Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Ethan Page On Toy Hunts, Dan Lambert And Why He Never Wears The Same Shirt Twice

Episode Date: June 17, 2022

Ethan Page (@officialego) is a professional wrestler and YouTuber currently signed to All Elite Wrestling. Ethan sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios at Wynn Las Vegas to talk about teaming with Scorpio Sky, what he has learned from working with Dan Lambert and American Top Team, his fashion sense and why he never wears the same shirt twice, being inspired by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, why he stopped doing vlogs on his YouTube channel, his toy hunt obsession, goals in AEW and much more! 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

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blitz! Oh, welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I am CBV, Chris Van Fleet. Always so great to have a guest come back onto the show, especially when it's someone that I love and respect, as much as I love and respect, Ethan Page. This is our third interview together,

and they've really been at all, like, very different stages of his career. The first one, almost three years ago, when it was with Impact Wrestling, and it was a tag team champion at the time with Josh Alexander. Then we did an interview right when he signed with AEW. And here we are, about a year later now. He's really found his groove with Scorpio Sky,

with Dan Lambert, and of course the amazing fashion sense that Ethan has. He actually told me during this interview. It's hard to believe. He never wears the same shirt twice. Great, that's a lot of shirts, right? Are you following him on social media, by the way? If you aren't, you should.

You can find him at official ego on Twitter and official underscore ego on Instagram. He also has a great YouTube channel that is closing in on 100,000 subscribers. So let's get him that much closer by subscribing to him. His page is channel just under Ethan Page. And you can find me anywhere on the worldwide internet's at Chris Van Fleet.

And speaking of 100,000 subscribers, I just want to thank you again for helping the CVV Clips channel get to 100,000 subscribers. I'm still blown away that we got there, number one that we got there, and number two that we got there so quickly. Amazing. All right. Please welcome inside the beautiful, incredible, unbelievable Blue Wire Studios at the Win Las Vegas, the one, the only. Ethan Page. Dude, I've said this to you before, but I want to say it on camera. Yeah. I'm so proud of everything you've accomplished. Thank you. I could.

It's amazing because our first interview was in Los Angeles, maybe what, three and a half, four years ago, three and a half years ago, probably. Yeah, close to four, yeah. Yeah. And I remember, like, we had a really long discussion about, like, you're like, I keep putting out the vlog. I keep grinding on YouTube. It just doesn't feel like it's happening here.

And look what it's turned into. You were like my YouTube mentor. Well, I was just like, you can't give up. Yeah. You can't give up yet. Dude, you gave great advice. It kept me motivated. And it was relatable.

So I was like, okay, someone's already laid the foundation and the path. I just literally have to follow the footsteps and not give up. And thanks. It worked. Yeah, that was sometime in like 2019. Yeah. And I was like, you were what, like a year into making vlogs at the time? Not even.

Yeah. Or just barely. I think you were like, I told myself I was going to do it for a year. Yes. I was on the path to committing to a full year. Yes. Yeah. Look at you now.

Great. Dude, I love YouTube. I absolutely love it. YouTube loves you. It's starting to. Well, I think the thing is you found your niche. Yes. And now I'm narrowing in on it too. You're niching down on your niche. And the toy hunts are crushing for you.

And that's it. Once I found what people were interested in that I was actually interested in, I was like, okay, this is easy to lean into. Yeah, that's that like super, super, super cliche of like, If you find the thing you love and you never have to work a day in your life. Yeah. Well, I imagine there was a point where sometimes the Vlogs felt like work. They did.

And so that was like the hardest part of doing them. Like obviously, I have no control over what happens on screen with wrestling. So as a creative person, there's only so much that I can kind of, I guess, put my heart into. And when it came to the vlogs, it was like sometimes I felt like I was doing documentaries about my friends. So that's not why I started it. And I never wanted to lose the love of video editing, of pulling my camera out, documenting cool things that I'm doing. And it started to feel like I had this obligation to constantly be filming backstage and putting together these vlogs. And my heart just wasn't in it every single week.

There were weeks where you're like, wow, this is a bang or 45 minute vlog. You can tell by the energy I'm putting into it like I'm into it. And there were some weeks where it was just like, no, this is work. and with YouTube, I never want my audience to ever feel like, oh man, he's not into this at all.

What was the most work? Was it the filming? Was it the editing? Honestly, the filming. A lot of people will say it's the editor. No, not for me. The editing,

to me was, like, that's my passion when it comes to, like the videos is the editing. What are you edit on, by the way? Final Cut.

Okay. Yeah, big final cut guy. Yeah, love my Macbook. You know. Yeah. So for me,

like, that's what I learned in college, and I've always loved doing music videos and finding the right music for the mood or the tone or the vibe of the video. And I dive deep into doing stuff like that, like making sure that I'm picking the right songs and putting the videos together the best way possible.

And yeah, it's the filming for me. I hate being fake. So like if I have to force a mood or force like a vibe, I'm not into it, especially with a vlog. Like people don't want to watch. for that. They're watching for like a genuine interaction or like some authenticity. Like they want to see behind the curtain or backstage. So I didn't want it to be like about skits or bits. And to me, it was just like I felt like it was about to jump the shark. I never wanted people to be like,

man, Ethan's vlog used to be so good. Now they'll say, great vlog. Sucks it ended. But it actually transitioned into something else. Yeah. I love that it didn't just end because there's a lot of creators that will go on and, you know, just go, you know, I'm done, I'm burnt out. Yeah. You transition into something else that you love even more. But I planned it like that. So like I started to do the toy hunt videos as like a bonus to build the channel because I would watch so many of these like content creators and they're like, cool, one video week is great. If you could double that, it'll double your growth and you'll see the momentum of everything going.

And I noticed that it was working and I started to fall in love with these toy hunt videos and it became a weekly thing. So for almost a year, I put out two videos every single week, never missed the week. And I started to notice the trend of the channel changing with the toy hunts. And I predetermined like one day I'm going to end this Wednesday backstage video and I'm going to fully commit to the toy hunts. To being a grown man shopping for toys. Hell yeah. What's been the nerdiest moment in that? Because I think there's a lot of people who the people that are in that world get it.

The people who are not in that world are like, I don't understand. Yeah, you know what? The best way to explain it to anyone, I'm trying to think of what the nerdiest moment would be. Nothing comes to mind because literally every week something blows my mind. And I'm never ashamed or like worried about exposing the fact that I don't know everything when it comes to the toy stuff. So I'm also documenting like my journey of learning about all this stuff and being educated by different people that are obsessed with whatever their small. niches in pop culture that they hunt for toys or collectibles or whatever so i'm all about figuring out new stuff learning new stuff i think for me it's all about chasing nostalgia so like

anything that i was obsessed with as a child that i never got the opportunity to either get an action figure of or complete a set or i saw other kids playing video games that i wasn't able to get now it's the time it's like you know what it's my job to look to look for this stuff now so time to reward myself and to get all these things that I wish I had as a kid. It's all about nostalgia and that feeling it gave me as a kid that I'm now getting. Nostalgia's like so powerful. Yeah. And I mean, wrestling plays in nostalgia a lot. Oh yeah. Big time. So much. What's interesting about your toy hunts is that you're so different there from the Ethan page we see. So different. Yeah. I have like a internal struggle with that a lot because a lot of people say,

that on screen for AEW, it's very believable. So I might be ruining a little bit of the magic with the YouTube, but I also might be showing them like, man, this guy's pretty talented. Like, he can convince us this way and this is what he's actually like. So I don't know. It's like a double-edged sword. Or are there people that are like, oh, man, I don't want to, I don't want to see that.

Well, that's it. There are actually fans that comment like that on the channel. And they're like, oh, this sucks. And I get it. I understand. Like the interview I did with Danhausen where he's out of character. Yes. So many people are like, I can't believe he's not.

Right. Like, no, no, no. He's using very expensive CGI. Yeah. And to change his look and he's using a voice changer. Yes, correct. Yeah. The same one Kane used, right?

So, yes. Yes, that one. Yeah. But also, congratulations. You've moved to America. Yes. That's, dude, you were, you were such a help with that too, especially, you know, two Canadian boys hanging out in Las Vegas talking about stuff.

Dude, it's so crazy. Pause there for a second. Right. That's amazing. Hell, yeah, it is. We grew up not terribly far from each other, pickering for me. Right. So, you know, 45 minutes, right?

Less than an hour. Yeah, Hamilton? Yep. Yeah, so Hammertown. Hammertown. I still love you, Hamilton, okay? Yeah. I see.

That's nice. I still love pickering. Yeah. How could you not? That's where I grew up. I'll always visit, but we had the American dream and here we are living it. Well, it's just the idea that, like, there's a lot of opportunity. in the U.S.

And you and I had been talking about this a lot. Yeah. And I was like, then you got to do it. And I'm so glad I did. I've only been here for like two, maybe three months and the opportunities that I've had and the exposure and just the change of schedule.

And it's done wonders for my career in such a short amount of time that I can't wait to see what it's going to do in the long term. And I think that, and you knew this from traveling to the U.S. a lot. But now that you live here, aren't you like, oh my gosh,

everything's so cheap here. it's a lot different. It is a world of a difference. And like you said, the opportunities to make money is 10 times easier than having to travel through international borders, especially during a pandemic.

Now it's like, I'm situated, we're here, I'm in America, much more accessible to people that want to do business with Ethan Page or even the toy hunts and stuff like that. So many doors have opened. Yeah. So I, you know,

a very different situation for me. I moved here 12 years ago. I was single and I had an 01 visa that was bringing me in. I now have a green card. You were bringing your entire family here. Yeah. And I imagine that that's not an easy decision to make. No, it's not.

I'm very fortunate that I met my wife at a time where she saw my goals and saw a very young, hungry dude and she was the breadwinner of the family. So at the time, she was very supportive and pushed me into doing this. And now to be able to switch the roles and to be the one that's taking care of our family, she was very open to the idea of us moving here to continue to pursue this dream because she's seen what I had to do to get to this position that I'm in now. And she knows my work ethic and what I'm willing to do to continue to grow all this. And she's a full-time supporter.

Actually, she listens to all your interviews, anything to do with wrestling, she's on it. And she's letting me know, like the interview just did with Jack Evans. she mentioned to me, she's like, hey, did you know Jack Evans brought up the fact that you gave him one of your shirts? Yeah. And I was, so she's always got an ear to everything going on so that I can stay in to. I can't do everything. So she's, I guess, the only staff member, Ethan Page has. But yeah, no, the family was all on board and, um, they're getting acclimated to America and Michigan lifestyle.

And to think two years ago, you were in your garage, I think it was your garage making karate man videos. Yeah, just to pay the bills. It's like, dude. Hey, now I'm in my garage too. Yeah, it just has three spots for cars instead of one. But it's just, it's really crazy because when the pandemic happened, a lot of people had to pivot. Oh, yeah. And the pivot that you made changed your career.

Big time. So like, I, there's no shows. Canada is essentially locked down for so many years. There's no opportunity to create any kind of content other than. what I'm able to do with myself. Yeah. And with wrestling, we're storytellers, and we tell stories with fighting.

Yeah. I'm like, who am I going to fight? So I had to literally create my own opponent, which was me, and tell stories and kind of drag people along through this saga of me fighting myself and having like dueling merch battles and any kind of way that I can find a way to turn a profit

and kind of keep my name relevant online. And that's all we had was just online. content and trying to keep fans engaged. Was there ever a point during that time when bookings kept getting canceled and cancel and canceled? You weren't able to travel or you were like, I might need to like find a real job in the meantime. 100%.

That's literally when I reached out to you about, because this was all during whatever WrestleMania weekend it was. And I was supposed to have you do. Tampa. Yeah. The body guy extravaganza. And I was like, well, I can try and honor this commitment I gave to the fans.

And I ended up doing the cartoon where everyone did their voiceovers. And thanks to all the wrestlers who committed to doing that, like that really put my YouTube channel on a different platform because people realized how, I guess, willing people were to work with me and to put on these like wacky videos and projects. And like we had Ron Funches in there doing it as well. And he's done a couple projects with me. it kind of gave fans a new level of trust. They were like, okay, this guy's willing to go above and beyond

to honor this promise he gave us. He put on the show, even though it wasn't what it was supposed to be. He still went out of his way to entertain us, and that's when I started to notice that the channel started going. Well, that all got canceled like three days before, you know, like, and everyone had to scramble. Yeah. W.W.E. included putting on WrestleMania at the Performance Center.

Right. But like you were able to pivot and somehow make this work. And it's why you're in the position that you're in right now. We're in the Rock's $500 shirt here. Oh, look at this. Thank you. Yeah. I got this.

This is The Rock did this. Wow. There you go. No big deal. No big deal. Nice. Yes. No big deal.

Hey, dude, do you still eat pizza and have abs? Of course. Chicken wings, too. Oh, you. I hate you. I have to do a lot more cardion. I just turned 39. No.

What? Yeah. Where's the founding youth, Chris? Ask Christopher Daniels. No kidding. Yeah. No kidding. It must be in L.A.

Yeah. It is. Yeah. It's not shoveling snow. Yeah. You know, you could have moved somewhere warmer. I'm well aware. I have an amazing support system and family in Michigan.

Like my whole mom's side of the family has been there my whole life. So I spent so many summers there as a kid. It already felt like home the first day we moved in. You know, you don't have to shovel sunshine. No. No, I'm sorry. That hurt. I'm so happy for you.

Yes, but I, I've never been one of those people who's like, I can't eat this, I can't eat that. Yeah. And I remember I did an interview with someone who was preparing for like, they got super jacked for a movie. And he said, well, I'm eating six meals a day, like to get in this kind of shape. Six times seven days in a week, that's 42 meals in a week. If one or two or three of them are chicken wings or pizza or grilled cheese sandwich, I think I'm going to be okay. Yeah. Because the other 39 of them were on point.

Yeah. So here's my problem. if I have one or two or three, those don't just stay one or two or three. I have like an insane sugar addiction. Maybe it's just my personality. It's just addictive. And maybe I work too much that like the food to me is like that endorphin kick or that's my, I'm rewarding myself. That's why I just can't do it.

So I couldn't do one or two or three. So I had a massive addiction to sugar. Really? Bad. I would like walk across the street when I worked at the TV station in Miami and there was a gas station there. I would buy like the movie size bag of Sour Patch Kids and eat it the entire afternoon. Yeah. Wait, wait, that's bad?

Listen, if that is an addiction, I got that for sure. That was every day. And someone was like, well, what if you just started eating that like candy flavored gum? And I went, oh, that's a really good idea. Yeah. Because I think all I'm looking for is that sweet hit. That's it. So I started buying like the Sour Patch Kids gum.

Great gum. And then there's the ice breakers. it's like fruit punch gum and like grape and that changed everything for me. So this is recent. Those gums are like. That was like three-ish years ago. Yeah. But then what do you mean you had a sugar addiction three years ago and you didn't

gain, you ate a large movie bag of candy every day? Pretty like very often. Yeah. You've never not been in shape since I've known you. I've known you more than three years. I've known you like 10 years. That's what I mean. Yeah.

I don't like this. That's very kind of you to say. Yeah, okay. Just keeping it real, dude. You're doing all right. Yeah, I think cardio, genetic. Genetics. All right.

You're very lucky, Chris. I found a youth now, if I'm being completely honest, is skin care. I think that's really it. Okay. And if you don't do anything, this is not an ad at all. But if you don't do some sort of skincare, you're going to be in your 40s and 50s being like, I really wish I'd rub some cream on my. my face for like 20 seconds a day. My wife has said this to me. She'll buy me the, the skin,

whatever, for my teeth, for my hair. Like, you have to use this and this and this. I am the, when it comes to that, I'm the oldest of men. It, it needs, this is your moneymaker. I know. I know. You know that. I do know. Maybe I'll start listening. We're getting close to that. Well, we're off camera here. I'll tell you about some. I'll send you some stuff. All right. Perfect. Sounds good. But this being your moneymaker, the last time I saw you in person was in Indianapolis. And your face was pretty busted up. Yeah.

Like huge gash. No, I don't really. No, they did a great job. They did. Thank you to AEW doctors. It's kind of in your eyebrow now. It is, yeah. It's actually all right.

Yeah. It's not that bad. I mean, that could have been much worse. Wait, an inch the other way. It could have been in the eyeball. Yeah. Or higher. I would have had like a Frankenstein's style.

I lid. I lid. Yeah. Yeah, no thanks. This was Sammy, right? Shooting Star pressed to the floor. Shooting Star elbow drop action to my face. What's the moment in AEW that you're looking at now going,

you can't believe I got to be part of that? Oh. I was literally just talking to Hornswoggle in the car last week about like these pinch me moments. Yeah. Maybe probably the tag match against Starby and Sting. This is Sting's first match back in a ring. first pay-per-view back after the pandemic, first like full capacity event after those years.

I would say that's probably one of the moments. Pretty good one. I mean, as a fellow Canadian, wrestling Chris Jericho in front of 22,000 people winning, it was like, that's a big moment for me. Did you go into that being like, I can't believe I'm going to win? No.

I, dude, honestly, everything happens so fast that this is all thoughts happening after. And like, I'm so just like, okay, everyone is wishing that they're in this position. So just knock it out of the park and that's all I'm trying to do is not waste a single opportunity. And then afterwards,

I'll look back and be like, oh, that was cool. The thing I've always loved about you is you make everybody you're in the ring with looks so good. Isn't that my job? That's everybody's job. Yeah. But you're really good at that part of your job.

Thank you. And I remember there was a point in time maybe five years ago when you were like, dude, me and you should have a match. And I'm like, I don't. That's very nice of you to say, I don't think so. No, no, I'll make you look great. I'm like, no, I know you'll make me look great,

but I don't think that's... Offer still on the table. I don't think so. No. What is, what's Dan Lambert done for your run? Honestly, the amount of people that he's had us brush shoulders with and to share the ring with, his connections,

the heat that he gets from the crowd. People really don't like him. You know what, though? I'm noticing lately, people are turning the corner on Dynamite Dan. And I think it's because they understand the fact that he is a world-class entertainer. He's a performer. And he is knocking it out of the park every single week.

Us as a unit, I don't think there's ever been a time where we've been on screen. People have been like, well, that kind of sucks. So we pride ourselves on that. And if we're only given 60 to 90 seconds, we make sure that we maximize our seconds. And like, I've been noticing that we're on television every single week

and people don't ever remember the length of it. They just remember that they got to see us. And that's all that matters, right? They just got to remember that moment. That's it. And that's, I mean, that happens even in matches too.

You know, like they don't know if the match was two minutes or 22 minutes. Right. What were the moments in that match? Right. What are they taking away? What are they going to remember by the end of the night? And that's every time a microphone

touches my hand, that's the first thought is like, dude, if you're only allowed to say one sentence, you better be quotable. Tight tits. That's right. Tidstits in the game. Did someone really get that tattooed? Yes. On the back of his cap.

That's a real thing. Wow. Yeah. It's there forever. That's amazing. I know. Wow. Is that the first Ethan Page tattoo?

No. That's the best Ethan Page tattoo. I would agree. Although a guy in Canada had my original logo tattooed on him, I always thought that was cool. And then another guy literally got my face tattooed on him. I kind of looked like Eddie Guerrero, but he told me it was me. So I'll take it. Well, that's, I mean, if you're going to look like anybody.

Yes, that's pretty good. Yeah, I'll take that. That's pretty good. Break down the tightest tits in the game for me. Break down the, like, the thought process. So I am all about like word. play, things that sound good when they come out of my mouth, shock value. This guy really just say that to stand out, to be different. And like, my social media has always been like, oh, what's going to

get a laugh? What's going to get a like? What's going to get some interaction? And I've always been a silly dude. And I thought, okay, why do females only get to say the word tits? So I was like, I got tits too. And they're the tightest in the game. I got the best smile in professional wrestling. Titus sits in the game, all the ego Ethan page. And I was trying to list different things that made me stand out in the company, and I wanted to do it in an entertaining way. Such a good promo. Thanks.

Yeah. Yeah. When you went to the back, what was the reaction? I don't know. I just kept walking. I was like, one, I'm like, thank goodness on Dynamite. It's live. You didn't run this by anyone.

Nope. Could you imagine sitting down? Listen, so Tony, I was thinking to, night, I talk about my tits. What did you think about that? And you know what, too? It's like, I could, I could go get all this stuff approved. I could say, hey, this is what I'm thinking about saying tonight and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't think people understand the delivery or the context of it and things might get shot down. Yeah. I know we're not going to get taken off the air for that. I know it's not offensive. But I know if I pitched it, but someone would be like,

you're going to say what? No, no, no, no, no. I remember being in a production meeting at age. And they were like, okay, well, we can say shit, but we can't say until the second hour. And I was like, that is so funny. Yeah, television. Like, you couldn't say it until after nine o'clock. After nine o'clock, yeah. And I, maybe that's the way with the tightest deaths. Honestly, I, you know what, on that line, I'm a pro's most of the time.

I'm going to get things cleared. I was just like, this is going to be a risk. Maybe I'll have to ask for forgiveness instead of permission. I don't know. Where do you see yourself? if we were to sit here a year from now, which we probably will. I'd love to be our track record.

Let's do it more often than that. All right. If we sat here at double or nothing next year, where would you want to be at? As long as I'm in a better position than I am now, it's not that I'm not about chasing titles or main events. I just understand the way the business works a lot more now in my old age. And how, well, I've been doing this like 16 years.

Crazy. Started very young. So, okay, I'll say as I'm maturing in professional wrestling, my mindset has definitely changed. And as long as I'm on an upward trajectory, I'm okay with it. But you're also, you know, and I know you said you're older now, but you're definitely one of the older guys in the locker room. Right. I swear you can understand where you might be saying that.

Yeah, 100%. Was there a point for you when you were crushing it in the Indies for so many years that you didn't think this was going to happen? Oh, yeah. Many times. Especially with the barrier of being from Canada. Yeah, many times. I never thought, well, dude, just the fact that when I'm flying home, I'm flying,

I'm staying in America, blows my mind on a weekly basis. That was the ultimate goal was to have a company see enough value in me that they give me the right paperwork that I can move to the country and stay here and work. And move your family. Well, yeah. That's such a big thing. Listen, I thought it would happen before the family. Maybe I'm a greedy dude and I want everything all at once.

and I'm going to build the family, have the kids, but also chase the dreams and make these things happen. But I think everything happens for a reason. And it's why tempt fate, everything is going very well. I'm just going to go with the flow. And you're crushing it. You're not just going with the flow. Things are going really well for you.

Thank you. Titles in your future? I would love that. Yeah, of course, of course. I won't hang my hat on that. I think for me, my goals have changed to the sense that, I want to be able to work for a very long time, but I don't want to be in the ring for a very long time.

So I want to be able to leave a legacy in professional wrestling that has a connection with a large enough audience that I can be that guy at a convention in his 50s or 60s, getting to relive those glory days, meeting fans that grew up watching me perform and have a connection in pop culture to kind of stay relevant and stay busy. We're very similar.

We have to be busy. Like for me to retire and kind of just sit at home, I don't think that's going to be me. Yeah. So I want to be able to make sure that I've left a foundation to be able to stay in the industry in some capacity. Maybe even as a producer or helping people with their promos or something. But now I'm also pivoting. Like we're talking about the toy hunts and stuff. Like I'm trying to build a business on the side and find a niche market that I can succeed in.

And now I'm doing my own comic book. So that'll be coming out in a year. or two. So a lot of things in the works, but, uh, listen, I'm not going to say no. If I'm going to be champ, hell yeah. I see you with those ad integrations too. Yeah. I see you with the Ridge. I'm trying. Those have one in my pocket right now. They're great. They're so good. I love it. Ridge.com slash CVV. Use the code. Ridge wallet. Use the code CVV. There's mine. Yeah. I love it. I love it. So who's career did you look at and go, man, if in five or 10 or 15 years, I could be doing what that person's doing, I'd be really happy.

I mean, be you trying to get crazy or what? Well, because obviously the rock. Well, sure. Yeah. Should you put those sunglasses on when you say that?

The Rock does a lot of interviews wearing sunglasses. The Rock. Oh, you do that, eyebrow? Well, I can't. Dude, Sammy broke this one.

Yeah. Yeah. Sure. The Rock. I think also when you look backstage, it's hard not to respect what Jericho's doing. Oh, yeah.

So, good. I have no desire to be in the rock. at that age or that long. He is a one and a million talent. He's also lived so many different lives. But that's what I mean. Like, you know, rock star.

Yes. Podcaster. Yep. Entrepreneur. Yep. Having his own cruise line. Yeah. I would love to be able to reinvent myself that many times in my wrestling career too.

And that I likened to what I was saying earlier about having so many stages of my career to connect to the fans. Like there's fans that know specific eras of Chris Jericho and they are fans of that. And that's the nostalgia that hits them. Yep. So for me, I want to be able to do that too. Have a long enough career that I've had these big moments to connect with different age groups of fans, different audience members and kind of carry it on forever. This is like fancy shirt era of Ethan Page.

Yeah. Where did that even begin? This is my way of being remembered with only getting a. roll to stand in the background. Or if we only have like 60 second promo. It's like cool. If I'm not going to be able to talk for all 60 seconds, which I'm not a greedy performer.

There's a bunch of us out there. I'm going to make sure that I stand out. That is just great life advice right there. Yeah. It really is. The idea of like even if it can't, even if you can't be at the front of line, even if it can't be your moment,

do something to at least borrow a little bit of the spotlight. Yeah. And that's all like, I would say my AEW career. so far is me trying to make the most out of every single second of television exposure. Is it true you never wear the same shirt twice? That is true. That's a hundred percent true.

Why? I think if someone can go through every episode or even just the end of my career, you know this dude never wore the same shirt? Ever, ever. Even last night, we were on Dynamite. Dan spoke the whole time, setting up to same. amazing thing going on Rampage tomorrow. I wore that shirt.

Never wear it again. 60 seconds. Will you ever wear this shirt again? I might wear this to a barbecue with my family, but because I did this in an interview with you, I would never wear this on TV. Wow. Yeah. In a digital age, everything can be seen by anyone around the world. This has now been used.

It's done. So, could you go back to previous episodes and based on the attire you were wearing, go, oh, that was Charleston. Oh, that was Detroit. That was Vegas. Cities, no, because, like, it's so bad that we'll land somewhere, and I'm like, where are we? I don't know. Well, it's straight to the hotel, to the venue.

That's right. That's right. Yeah. But I could tell you the angle or whatever we were, wherever we were in, like, my AEW. Yeah, for sure. So do you plan your attire based on how big the segment's going to be? Like, if you have a great, like, a rock's $500 shirt, are you like, you know what? I'll hold off on this one until a pay-per-view, maybe.

Yes. So, like, I've already, this might be showing my cards a little bit, but. I've bought shirts for storylines, matches, or opponents that I don't even know if I'll ever work with them. So I have shirts in my closet with dinosaurs on them. I have shirts in my closet with oranges on them. I have shirts in my closets with aliens on them. I just, I'm ready. Wow.

That's just who I am. So when you're done wearing a shirt, do you donate it to Jack Evans like we talked about? So the boy, but he'd think traded, right? The boys always get first dibs or like, if any, like anyone is like that's such a sick shirt I'll always offer because I know I'm never going to wear it again so what's the value to me nothing but now I'm doing these uh whatnot live auctions so like there's almost like um an instant like this was just on TV if you want it you can I'm gonna auction it off on this app on this night whatever bowl boss sign it you get to see me

do it live to sign it mail it out fans would love that and they have been yeah yeah what goes into like buying a great shirt it's all about the design me. Okay. Yeah. Like, talk to us about this one. Great shirt. Oh, I could never pull that off. This to me was 100% for something like this. Or like if I had to do any kind of press or media for AEW, it's easy to throw on. It's comfortable. If I'm moving around all day, it's not like a button up that's going to make me sweat or it's like really tight. So I'm very picky with like comfort, but also making sure that I look presentable because we're television stuff. What, I mean, what's going to happen when this era of Ethan Page evolves?

into something else. I don't know. Because you were a track suit guy for a while. I was, yeah. I don't know. Which was probably very easy. You knew exactly what you were wearing. Oh, so easy.

The easiest. The easiest. Honestly, for me, it was a blend of all my favorite wrestlers. And again, trying to maximize my moments and my seconds on television. And also, like, pay tribute to the guys that I loved watching growing up. Razor Ramon, the Rock. These dudes were, like, large. larger than lifestars to me.

And they kind of paved the way for me to what like a superstar is. I know in AEW, it's pro wrestlers. That's great for everybody else. I refuse to fall in that category. I'm a superstar. And I want to be perceived as one. And if I'm only allowed to do it for a couple seconds, I'm going to make sure that everyone stops and goes, wait, who's that guy?

I got to know who that guy is. And I think I can do that with a look, a stare, a snarl, a glimpse, that's it. I just want to catch people's attention at all times. Years ago when he was the Ring of Honor champion, I asked Cody what the best lesson he learned from his father was. And he said, make your moments count. Yeah.

And that's exactly what you're saying here. Like if your segment's short, that's okay. Make a count. Yeah. Literally every second. Are people now coming up to you backstage because, you know, you have 16 years of experience and they're saying, hey, man, would you watch one of my matches?

Or hey, can you give me some advice on how to do this? I have a good relationship with a lot of the wrestlers. I'll say that. You're a veteran. I don't like to carry myself as that. I'm not like a free advice giver. I'm not like walking around being like, hey, you know what you should be doing. But I'll say that I do have a very good relationship with a lot of the rest of it.

Who is the person you're going to for seeking advice? Oh, man. I mean, you've got a lot of people to go to. We're one of the options. There's so many. I love talking to Jerry Lynn. I love talking to Arne Anderson. I love talking to Dean Malenko.

These are guys that have a wealth of knowledge and that have helped some of the biggest stars in professional wrestling. Jim Ross is another, like you're talking about the guy that signed the rock. If these are the footsteps I'm trying to follow, Yeah. Why would I not go to the root of everything?

Yeah. He was the guy that saw potential in that. So I'm going to go pick his brain. And these guys have molded me without them even knowing it because just in passing advice that they've given me has stuck with me. And these are things that I've just forced myself to apply. Even if I don't understand why, I'll try it out of like, how do you not? These guys have done it all.

So, yeah, I'll give it a shot. And I've learned so much, so much. If you want to eventually maybe one day follow in the Rock's footsteps, do you want to act? Oh, yeah. You live in the right country for that. Yes. Of course. Yeah.

Yeah. Have you had any auditions? No. So. Hasn't happened yet. Not yet. And I don't think I want to as it like if something falls in my lap. Sure.

I want to give AEW 100% of my efforts and attention. And I still think that there's so much potential for the company to grow and for like, like, I mean, we could be unstoppable. So why not put all of my efforts into being on team AEW and helping wave the flag everywhere I go, do interviews, travel the world, even doing independence and being a good ambassador for what all the wrestling represents? When you're walking through something like this, actually, this is a terrible example because it's double or nothing week. Everybody knows. But if you're somewhere, maybe at an airport, what do people think you do for a living? That's a good question.

Or if you're sitting next to somebody on a plane. That's very incognito when I travel on purpose. Yeah, sure. I don't know. Maybe they, I would assume I'm an athlete. I saw Sting on a plane last week. And unless you were a massive thing, you would have been like, there's a guy with some facial hair.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what, though? I'll say this. Anytime I end up in first class, I do get a lot of like, what is this dude's sitting here in his Adidas for? I got upgraded a first.

First class last week, and I was just like, yeah, Jerry Rice was just down the way. Okay, all right. No, Ethan Page, but understandable. Yeah. I think we'd have a great time in first class me and you. Done. Yeah.

Yeah. That'd be amazing. Yeah. I mean, like, I'm a sucker for a free drink. I'm a sucker for anything that's free. That's why you grab the water. Yeah, it's 100% of water is this. I did say that.

I don't think that'll ever leave. And I think. Same. That's a lot of what, like, the success of AEW is there's such a high percentage of us that had to struggle for so long to make it and to get an opportunity like this that, yeah, listen, I'll always look, it's a fan. This is, what is this? Yeah, it's a little bit of them. This is, I'm going to grab mine. This is fancy water.

Oh, it's the fanciest. This is artesian water. It's, uh, this was bottled responsibly. Oh, nice. Rocky Mountains. Very cool. Where our water is naturally filtered by ancient volcanic soil. That's pretty dope.

Yeah. I'm a tap water guy. You need to stop right out of the hose. Yeah, that's, uh, do you want to live forever? Yes. You still want the, wait,

that's not the founding of youth? The fountain of youth is not coming out of your house? Oh, my bad. Not, not when you live that close to Flint. Oh, yeah, I was about to be a Flint joke. I'm sorry.

No. I'm so glad you came by. You and me too. I'm really, like every time I see you, your career just keeps going on an upward trajectory. Yeah. Keep getting more and more jacked. Thanks. We need to do a workout video.

I would love that. When I saw that you worked out with Billy Gunn, I got so jealous. He's one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. So I was like, that's very cool. Not only was it Billy Gunn. It was Mike O'Hern, and it was at the Mecca at Gold's Jim Venice. That's pretty bad ass. Yeah.

And it was Mike O'Hern that set it all up. Oh, that's like, oh, wow. one of the greatest of all time. He's like, yeah, Billy's in town. You want to do something? I'm like, I called Zeus at like 9 p.m. I'm like, hey, that's really last minute. But do you think you could wake up at 5 a.m.

so we can work out with Billy Gunn and Michael Horne. He's like, yeah, I'm in. Yeah. You got a good team then. Yeah, no, Zeus is the best. That's why my videos look so good. Hell, yeah. And obviously, Blue Wire makes this all look so good.

Oh, this is, I watched the original vids. now look you were in the original viz well that's yeah this is a lot different than a hotel in an iPhone you're right those those are not going anywhere though good yeah this is gonna be the best interview you do all week

this is the only one that's why it's the best that's right okay I'm gonna ask you the question I have ask everyone at the end okay because I ask this of myself every day okay what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now

oh man I mean my wife, my son, my daughter. I feel like if I said anything else, that would be a lot. Well, you could put them all into one of like, just for interview purposes. Sure. So I'll say my family is definitely one.

Oh, man. I mean, I'm so grateful that I ended up in AEW for so many reasons. One of them, obviously, like, now I'm living in America. They have given me the opportunity to be exposed to millions of people around the world. I'd say I guess the third thing I would be grateful for is my health As if I wasn't I wouldn't be able to do any of this And I feel like you don't have much of a Canadian accent anymore

Really? Yeah As someone told you differently? I didn't know I had one This is that Come on Why would I know? Every Canadian is like

I haven't said an A Not one No Would you notice though? Yeah Oh sorry about that Oh don't do that to me. I would notice in a second. All right. No, yeah. I mean this is a great compliment. Oh,

thank you. What's funny is that no Canadians think they have accents. Yes. Until they go to the U.S. and someone goes, hey, where are you from, by the way? Yeah, that did happen for a while. Yeah. And you're like, oh, I'm from Toronto. They're like, oh, I thought, yep, I hear it. That makes I hear it. I'm like, I don't hear anything. Yeah. Canadian's like, I don't have an accent. You're like, well, I hear that. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah, I made a slight adjustment on those when I was on TV because I didn't want people like, I was an entertainment reporter. I didn't want my reports to be watered down to, yeah, I don't know what he was talking about

because I just heard him say something Canadian. Yeah, that's true. You know, so I was like, all right, I'm going to work on saying those words. Yeah. So that was my way of saying, great job. Thanks, bro. Yeah. But great job on everything.

Thanks. Congrats to you. Appreciate it. Thanks for always being a supporter of mine. and for silently helping me in so many facets of my career. My pleasure. Now I'm just curious, when is the Ethan Page match happening with Hangman Adam Page? Yeah.

Diamond Dallas Page. Yeah. Christian Cage. Yeah. And Brian Cage. Yeah. Inside. A steel cage.

A steel cage. Anytime. I will say I have wrestled Christian Cage on Rampage. So we're getting there, guys. Thank you so much. Dude, no problem. Thank you. I love that guy.

So proud of everything that he's doing. And it's always so great to sit down with him and catch up, especially in person like this one. So thank you for joining us for that amazing conversation. And I'd be so appreciative if you could share this link with someone who you know would love this. And snap a screenshot, share it on social media, and make sure to tag us so that we can share it out as well. Ethan is at official ego on Twitter,

official understory ego on Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and if you aren't yet, please take a second right now to follow the show wherever you're listening right now. We've got some huge guests on the way. I just did an interview with Road Dog, the Hall of Fame or himself.

We also had an interview with Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson that you'll be seeing and hearing next week, seeing on YouTube, hearing here on the podcast. I'm going to leave you with a quote from Kobe Bryant. Such a good quote. Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.

That's it. So simple. So to the point. And so powerful. From the late, great, Kobe Bryant, be great,

be grateful. Have an amazing weekend. We will see you on the next one next week for some more insight. 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. Take advantage of it. But get up in here.

The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.