Ethan Page is more than happy to put his ego aside to praise Kylie Rae as a major signing for IMPACT Wrestling.
Last week, IMPACT announced Kylie Rae was joining the promotion, signing a multi-year deal with them. Kylie initially saw time in the national spotlight in 2019 after signing with All Elite Wrestling, but quietly left the company in the summer.
IMPACT Tag Team Champion Ethan Page spoke with Wrestlezone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard ahead of his “Body Guy Extravanganza” event on Friday and talked about what it meant to have his friend and frequent in-ring adversary in the company now. Page, who has worked with Kylie in Freelance Wrestling and other Midwest independent promotions, said it was an amazing addition to the IMPACT roster and said her personality and level of charisma was comparable to WWE legend Shawn Michaels.
“She automatically brightens up any locker room and her attitude is one that you can’t teach. Like you said, I’ve worked with her in the ring so many times and I’ve been wrestling about 14-15 years—I’ve never met someone that’s so nervous before they perform,” Page said, “and then when they step through the curtain it just washes away. It’s like she becomes a female Shawn Michaels.”
“That’s just an intangible, a once in a lifetime thing. Even in her promos, you can tell she’s nervous, and the crowd just naturally gravitates towards that in a positive way, which is so rare in wrestling. Usually when people are nervous in their interviews the crowd [writes them off or criticizes them]. ‘Oh, why is this guy stuttering over his words?’ With her, it’s ‘we love her, we support her, we need this to go good.’ With time, she’s going to be the best wrestler in the world, guy or girl, it doesn’t matter. I’m so excited,” Page said. “It’s the best signing in the company—bigger and better than when they signed me. ‘All Ego’ will happily admit that.” [laughs]
Page added that the connection Kylie has with the audience is something you can’t manufacture and he’s not sure how IMPACT signed her, but he considers her an invaluable asset to the company. He says he selfishly wanted her there from working with her before, but she’s going to be a key asset to IMPACT’s new direction.
“What I’m seeing with how Tessa’s wrestling—I just wrestled her in the main event on last week’s TV tapings—with the intergender stuff and us being the only national TV brand that’s doing full-length [intergender] matches—she’s a talent that can do that. I can’t say enough good things. If you want to talk about her for the rest of the interview, I don’t mind.”
Related: Ethan Page Aims To Entertain With The ‘Body Guy Extravaganza’, Promises A Must-See Event (Exclusive)
Check out the full interview below:
