Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Ethan Page on why Impact is better than ever, winning tag team titles, The Rock, Canadian wrestlers

Episode Date: August 13, 2019

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What's up, y'all? It's Druski, and I've teamed up with Mountain Dew to produce a hilarious new basketball podcast called The Do Zone with Drusky. Learn the backstories of your favorite ballers and celebrities like Jamal Murray. Did you have like a favorite team? Was it the Raptors at the time or no? Was the Raptors even started around that time? Come on, bro. I ain't that old, fam.

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This is the Chris Van Vleet Show Ladies and gentlemen Chris Right welcome into another one It's the Chris Van Vleet show Thank you for giving this a listen Whether this is your first download Or it's your 27th download

Yeah this is episode number 27 Not bad for a podcast That just turned seven weeks old Judea. We've been popping these out like crazy, and you guys have been eating them up. Just eating them up. Something like that, at least. Just last week, I was thanking you guys for 189 reviews that we had on Apple Podcast, which was pretty awesome, I thought.

We're now up to 237 reviews at last count. I feel like that's a big uptick in just a week. So thank you for that. That's awesome. And please keep those coming in. Please keep the reviews coming in. You honestly don't understand how important. important those are to helping the ranking on Apple Podcasts. And also, just personally, how much it

means to me for you guys to be enjoying the same thing that I'm enjoying. I really appreciate that. Look, I don't have a Patreon. All of my content is completely free. I think the least you could do is take 27 seconds to leave a five-star review on here. And maybe just a little subscribe on YouTube. That wouldn't hurt either. I'd appreciate that. I'm going to keep reading one. review on every episode to say thank you and also for your chance to get a shoutout for free. I mean, once again, I'm not on Patreon. All my content's free. The shoutouts are free, everything.

So it's your way to be part of the show. And I mean, I'd love for you to be part of the show. Like Corey C.W. Who writes, good show. Great show. Upbeat and informative. Kind of sounds like Ryan Seacrest. That's the whole review.

Thank you, Corey. Seacrest. All right. Well, I guess, you know, when it comes to broadcasting, Seacrest is like the absolute best. So, you know, you know what? Maybe I could be Le Ryan Seacrest of Wrestling. Yeah, I like that. CVV, the Seacrest of Wrestling. Well, this one with Ethan Page is a lot of fun.

I've known him almost as long as he's been wrestling. I watched him work a lot of independent wrestling shows in my hometown Toronto when I lived there. I was even a ring announcer for some of his matches a few times, like 2008. 2009-ish. This is a great chat if you're a creator too. If you're looking to start a YouTube channel or a podcast, we've got a lot of tips, a lot of little nuggets in here that you can pick out.

But first, the Chris Van Fleet Show is brought to you by Green Roads and they just have the best CBD products, hands down. And you hear a lot about CBD products, but they're not all created equal. And a lot of companies popped up over the last little while trying to cash in

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The relaxed gummies are also really good, and they taste good, too, I think, which is a, you know, a really important thing. Use my code, Chris 15 to get 15% off at greenroadsworld.com. That's Chris 15 for 15% off at greenroadsworld.com. The CVV show also brought to you by the Pro Podcasting Pack that I'm using from Samson Technologies to sound this. good. I think that it's important. If you want to be taken professionally, if you want to be taken seriously, you've got to sound seriously good. And Samson Technologies will help you out for just a fraction of what some of those other companies will charge. Go to samsontech.com. You can see all their lineups there. And people ask me all the time, where do you get your mics from? Well, there's

your answer. SamsonTech.com. They're the mics that make us sound so good. Now, Ethan Page, is one half of the current Impact Wrestling Tag Team Champions, along with fellow Canadian Josh Alexander. They call themselves the North. We talk about how Ethan grew up watching TNA and I don't know how, somehow TNA has only ever had one five-star match in the history of TNA. Crazy, right? Can you guess which one it is? We get into it. I couldn't guess it. I was so close though. We also talk about the ever-changing landscape of wrestling right now and how being a father for Ethan has changed his life, both in and out of the ring. So ladies and gentlemen, it's all ego, Ethan Page.

It's very good to see you. Yes. Yeah, it is. As good as it was when you said this when you walked in? What? No, we just started the video. This is it, yeah. Do do do do. And then it appears. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm really proud of you because I've, I've been following your career. I've known you as a friend since almost the start of your career. Yeah. And here you are now, an impact champion. In L.A. I feel so famous, by the way.

Oh, where did you guys do your interview? In Los Angeles. Yeah. Although, if we look out the window here, we're like next to the airport. Yeah, pretty much. I took an airport, I just landed. I took a 6 a.m. flight from Miami, which is 3 a.m. here in L.A. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah.

And I landed, took an airport shuttle to see you. And here we are. We're doing it. Thanks. Bring the title up here. Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

You want to hold it? Can I? Yeah, yeah, you can. Oh, my gosh. The whole interview? I mean, it's pretty heavy, so you can hold it the whole time if you want. No, this is, this is heavy, but this is awesome. Thanks.

Congratulations. You and Josh Alexander. Sit this year. Okay, yeah. You know, look at it and stuff. The whole time there. Yeah. Yeah, what does that mean to you?

A lot. Yeah. To me, it means something different than everybody else, I think. Why is that? Because, like, I guess in a short form. TNA was my WCW because of my age, if that makes sense. So that was like my alternative, which got me into like the Ring of Honors and stuff like that, which got me into becoming a wrestler.

So like TNA meant a lot to me as a fan. So I am a TNA tank champ right now, at least in my mind. So yeah, it means a lot. No, in your mind, I mean, that's all that really matters. I agreed, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And when you go through airport security with that, they're like, whoa. I have been so lucky.

It's not been pulled out. No one said anything to me. The one time someone ever said anything, it was to another agent. So, like, it's going through the scanner. One guy's like, what the hell is that? The other guy's like, it's a wrestling belt. I was like, wait, are they going to ask me for a pick or something? No, they just let it go through.

And I'm just, like, standing there like a dummy waiting. Yes, that's my replica title in my bag that I'm checking. Is there two titles here? Just this one. And then Josh is. It's somewhere in here. Wait, you want to be the tag champ? What?

Yeah, yeah, just hold this. I'll see if I can find one. Just don't tell him. Okay. We're going to keep rolling during this. So the fans can only hear me talking right now. So basically you're sharing. There it is.

There it is. You're sharing a room with your tag team partner. Yes. Because we're an actual tag team. We like each other in real life. Oh, there are tag teams that don't? I'll put it on. We don't talk about that.

Oh, there you go. Hold on. This is cool, right? Impact tag champs doing a little interview. This is very cool. Yeah. So people would have seen this on your V-log. Yeah.

Hey, thanks. We're going to plug the crap out of that. Well, let's also film for it if we can. Wow, that's never happened before in one of these videos. It's like Inception a little bit. Yeah. Sorry, we're in the middle of this interview right now. Yeah.

Wow. Josh Alexander, not here. Chris, introduce yourself. Chris Van Fleet, fellow Canadians, so I can be a tag team champion. And people are watching it here and there. I will put a link below, everyone, so you can. both check out this video and this video. Heck yeah.

And you can also subscribe to Ethan Page's channel. I don't know which camera to look at here. But yes, also subscribe to me and Ethan. The link will be below. All right, I'm done. That's it. That's all I got to do. My job's easy.

I'll see you. All right. And we're still going here. I will put this down. I feel like this is a big responsibility if I hold this the whole time. Sure. You can lay it on the bed if you want. Nice and gentle.

I will. It'll be next to us the whole time here. Perfect. I'm not going to drop. mine. Who were the people you really looked up to and impact wrestling growing up? Oh man. Well, like I started watching just after they finished their like weekly pay-per-views and they went to like their big three-hour pay-per-views. Oh, gee. So like the Jeff Hardy's, the Christian cages, then obviously when Kurt Angle came, but like Abyss was always one of my favorites like as an original character.

I always wanted to see him go on and wrestle guys like Kane and The Undertaker. Yeah. And he was always having crazy matches and they were doing things that like the w w at the time wasn't doing like with the thumbtacks and the barbed wire and stuff like that like they would go a little you know step farther yeah i don't know maybe i had that bloodlust but like i was a huge fan of abyss but it was missing because eccw had that yep then ecuvd disappeared well a lot of those guys even ended up in tna so yeah yeah that influence was there it's still here now yeah you've got tommy dreamer on our roster rvd rhino just joined us we just uh had saboo which i beat So like, I think that'll be around forever, but yeah, I don't know, like that was the draw in for me.

And then you had the guys like AJ Stiles and Jerry Lynn was still in there kicking ass. So, yeah. Yeah, I was a massive AJ Stiles fan. Yeah. Like I remember buying the DVDs 06, 07, his matches with Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe. Like, I was a bigger TNA fan at that time than I was a WWE fan because I thought they're in-ring product was so much better. Okay, so I'm about to blow your mind then. Do you know there's only one five-star match in the history of TNA?

No way. Does that blow your mind? That's bogus. This is fixed. The fix is in for TNA and Impact Wrestling. Before you tell me, I'll try to guess. You guys can try to guess as well. Does it involve AJ Styles?

Yes. Okay. Is it, is it, there's a match I absolutely love there. Is it AJ Daniels 30-minute Iron Man? It was not that. But that match was so good. That match is in the top like 10 of, all time in TNA. That's my favorite T&A match. The only one match hit five stars. Wow. A.J.

Kurt? Nope. I'll give you one more guess. One more guess. Go ahead. And I'll lay it on you. AJ and Joe. Nope. Oh, you're close. A.J. versus Joe versus Daniels. Oh, that match is incredible. Yeah. That's, that's, that's, that's, that's, it is incredible. Yeah, that's actually, that's my favorite TNA match. But all those matches you named were great. Yeah. And I'm guessing if they were on a another show would have been five stars. If they were in the Tokyo Dome. Oh, no. Yeah, sure.

Yeah, we'll say that. No, I think the thing is, it was also product of that era, too. And I don't mean anything against TNA or Impact. It's just at that time, matches weren't getting the five-star ratings. No, too. And it's insane, too,

because, like, I do a weekly show on Twitch for Impact where we watch old TNA stuff. So, like, I'll ask the producer, like, some random questions, and it'll just spark conversation. That's how we found out that there's only been one five-star match. So the North tag team champs are going to go out of our way to try and change that. Wow.

Yeah, so that's our goal now because we got the belts. Yeah. So that's out of the way. Who could you have that five-star match with? Honestly, right now on the roster, probably if we had a nice little program, we could tell some good stories, Rich Swan and Willie Mack. Yeah. I think.

Oh, they're both so talented. Yeah. So talented. Yeah, yeah. And they're big characters too. So like you can have the drama, the emotion, then there's the athleticism. Yeah. And there's the competition and you have the titles.

So I don't know. I think it would be a good mix. We could get close to five or hit that five. A.J. Joe and Daniels. I mean, good luck. That's setting the bar real high there. Well, I mean, the bar also keeps going higher and higher.

And then there's a big gap now because you can go to seven and a half apparently. So I mean, getting to five is kind of just not even cool anymore. Yeah. It's like a three, three and a half star. match of the old days. Yeah, so technically us saying we're shooting for the second only impact five star match

isn't really that big of a deal anymore. I'm actually embarrassed I didn't guess that match because you should be, I thought you were going to get it right away. Well, I just, I love that Iron Man match. Amazing. Yeah. Yeah, so what actually started the convo was there's a tag match. It was Motor City Machine Guns

Against the Young Bucks or Generation Me. Yeah. And it got like four and a quarter, I guess. Then there was another tag match that happened way earlier in TNA with Team Canada and somebody else, and it got like four and a half. We watched them back to back. The other one was way better,

the machine guns match, way more, like, well thought out and, like, delivered and, like, the crowd was red hot. We're like, who's, like, judging these matches on, like, what curve, like, I don't know. I guess it's, like, what era of wrestling it is or what year it is and what you're comparing it to.

That's, I mean, it's just, it's very subjective. Yeah. Well, yeah. Right. It's like, you know, this movie won the Oscar this year, but if it came out last year, you know, maybe it wouldn't have won. Yeah, exactly.

It's exactly like that. It's very strange. Anyways, I don't like star ratings. I think they're stupid. If you buy a ticket and you enjoy the show, that's all I care about. As a Canadian member of a Canadian tag team. Yeah. Who's your favorite Canadian tag team?

And obviously my favorite Canadian tag team ever? Heart Foundation's probably the easy answer. No, no. I would say, Adjun Christian. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Because there's also the Canadian gimmicked tag teams, like the North, like the un-American. Remember the un-Americans? Yes, yeah. I do. Yeah.

That was so weird. That was a very short-lived, too. It was a test and I can't even remember everybody. Yeah, I can't remember either. I had no test was in it, though. But it was, I felt kind of bad because it was like, it was basically the Americans being like,

we're super patriotic and these guys are the bad guys. Yeah. Why? Why are we the bad guys? I don't understand. It's just cheap heat. It's cheap. Yeah, that's it. Team Canada, you know, remember Petey Williams would make people stand for the national anthem.

Hell yeah. It's just cheap heat. It's great, though. It's, hey, the thing that blew us away, so we went to film television in Windsor, and we had won't the tag title, so we go, oh, you guys are going to go out there. They're going to, like, embrace you, like, the Canadians are bringing the gold home. And I just trying to go, no, they're not. They're going to hate us. And they're like, no, they won't. We go out. We put our hands in the air. They start booing us. To me, it's like the greatest victory of all time. Because we get to the back and Delo Brown's like our producer and agent. He goes, I can't believe Canadians got booed in Canada. I'm like, eh, that means we're doing our job. You love being a hell. I do.

I really do. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I do. Do you think you've become less all ego as you've gotten a little bit older? Yeah. And I think it's just that, I don't know, I react a little different to the like my surroundings, the older I get. I don't know if it's because I have a kid now or like I'm married but I like I'll use MJF because he'll love this

he is can I swear on this? Sure. The biggest piece of shit but like at the table with kids and it just like hurts my soul and I'm like I don't care how much the promoter's paying me. If I'm a bad guy that's fine. I'll do my job but I will not go out of my way to like upset people because I know that's like the paying audience. MJF though what a scumbag.

Well, that's just who Max is. Yeah, I know. You don't have to tell me. I also know. I sat in a hotel room just like this and things happened. Yeah, things happened. Yeah. He was probably just being himself.

Yeah, he was. But I feel like, you know, there's some sort of bravado that we all have, especially as men in our 20s. And then the closer you get to 30, I feel like it's just kind of like, yeah, I'm okay. Yeah, what's the point? I don't need to puff my chest out all the time. That's where I'm out right now. That's where you're at.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and, like, that's also helped me, too, with, like, the YouTube page and, like, all that stuff is cool. Everything, everyone's doing their thing. I'm just going to do my own thing, like, I'm okay over here. But that, but you will carve out a niche for yourself. I hope so. You will. Because, like, I don't know how, like, I'm not retiring, but I don't know how long wrestling is going to go, you know? So, like, I'm just trying to create something outside of, still inside the bubble, but, like, when I leave, I have my own thing.

Have you thought about, you know, whether it's five, 10, 20 years from now? you would do i want to become like a producer or an agent or a writer like i would like to still be in wrestling in some capacity i feel like my brain will last in wrestling longer than my body so if i can start getting to and gearing towards that that would be awesome well i mean you're you're you're in with a company where they've taken a lot of their employees yeah impacts taking a lot of their employees and now they're helping you guys make your matches and the VP scott damee yeah he's managed team canada and all comes right back around oh wait Wait, wasn't that guy in the north, like 15 years ago?

What are your goals, I guess immediate goals and then long-term goals with your YouTube channel? Oh, man. Honestly, I don't know. Like, I have like an obsessive personality. So like I try not to like think about it too much. Like the minute you walked in, I was like, hey, how'd you get your YouTube page so big? It's just the way my brain works. And like, I'm working 24-7.

Yeah. I don't want to like put anything on the YouTube because it's so much work. for like no reward right now like at all and like the computer was so expensive the camera so I don't want anything to be like if I don't hit this views or this subscribers yeah I'm out I'm just gonna do it for a full year and see how it grows and how it helps my career and then at the end of the year either way my daughter will be able to watch all the videos and see like what I did from her being one year old to but but I will say this if I gave up on my YouTube channel after a year we certainly wouldn't be sitting here really hell no okay

My channel's eight years old now. All right. And it took me seven and a half years to get 100,000 subscribers. Really? And that, so here's, this is a fact here. I hit 100,000 subscribers last August. Okay. And if, congrats.

Thank you. Yeah, thank you. If I keep on the, I have 196,000 right now. So you're going to crack another hundo in the next couple weeks. All right. So it took me seven and a half years to get that first 100K and now a year to get the next. Yeah, yeah. So just keep that in mind.

Okay. That like, sure, you won't. be getting the progress you want in the first six months year or two years whatever but just keep doing yeah my manager aka my wife she also says the exact same thing and it's just so a phrase that I say all the time I even put on a t-shirt is vague goals get vague results so if you're saying like I don't know how many views I want to get you're not really driving at something okay and I'm not trying to make this like a seminar like no no I'm getting motivated right now but it's true if you don't have something that you're looking at you're just kind of going oh well I guess that video is all right yeah yeah

So I think you should say by December 31st, I want, I don't know, how many subscribers you have right now? I want to get 10,000 views per vlog by the end of the year. So that, that's a big. That's an actual goal. That is a big goal. But I didn't want to say it because now if I don't. But it's out there then. Now you have something to strive for.

All right. Let's make it happen. By the end of the year, I would like over 10,000. Okay. And you're at how many right now? I'm about to hit five soon. Okay. Well, you're going to hit five after this video comes out.

Yeah. The link is below again. Everyone, uh, Thanks. Look, Ethan puts a lot more work into his videos than I do. Uh,

your editing stuff. Thank you. I'm sitting here and having a conversation. Yeah, yeah, and then we put it up and, I mean, it's a,

it's a research conversation, but it's just a free flowing conversation. You're putting like edits into this. Yeah, it's a lot. It is a lot of work. And I don't think that's the hardest part. The hardest part is having a real life and not like,

offending people that I'm with because. Yeah. Like people say things and do things behind closed doors that aren't bad but can be like twisted into something that is so like just a little time out from our chat with Ethan page because football season is here people it's time to start placing your bets for NFL and college football blue wire the podcast network that I'm with is teaming up with sports information traders and legend John price one of the world's most successful sports betters so our listeners are given the chance to make more money on football this season go to sports information Informationtraders.com slash blue and get the college football and NFL future plays and make up to 15 times your money for only a $99 investment. Last year, sports information traders correctly predicted the Clemson Tigers to win the college football championship, making one client $110,000. The year before that, Kurt Presley of Sports Information Traders made $1 million with a preseason, preseason wagers, that the Philadelphia Eagles were going to win the Super Bowl.

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Get started now by going to sportsinformation traders.com slash blue. Again, make sure you go to sports information traders.com slash BLUE to have your chance at a 15-time return this football betting season. I don't ever want anyone on the roster or that works for impact to be like uncomfortable. Yeah. Like, oh, we can't do this because Ethan Page might pull his camera out. Yeah. So creating that and like not having that be an issue is really the hardest part.

Yeah. While also like maintaining relationships with people, but getting the content. Yeah. So I've found over time people have been coming to me with like, come film this. Like, it'd be great for the vlog. And I'm like, oh, thank goodness. Like this is like the way it's going now. So.

Well, I just interviewed the Young Bucks recently. Okay. And they're still editing their own stuff and putting it up, like, despite being executive vice presidents. So, like, if they're able to do it, you know, I'm sure you can too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just, you know, you're doing a great job out. Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

So what advice? There's a lot of people that are watching this right now that are creators. Yeah. What advice have you learned since you started this that you would pass along to people? If you like it, someone else will like it. And then that's where you just create the people that like the same stuff. I mean the internet's so hyper niche that like you know you can dial it into not just wrestling

not just like you can dial into a specific type of wrestling and still get thousands of people to watch yes which is I mean the world has seven billion people I know like so someone like kind of made like a snide comment to me they're like you know only like 6,000 people watch that vlog like when are you so excited about and I was like all right rent a building and put 6,000 people in it and you stand at the front and all of them are just going to watch

whatever you want for 18 minutes. I'm like, that's like a form of power, I think. And like not in a negative way, like in a positive way. Yeah. And like that's also been like the force pushing the vlog is trying to change people's perspective of impact wrestling. Well, I mean, what do you think? Her perception, sorry.

What do you think is the perception? I don't know. I think it's mixed right now. I think I guess the lack of exposure we have with like our television station right now, I won't make you bring it up. I'll bring it up. I think that also like deters people from actually watching the show, which sucks. But the product is very good.

It's fantastic. Yeah. And I think like our TV put up against anyone right now, check it out, honestly. Oh, yeah. I think it's great. Yeah, I interviewed Gail Kim a couple of months ago. She said the same thing. Yeah.

Well, she actually said that impact has better in-ring stuff than WWE stuff. I would agree. Yeah. Well, I mean, and I think that there's a lot of people going, well, I haven't seen impact in a while and they're just basing it off of that. Right. That's what I'm saying. saying is you should see it. And I think that's the hardest thing is like whatever everybody else did before the team

we have now shouldn't affect the guys because most of them are gone. Yeah. So why don't you see what the new crop is putting together? Because like we're doing our best and it's really good. You know why else you should watch it? Because of this right here. What kind of voice was that? That's a pro wrestler voice.

Because of this thing right here. And for everyone listening on the podcast, that was holding up a championship title there. Yeah. Yeah. Who was it that approached you about signing with impact? It was either Sanjay, Abyss, or Scott DeMore, or like a mix of all three. But people you had worked with on the Indies for a while. Yeah, like I've had a bunch of matches with Sanjay and we became friends.

So he was like my go-to to find out whether they were interested or not. And then Abyss, I ended up doing a couple Indies with him. So he was familiar with my work. So he knew that I wouldn't embarrass him if he like kind of been like, yeah, you can sign that guy. Yeah. And then Scott, I don't know what took him so long, but he was the one that I needed to impress. Yeah.

You'd think a fellow Canadian would be, would have your back. Right? Yeah. Come on, man. What took you so long? If we were to make a Canadian Mount Rushmore of wrestlers. Oh, don't make me do this. Yeah.

This is going to get me in a lot of trouble. Someone asked me this the other day and I was like, uh, uh, what with Canadians? Just Canadians. For Canadians. Brett Hart. Sure. Easy. Uh.

Uh. Uh. Uh. It's hard. There's so many great ones. It is very hard. Edge? Okay.

But, I mean, then is Jericho? Right, right, yeah, right, right. Stu Hart. Is Stu Hart on there? I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, this is tough. Yeah, this is the whole point of the Matt Rushmore.

All Canadians? On mine, it would be test, all four of them. I mean, you could make an argument, despite what happened in his final 48 hours for Chris Benoit. Let's talk about something else. Yeah, but you know what I'm saying? No, no, no, no. for sure. There's a lot of great wrestling talent. Yeah. And a lot of people don't know who's Canadian.

Like, I'm not even joking. Still, to this day, I'll be doing some indie show. And they'll be like, you're actually from Canada? I thought it was just part of your, like, character. I'm like, who would choose to do that? There are characters, though, from, like, Russia that are, that are, characters are from Russia, but they're not actually from Russia. Okay, but imagine looking the way I look, Just like a, I don't know, North American guy. Like just normal dude. You know what's going to be a real big spin? I'm going to make myself look the exact same, but not from America for Canada.

Like, okay, sure. There's an interesting angle, though, on branding yourself as being Canadian. I think not even just branding. I'm very proud of, like, the city that I'm from. And I have no interest in moving, like, for the rest of my life because I travel so much and I love being home. Yeah. So that's been, I guess, the way I've branded it is just being like, this is where I'm from from Toronto. I'm really proud of it. So do not say I'm from Toronto. I'm not from Toronto. I'm from Hamilton, Ontario. And that's been my thing since I started.

Yeah. And people from Toronto go, oh, you're from Hamilton. All the time. And that's also like a driving factor and why I do it. And because people just assume like, oh, Toronto, it's fine. We know where that is. It's like, no. I'm trying to like bring awareness to where my like my hometown is. I'm not technically from Toronto, but I've lived in the United States now for 10 years. So I just help you one from Toronto? Yeah, yeah. I'm actually from Pickering. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. So I'm on the other side of Toronto from you. Yeah, a little farther. And I'm like, I'm like, I'm like. Yeah, and so am I. Yeah, but you're, Hamilton's a much larger city. Yeah, it's getting there, too. You're on the, you're halfway between Toronto and Niagara Falls.

Yeah, like right in the middle. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I grew up driving to Niagara Falls to watch a lot of wrestling. Yeah. Neo Spirit Pro. Yeah, that's where like Eric Young came from.

Yeah, Sean Spears. Yes. I interviewed Eric Young like 10 years ago and I said I watched the greatest indie match of all time and he goes, oh yeah, my match with Derek Wilde. The ladder match? See? Oh my God. Wow.

Yeah. How do you know? Because it's insane. That match is insane. There's only clips of it because it happened like 12 years ago. Yeah. There's only clips of it online. They do a code red.

Oh my God. That match. Through a ladder is insane. You can see in those clips. I'm in the background. I'm in like the third. or fourth row towards the back and I'm just like, ah,

the whole time. It's awesome. It's awesome. Yeah. Those guys went nuts. Who were some of the people that you looked up to growing up? Just in general or? Well, what about wrestlers?

Well, the rock. Yeah, I know you, my favorite. You get very jealous when I interview him. How does that happen? Make that happen for me. Okay. Get him on my vlog.

Sure. All right, perfect. Thank you for that promise. He was big, Billy Gunn, Randy Savage, Valvinus. Like there's all like character wrestlers

but like that's the guys that I grew up loving. Yeah. Razor Ramon. But there's like there's a big difference between liking and there's no problem with it, but a big difference between liking the rock and liking Valvinus. Do you think so? Don't you think so? Nah.

And I don't, I don't mean that a bad way. To me like as like a fan and like kid wrestler, they were all the same. Like they just all had their own characters and they all fit in like the puzzle of let's have a wrestling show. Yeah. So, like, I appreciated everybody. Yeah.

And, like, there's no difference to me between Val Venus and The Rock. I mean, other than their salary and how many T-shirts they sold. But, like, to me, I was like, oh, they're both, like, super entertaining. Yeah. This is this weird stripper porn star guy. And my dad thought he was hilarious. He'd always give me the hello ladies voice and, like, slap me with a towel. I bet you could do a hello ladies voice.

You're trying to get me to do it? Yeah. Hello ladies. This is great. You know who's Canadian? Valvinus. Exactly. And I had to put one Canadian on the list.

And then, like, Razor Ramon, another guy, like, big character guy. Yeah. And they were all, like, cool, bad as Billy Gunn, too. And I think it kind of helped Ethan Page, like, create this character because all of these guys outside of wrestling would be goofy as fuck. So it kind of taught me to just not care and just do whatever I think is funny or entertaining and just go out there and just be a jackass. That's what I think is actually. one of the greatest things that you have going for you. Oh, thanks.

Like, I watched you wrestle, um, I watched you wrestle in South Florida like a couple of years. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, at, Ronan Pro. Yeah. And it was, I think it was your first show there. So like the audience maybe didn't, you know, weren't as familiar with your work, but you just owned it. Yeah, I don't care. And like a minute in, they're like, I don't like that guy.

Yeah, yeah. And it was perfect. Yeah. Yeah. And like, that took me a very long time because like, we're all like egomaniacs. Like, we all want people to. love us. What do you think's been the biggest change for you?

So you debuted in 2006. What's been the biggest change for you in independent wrestling since then? That social media is king. It's kind of like taken over. Also, it's like a popularity barometer in a weird way. Kind of. And like it kind of lets people know like, uh,

people care what this person has to say or what he's doing or like where he is. And also has really helped me draw my audience to events. Yeah, which is helpful for promoters, but also helpful for like merchandise or even content now. Like I'm putting my fans in my vlogs. So it's pretty cool. Well, think of how different it would have been 10, 15, 20 years ago. If you had new merch coming out, the only place people could really get it was at a show. Yeah.

Or you could like, you know, pay a couple hundred bucks to the local cable TV ad. Yeah, I guess so. I mean, Colt Cabana kind of pushed in this new era of like self-promotion. And, like, he was the first real, like, merch booth guy and, like, kind of putting a shop online. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And, and, and everyone else is reaping the benefits of it. 100%. So thank you, Cole Cabana. Yeah, there it is. I'm actually going to be interviewing him in about a month. Oh, that's awesome. And I'm basically going to say, hey, every pro wrestler says, thank you.

Yeah. For sure. Yeah. And I do, too. He just announced, too, like, that he's going to step away from the, or the podcast. And all, it was just a flooding of pro wrestlers being like, thanks for the expover. Yeah. Because it's true.

Yeah, seriously. No, it's this world that we're talking into right now, these microphones, this camera, it's changed everything. Yeah,

100%. And I'm glad that you're on the forefront of this with your vlog. Am I? I feel late. I feel very late. I don't know. How many other indie wrestlers

or pro wrestlers are vlogging? Like as much as you are. They might put out one or two things. I know Sammy Guevara has a weekly one. Okay. Obviously being the elite. Yeah, being the elite.

Puma King has one. one in Mexico. Okay, so the point is there still are some people doing it. There is some, but yeah, you're right. It's not a lot. You're going to get one video that hits and it's going to be like a hockey stick. Really? Yep.

That's it. That's how it works. Yeah, I mean, it will for a little while. Then you just got to keep that momentum kind of going. Yeah. That's all I'm trying to do is not give up. Well, that's pretty easy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's easy to not give up. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Especially after you kind of like, oh, you know, if you only wait a year, I would never be interviewing it. Yeah, fair enough. So I'll just keep pushing. Yeah, just keep doing it.

Yeah, because this is my second go at having a vlog, actually. Okay. I had one before, and it didn't pick up, and I was like, this is a lot of work for nothing. And then, again, like, my wife was the one that convinced me to do it again. She's like, don't think of it as work. Just capture some stuff so that our daughter, Gabriella, can watch it later.

I'm like, okay, as long as that's my motivation, then it's not work. She tricked you. Yeah, she did trick me. And now I'm like, she's like, don't worry about the numbers. And I'm just on YouTube, like analytics, just looking at everything. Oh, man, who's watching? Where are they watching from? You can get really caught up.

How did they get here? What did they click to get here? Which related videos are very important. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So we're going to talk about that off there. Would you say, though, that sitting here right now, you know, your impact tag team champion, you're living your dream? Yes, I would.

And I would also admit that it's very hard for me to, like, recognize that. Yeah. Because I'm like, never happy. Like as a person, so happy. My profession, no. But to have this self-awareness to go, you know, this championship's mine. Josh and I won that. Yeah.

Like I, like, I am a big, big, big, big, like, I'm like etching my name in history, like, with as many things as I can. And that to me is so cool. And, like, everyone's like, what's the meaning of life? And, like, I jokingly say, like, oh, it's a video game. And we're all just trying to get a high score so that people talk about us forever. Yeah. It's like, all right, Albert Einstein. He won. You know what I mean? Meaning of life, nailed it. They'll be on T-shirts and be talked about forever. Like, why can't Ethan Page, you know? When you come down here to the States, do people think you have a Canadian accent? I get it every once in a while. I might drop like an A. But like when they start saying that I say A boot, I'm like, that's not how I talk. Yeah, well, that's, yeah. You kind of do. Really? A little bit.

Okay, all right, fair enough. But it's not like, you know, it's not bad like if you were from like Sudbury or something. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Are you like Canadian shaming me? No, no, no. You're Canadian. No, no, no. Here's the thing.

You do, you do kind of sound Canadian, eh? I'm really sorry to tell you this. I'm really sorry. That's what I sound like? No, no, no. No. No. What I'm saying is Canadians don't think they have an accent.

Yes, but I don't think anyone does. Because, I don't know. I think if you talk to someone from Texas, they're like, well, I guess I have a bit of an accent. I think they're aware of it. And I'm not, I'm not shaming you. I'm just saying, like, are you aware that people might think that you have an accent? Oh, for sure.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because, like, I wrestle mostly in America. So, like, I'll get stuff like that all the time. Yeah, which is also pretty cool that you wrestle mostly. Yeah. I like it. Yes. A lot.

Well, there's a lot of options. Yeah. That's the thing. There's a lot of wrestlers. And everywhere is different. There's a lot of promotions. Tons, tons, tons. But in Canada, it's very, like, selective.

The country's huge. Yes. But where the good pro wrestling is is in only a couple spots. Well, that's the thing. But that's just Canada in general. If you're not living in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Vancouver, Montreal, you know, like there's not a lot of pro wrestling going on in medicine hat. It's a vast space.

Sorry, medicine hat. Or Moose Jaw. Yeah. Sorry. I mean, there probably is pro wrestling going on. Yeah, of course, there is. No one's watching it. No, or.

It's just, or maybe it's not there like in Toronto, there's probably a show every other weekend. Yep. You know. Or every weekend. Or every weekend. Yeah. Yeah. Like 30 minutes from my house.

Yeah. It's pretty crazy. Like for me, like growing up in wrestling, there was an abundance of shows and like opportunities to wrestle for nothing and learn how to not suck. Yeah. So you're, this is your full time job. That's it. That's, that's amazing. Yeah.

That's so commendable. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like, you know, I was there from watching some of the. of your matches being i was a ring announcer for some of your matches it's awesome being able to sit here now 10ish years later yeah how crazy is that though so crazy i yesterday i was talking to

tommy dreamer i was telling uh one of our friends a story that like everyone's like oh Tommy dreamer loves wrestling i'm like you don't understand how much he loves wrestling i'm like this 10 years ago i was my early 20s like not actually no 19 years old he slept on my parents couch in my parents house in my parents basement watched me edit the show that he just worked. Wow. And it was helping me like where the camera should go, how the hard cam should be somewhere else.

And, you know, we might be able to do a little better if we, like, pulled this storyline a little longer or changed this guy's character. I was like, why is this guy up at 5 a.m. telling me this stuff? It's because he loves wrestling. Yeah, yeah. But you do too.

Time flies, man. That was my point. I went from, sorry, having Tom Regimers sleep on my parents' couch and all the way from now, like I still run that promotion. but my main income is professional wrestling. I mean, you were in the ring recently with Rob Van Dam. Who's been the person that when you saw it on the booking sheet, you're like, oh, my God.

That was one because I knew I had to have a talking segment with him. And at the time, Impact hadn't let me really do any mic work, especially in the ring. So that was huge for me. It was like my own little, I don't know, Monday Night Raw segment with RVD, which is cool. And anytime I wrestle Billy Gunn, because again, he's like on my list. and to get to wrestle guys like that that are still, like, active is amazing. And you recently worked former WCWCW champion David Arquette. Yes, I did.

It was awesome. Yeah. Check that out. It's on IWTV. Live and you can actually get 20 days for free if you use promo code Alpha 1, ALPHA, and the number one. Wow. Yeah.

I've been trying really hard to get him on this show. Really? Yeah, we just haven't been in the same place at the same time. Yeah, okay. I texted him. I said, hey, I'm in L.A. this weekend. And he's not here. Yeah.

He's a busy guy. He's filming TV shows in Canada. Well, he's David Arquette. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's still, like, working and traveling as an indie wrestler. Which is insane to me. Like, when I wrestled him, I did, like, a little post-match speech. Pretty much saying, like, everyone's kind of giving him a hard time that he's in wrestling.

I think it's, like, ignorant of us to give him a hard time when he's bringing so much, like, awareness from everyday people to wrestling events that might not go. That's good for us, like, as wrestlers. You don't want to, like, change those people into paying customers? I don't know. He's a fan. Yeah. And every wrestler, every person sitting in the audience is a fan, too. He's just living the dream.

Exactly. It's not his fault. He became a famous movie star and he still loves wrestling, you know? Like, shame on you. Shame on you for keeping your hobbies. I don't know if we've plugged your vlog enough, but we'll plug it one more time. Hell yeah. The link is below.

Thanks. Yeah. Subscribe. Also, if you're watching me, this and you don't subscribe to my channel yet i i'm just why do people do that that is my wife's number one pet peeve why are people watching and they're not clicking i'm like i don't know figure it it's the wildest thing like you'll get a video that gets like a million views and then you'll look at oh yeah you do oh cool yeah i mean i got a couple of those 20 yeah but then you'll look and you got like

you know a thousand subscribers from it it's yeah but what about the other 999 000 people just got to earn their trust. I guess so. Yeah. But to everyone that does subscribe and has been there, you know, since 2011 or maybe since the start of this year, thank you. And anyone that is willing to watch my weekly vlog where I take you backstage and give you all the secrets of professional wrestling, you're all going to watch now.

Thank you. Remember that show on Fox? It was magic secret reveal. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what this is. It's that. I just pulled a curtain back and you see everything. I guess they had wrestling secrets revealed too.

They did, yeah. But didn't people have their, like, voices muffled? and stuff. It was so bad. I don't hide my face. I break K-Fabe in public. I think we'll end with that. That's pretty good. Ethan Page, ladies and gentlemen.

Yeah, famous Speedo Fighter. There it is. Famous Speedo Fighter. Ethan said when he put that phrase on a shirt, it actually made a lot of people upset. I think people need to lighten up. Thanks to Ethan for finding the time to do this interview. I'm seriously so proud of everything he's accomplished,

everything he's continuing to accomplish. and if you enjoyed this, please share it with someone who might enjoy it as well. Tweet it out, put it on Instagram, tag me at Chris Van Vleet, tag Ethan, let us know what you thought. And I know that we talked a lot about, oh, the links below this video. Well, obviously you're not watching this. You're listening to it because it's a podcast. But search Ethan Page on Instagram and give him a follow on there. Thank you to our sponsors, sports information traders.

Go to sports information traders.com slash blue for the college football and NFL future players. for just $99. Thank you to Greenroads. Head over to greenroadsworld.com. Use the code Chris 15 for 15% off your order of CBD products. Also, thank you to Samson Technologies for making us sound great with this great audio equipment. So this was interview three of four that I did in Los Angeles at the Impact Wrestling Tapings. I've already posted Brian Cage and Jimmy Jacobs and keep an eye out soon for the interview that I did with Melissa Santos.

We've got many more interviews on the way here. And I'm going to leave you with some powerful words. I like these quotes. You guys have been reacting these quotes. You seem to like them as much as I do. So I'm going to keep leaving you with them. This one's from Bob Proctor. Some powerful words.

And he says, quote, You are the only problem you will ever have. And you are the only solution. Hmm. Hmm. That's a deep one. That's a deep cut right there. Make it a great day.

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