallest peaks in the world. And he was talking about, like, oh, there's, like, many months of training that go into it. It's not just like... Climb other mountains. Yes, you don't just sign up and show up and, you're like, hey, I'm ready to do it.
Starting point is 00:41:20 Well, he announced it, like, almost a year ago. and he's been building up to this. And I think it's also like how I was saying, I also don't want to speak for anybody, but like how I was saying, it's something that you can control the bodybuilding and the changing your diet. I mean, he has to climb the mountain himself.
Starting point is 00:41:37 Like he has to do it. No one else can do it for him. And there's a lot of elements there that you have no control over. Right. You don't have any control over the weather that day, the wind that day. You don't have any control over
Starting point is 00:41:47 how many other people are trying to climb at the same time because that becomes a problem. There's like this bottle night. at the top of Mount Everest, which is crazy. They can only pass uncertain. There's like a two or three week period of the year. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:59 Where the weather is good enough to actually summit. Right. How crazy is that? What a gamble. What a gamble. Yeah. Wild. What a tangent we've gone off on.
Starting point is 00:42:09 Yeah. How does the skateboard of the back feel? Not good. That's, I mean, you got the trucks, which is just steel. That, that sucked. And then not only that, when I take the skateboarder, skateboard to the back, I'm in so much pain that I'm flexing my shoulder blades just to like extend my muscles. I fall into the coffin.
Starting point is 00:42:31 But when I fall into the coffin, my back scrapes the side of the coffin and the way they built the coffin to like make sure that there was enough support, I guess. So you had the actual outline of it. Then they put kind of like, I don't know, some support beams in there. Yeah. But they weren't shaved down. So it was just like, yeah. So my back scrapes against all that, and I'm just laying in there. And I'm like, oh, thank God it's over.
Starting point is 00:42:59 And you could see, literally, it's not, the door's not even shut. You can tell by my body language, I don't care. The match is done. Shut the damn thing. It's over. Look, like, if you see the footage, I fall in, I just gave up. Because I knew, I'm like, that's it. Just that it.
Starting point is 00:43:19 I just thought you were selling really well. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. Yeah, no, I just said, yeah, this is where I live now. Just shut the damn door. When you were doing all that stuff with American Top Team, those guys might be wrestling fans, guys and girls might be wrestling fans,
Starting point is 00:43:44 but they don't know how to work like a wrestler. So how much work do you have to do with them to go, hey, I would do this or this? Well, I mean, there was, we had Andre. Karolovsky, who was one of my favorite, mine and my father's favorite UFC fighter. So that was like, mind-blowing to me. I remember how jacked he was? Now, dude, he was so jacked and he had the coolest mouthpiece with the fangs.
Starting point is 00:44:08 He was such a badass. But so we had him, and then we had Junior DeSantos, and then we had Paige Van Zane. All three ended up wrestling. All three brought something completely different to the table and a completely different perspective to the table. out of all three, I have my fingers crossed and I pray every day that JDS gets back into professional wrestling. Wow. Yeah. He is one of the most naturally charismatic people.
Starting point is 00:44:39 Out of all three of them, and this is not a knock on anyone, he picked it up the fastest, the timing, the footwork, everything, the presentation, and the fact that he understood that we were putting on a show. and the first time we all went out, I think it was we jumped Lance Archer or on the stage or it was just all of us in the ring talking trash. I can't remember, but Junior ended up coming to the back and he was ecstatic.
Starting point is 00:45:10 He's like, what is this? He's like, they were yelling at me and I started yelling back. He said, oh, they're booing me. I go, yeah? Boo! And he's like, then they gave it more back. He's like, this is the best.
Starting point is 00:45:21 Like right away, he got it. And he was in. And I was like, okay, how do I do this? Okay, what do we do this? How do I do that? Oh, I want to learn this. He was the best. Out of the three, I hope he comes back to wrestling.
Starting point is 00:45:33 He's a natural showman and one of my favorite dudes. Like just a nicest, nicest dude. So what do we need to do to bring him back? This, just put this clip up and just listen. JDS, come back. Come back to wrestling. I don't have any power. I don't have any say.
Starting point is 00:45:49 I don't have anything. Other than this clip on the internet, begging you and Tony and the fans to all come together and bring back Junior DeSantis. Is it going to be Junior Dos Santos versus Ethan Page? Hell no. Hell no. Dude, he just did that bare knuckle with, where was it? Bare knuckle is something else.
Starting point is 00:46:13 Mazfadol's got the insane. Game brood, yeah. Dude, it's unreal and it's exploding. And we're both dorks for analytics and stuff like that. So to go see how many live viewers he's having on YouTube, oh, dude, he's smashing it. I was a huge fan, still am of BKFC. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:30 When they were doing stuff, they really, you know, were coming on strong during the pandemic. And now they're doing an event almost every weekend. Yeah. And what Mosvedal is doing with his organization? Most violent fights in the game. It's great. And then, of course, you've got UFC.
Starting point is 00:46:45 Yeah. We've got UFL, which you were talking about earlier. It's an exciting time for combat sports in general. NFL too. They're killing it. It's an exciting time for combat sports, for pro wrestling, like all of that,
Starting point is 00:46:57 which when we were growing up in the suburbs of Toronto, there weren't a lot of options like that. Nope. It was renting VHSs of UFC from Blockbuster. Yes. Yeah. No, there was, yeah.
Starting point is 00:47:12 And now I remember my dad telling me a story that he had to cross the border to Buffalo to go watch one of the maybe first five or 10 UFCs. And it was like they had to do it. Maybe on like an Indian reserve or there was some kind of like weird. They had to do it in a certain state because of regulations and it was super illegal. And there was no weight classes, all this crazy. That's right.
Starting point is 00:47:34 Now everything is changed. It's wild to see how fast and how popular. And it's only continuing to get more and more popular. It's wild. It is so wild. So I love that you brought up Matt Hardy. Yeah. And you know, you were working a lot with the Hardee's.
Starting point is 00:47:50 Oh, yeah. which must just be crazy. Mind-blowing? As a kid who grew up watching the Hardee's have some of the most memorable matches ever. Yeah. Back to my convo with Matt last night. He recently put up this clip of,
Starting point is 00:48:08 it's like broken Matt in his bed and he's reacting to old things that happened to him in his career. And it was all these wild falls and bumps and crashes and just insane things that he put his body through. And I'm watching this at 34, almost 20 years into my wrestling career. And the thoughts going through my mind compared to when I was a kid watching. Like when I'm a kid watching, I'm thinking, this is amazing. I want to do that.
Starting point is 00:48:35 This looks so fun. Did you see he jumped off the ladder and all this stuff? And I'm 34 all these years in it. I'm like, how is this man alive? How is he walking? Specifically, the leg drops off the ladders. Like Hulk Hogan was telling me how terrible it was to land straight on your ass, right? You did one off a cage.
Starting point is 00:48:57 The one he does off the cage is insane. Yeah. Insane. The things that Matt and Jeff have put their bodies through physically, I'll never comprehend. Just because of how I feel now and how I have done nothing as close to them and I never will. I promise you. I never will. Yeah, both of those guys deserve their flowers forever just for what they've done and the fact that they're still willing to give.
Starting point is 00:49:29 And I was just giving Matt praise to somebody in the car yesterday because I feel like there are people in wrestling that, you know, they might be nice and they're very friendly and cordial. But when it comes down to the business part of things, most people are. very selfish. Whereas I feel like with Matt, he cares more about delivering a good story instead of benefiting himself. And I got to work with him for over a year. Very heavily featured on elevation, which gave us a lot of creative freedom, which I'm obviously going to defer to the legend in professional wrestling. And he would always look out for me. He would always make sure that I benefited in anything that we did. And that's kind of rare in wrestling. So I will appreciate that from Matt for the remainder of my career and I'll love that dude forever.
Starting point is 00:50:29 It's kind of amazing that those guys are still doing it because they've got plenty of money. They don't need to be doing this, but they clearly love it so much. Yeah. I mean, Jeff Jeff lives for the fans. I mean, we were doing the house shows for a bit, the AEW House Rules. I did every single one. I refused to miss one. They were just so fun to be out there without the pressures of television
Starting point is 00:50:56 to just enjoy the live audiences and kind of go back to the grassroots of wrestling. And that was so fun. And you had the Hardy Boys who didn't need to be there, didn't need to do it. And they're volunteering to do these events because they also feel the same. Like they love the connection with the fans.
Starting point is 00:51:13 They love putting on the show for the fans. They did it Wednesday night. I want to say Dynamite. We filmed Ring of Honor. And then they closed the show, like 10 Ring of Honor matches after Dynamite. It was just dark for the house. Hardy Boys versus Garcia and Daddy Magic and Butchering the Blade. Like those guys genuinely love it.
Starting point is 00:51:33 Like when you see Jeff whipping his shirts into the crowd, like that is, he needs to do that. That's his way of like loving the. I don't know. Those guys love professional wrestling in a way that I'll never understand. Do you have a favorite Hardy Boys moment? As working with them or as a fan? As a fan. And I'll give you what you think of yours.
Starting point is 00:51:57 I think a lot of people talk about TLC, but their first tables match with the Dumbled Boys, Royal Rumble 2000, and he does the swan ton off the entrance. I watched that match like 700 times. Well, there's the Swanton off the entrance. Then there's the dive through the middle Matt does. It's the homicide dive, like the front flip topay through the table.
Starting point is 00:52:19 That's also insane. The leg drop through the table too. Yeah. Yeah, that match is incredible. But weirdly enough, I was more of a Matt fan than Jeff. And when he came back, like, anytime I think about like, oh, what's one thing that happened in wrestling, specifically with the Hardee's that, like, oh, my God, I can't believe this. This is like peak dorky wrestling fan, Ethan Page.
Starting point is 00:52:45 Matt is doing independence. He just wrestled AJ Stiles. He just did Ring of Honor. Maybe it was like him and Christopher Daniels just had a match or something like that. Boom, he shows up on Raw to beat the crap out of edge. Security and the police are pulling him. And he's yelling, You can see me on Ring of Honor!
Starting point is 00:53:05 Ring of Honor! And he's getting dragged to the back. And I'm just my dorky message board self is sitting on the couch like, do you just say that? What? This is real. This is insane. Oh, my God. Freight that will always, I bring it up to them all the time. I remember buying that pay-per-view because I'm like, first of all, I can't believe that they're allowing this real-life thing that's happening
Starting point is 00:53:29 to become a wrestling storyline. What? Right. And I feel like Matt could actually murder Edge on pay-per-view. Go look how jacked. Matt Hardy was that. This is the stainless steel beads, the skull black tank, and he is just like, dude, go look at him. It's crazy. But yeah, I'll never forget because I was like, yo, they're actually arresting him.
Starting point is 00:53:58 Like they're throwing him down their whole, like he was legitimately trying to fight off the cops. For them to both have the professionalism to go, obviously everyone knows what's going on in our personal lives. yes, let's make this a storyline and make some money off of this. And then to be able to go, yeah, we're not going to hurt each other. Yeah. Boy, I prefer not knowing any of those details and still living in the message board, Ethan Page, brain of, why is this happening? I mean, that's all crazy too. Yeah, that's, and what's wild is that was 20 years ago.
Starting point is 00:54:36 Right. And we're still talking about the Hardy Boys. Still talking about it. I've been saying this for years, but it still continues to be true. There's not a better time to be a pro wrestling fan than right now. I agree with you. There was so much great stuff going on all across the board. Yeah, and there's so many options, too.
Starting point is 00:54:53 Like, I don't like the same food as you. I assume you have different taste bones as me. Yeah, okay, listen, I love everything that you love. Okay, Chris. But we should get some pizza. Let's not, do not, Cessar, I'm not getting pizza. Don't worry about what he says. Street pizza.
Starting point is 00:55:11 Is it good? There might be a line around the street for it. Okay, we can't. We can't do that. Got to get to the L.A. Form. Got to get to the form. I already forgot what I was going to say.
Starting point is 00:55:20 Just wrestling's great right now all across the board. Oh, yeah. And we're serving so many different plates right now. Like, whatever your taste buds are looking for, someone is definitely delivering that. Yeah. Like, for sure. It's a buffet.
Starting point is 00:55:36 Even Evil Uno's got his mystery wrestling, where it's just the crazy. things ever. You don't know what you're getting. It's a completely different presentation on pro wrestling. If that's your thing, you want to watch Spider-Man versus Bigfoot, you can. It's out there. It's out there. Yeah, what Brian Kendrick has here, wrestling pro wrestling, do you know what I'm talking about? Oh, it's very much like that type of thing. Oh, really? Like, it's like, we know wrestling can be a little bit silly sometimes. So let's go to that extreme and make it really silly. Right, yeah. Yeah. I mean, even like Lucha Vovum does completely different things.
Starting point is 00:56:10 first wrestling in Minnesota. They do like a variety show where they have burlesque and live bands and then they'll bring in luchadors and then they have locals that are just legendary to their fans. Like everyone is bringing something different to the table and if if you're looking for what you want, you'll find it. And now Alpha One's back. Great segue.
Starting point is 00:56:31 Look at that. What a pro. Look at that. I can't wait. For me, it's one of the most exciting things happening in my life. right now and I think I'm leaning it towards the same thing with my body. It's something that I can fully control and I have a very against like everyone has different taste buds.
Starting point is 00:56:52 I have a very specific view on professional wrestling and I'm excited to give that to the world. You're doing a show on my birthday, May 19th. If maybe I happen to be in the Toronto area, maybe you'll see me at Alpha One. Well, you better tell me in advance so I can exploit the hell out of it. What are the dates? It's February 4th? February 4th, March 24th, and May 19th. Every time I say May 19th, people are like, you know, you can't say that date, right?
Starting point is 00:57:24 Yeah. You know, you can't say that date. Don't worry. He's not booked on the show, guys. It's okay. Kane's not booked on the show? That's got to be Kane. That wasn't his name in the movie.
Starting point is 00:57:34 Oh, what was his name? Ceno Evil. Damn it. Why would we ever know this? Why would we know that? I just read, he had a hook. Look, we have all the world's information. You're going to Google it?
Starting point is 00:57:45 I think we have to. Everyone in the comments is going to be like, how did you not know? By the way, I think that Ceno Evil, I actually said this on the Ask CVV episode that just came out. I feel like Ceno Evil is the best of the WWE studio films. I am going to go with what's the one that Stone Cold is like
Starting point is 00:58:09 The Condemned? Yes. Jacob Goodnight. I knew it was Jacob because didn't he do? I don't know. That was Isaac Yankum. And then we'll look up the condemned here. A condemned 2007 film written and directed by Scott Weiper stars Steve Austin.
Starting point is 00:58:31 And his character was Jack. Conrad slash Jack Ryan. Jack Conrad slash Jack Riley. Oh. I wouldn't have known that. Me neither. People in the comments are like, how could you not know that? But leave in the comments which movie was better. I'm pretty sure it was the condemned. Okay. Leave in the comments, which one's better? Because I'm pretty sure it was, you know, evil. This is a clip, by the way. We just made this.
Starting point is 00:58:54 You hear that, Troy? Troy's my very talented editor who makes all these reels and shorts. Yeah, see, I need to get some of that. Oh, I'll introduce you to Troy. Troy's the best. Like, he has. literally the reason that people see my face on Instagram and YouTube so much is because Troy is the best. So you were the YouTube king and you still are, but now you're becoming the Instagram king. And then you are swallowing up my algorithm. Good. Yes, which I'm like, good. If this is what I'm watching, it reminds me of something that you either, I think you either said in a video or you posted, if you're watching something and it keeps your attention for whatever
Starting point is 00:59:33 five, 10 seconds. How are you not hitting light? Oh, it bothers me so much. I don't, I don't understand why people keep their likes. Like, I think it's a power thing. Like, they treat them like they only have like six of them to give every day. Right. You have an unlimited amount to give. And by the way, people, if you watch a video long enough, the algorithm's going to know that you like that video. So it doesn't matter if you actually tap like. Correct. So you might as well like it anyways. Well, yeah, because you did basically the same thing just by continuing to watch. that video. But yeah, it bothers me sometimes that like on my clips channel, I get a million views a day right now. Right. On my CVV clips channel. Congratulations. Thanks. It's great. I'm not
Starting point is 01:00:12 trying to brag. I'm actually trying to make a point here that there's only about a thousand subscribers a day. So it's like 0.1% of people that watch subscribe. Right. That's actually, you think subscribers are down? I was talking to another YouTube buddy of mine and you was saying that it's for some reason people are less likely to subscribe now than they were maybe five years ago. I think that the YouTube algorithm is so dialed in now that you don't need to subscribe like you used to. If I want to watch an Ethan Page video and I've watched one or two previously, the algorithm
Starting point is 01:00:46 knows that and it's going to show it to me. So I feel like older YouTube was you subscribed and you got to see it for sure. And I think the algorithm has grown and evolved quite a bit. But all of that is to say, if you're watching this video right now and not subscribed, I just don't understand. I just don't understand. Me neither. You have an unlimited amount of subscriptions you can give every day.
Starting point is 01:01:10 Give one to us. Please. Yeah, you're so close. Give one to Ethan for sure. You're like 4,500 away from that silver play button. I am dying to just hit that 100,000 so I can hang that thing up on my wall. I've already got a place for it when I moved to America. So, yeah.
Starting point is 01:01:27 So there it is. Please. Subscribe to Ethan Page. So good to be able to catch up with you. amazing to catch up with you. I'm so excited for everything going on your life. Congrats on the green card that you just got. Oh, dude. Thank you so much. And I know as a fellow Canadian, that's probably my biggest career accomplishment. For sure. It's the fear of it hanging over my head. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:01:52 That if I lost my job, I would have to move from this country and go back to. Yep. Because you can only work for the company who sponsored your visa. Correct. Yeah. So, It was never an actual genuine fear, but it's always a thing hanging over your head. Like these are the decisions that are made by other people. Like my family is now dependent on someone other than me. Yeah. But now that's kind of been washed away.
Starting point is 01:02:17 Yeah, it's life change. An amazingly free feeling. And yeah, it's definitely life changing. So I end every interview. I think we did this last time with three things that you're grateful for because gratitude is so important to me. So what are three things you're grateful for? I'll always say my kids and my wife, at this very time, genuinely, I am grateful for AEW together. It's given me this amazing platform to show a different side of myself and to bring a different value to all elite wrestling than just performing.
Starting point is 01:02:58 And also, I get way more fulfillment out of doing that than a lot of things. So I'm super grateful for that. And I'm also grateful for Cess Arbenoni. The guy who's getting you shredded. Hell, yes. Okay, let's go eat some pizza now. Okay, let's not do that. There we go.
Starting point is 01:03:25 I love his attitude. And he can't control the wins or the losses or how much time they give him for a match or a promo. but he can control how his body looks, and he can control the intensity that he brings to everything that he does. And, I mean, if you've seen Ethan Page recently, he has full control over at least those two things. It's the John Cena quote that he told me, control the controllable.
Starting point is 01:03:51 And I get asked a lot, like, what's the biggest piece of advice or the best pieces of advice that you've learned from one of the conversations you've had over the years? It's that. It's those three words in that order. control the controllable. And you know, you don't have to be a wrestler. You don't have to be a broadcaster, podcaster, YouTuber, whatever for that to apply. Like control the controllable means to control the things in your life that you have the control over. You can't control what other people
Starting point is 01:04:18 do. You can't control what other people say, but you can control how you react to what other people do and what other people say. So I'm going to leave you this quote from Martha Beck. Oh, first of all, share this out on social media. Take a screenshot. the end of the episode now and you can go back and check out that interview I did with Chris Jericho on Tuesday if you haven't already checked it out. Tag us in a screenshot. He is at official ego. I'm at Chris Van Vleet and Martha Beck said how you do anything is how you do everything. Think about that. It's really true. How you do anything is how you do everything. Think about that in your own life. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight.
Starting point is 01:05:04 Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack.
Starting point is 01:05:28 Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.

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