Ethan Page is prepared to win the AEW World Title Eliminator tournament at AEW Full Gear and look good doing it.
During a recent interview with WrestleZone‘s Bill Pritchard, Ethan Page spoke about his spot in the ongoing Eliminator tournament in AEW. The winner will be decided at AEW Full Gear on Saturday night, with the winner moving on to face the AEW Champion at Winter Is Coming next month.
Ethan Page defeated Eddie Kingston last week and he faces Bandido on Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite. Page spoke about the dynamic of going from wrestling Kingston, who he’s worked before, to a first-time match with Bandido.
“The Eddie match, I actually forced myself to put on 5 pounds because I figured it’d be harder to lift him. He’s one of the hardest hitting guys on the show, so I was like, ‘All right, I’m going to have to show up a little heavier for this,’” Page explained. “I’ve been doing two-a-day workouts leading up to Dynamite [for the Bandido match]. Every morning I’m lifting weights and every night I’m doing like 40 minutes of cardio just in preparation for someone [of] his caliber, the athleticism that he brings to the ring.
“He’s fast as hell and literally gorilla-pressed RUSH, did a stalling suplex to Chris Jericho, so this is a strong dude too. So I knew I had to bring something completely different to the table this coming Wednesday. My body is a big part of that. I want to be able to keep up and to perform at the level that I’m expected. Bandido is one of those performers that I’m going to have to give two workouts a day to get ready for it.”
Page has been open about his body transformation in recent months and said that it’s as much about changing his physique as it is about his attire. Page anticipates winning the tournament and went as far as ordering new ring gear for each round he competes in.
“The clothes and the backstage, like I try and put attention to every detail humanly possible. And obviously, I have no clue if I’m going to walk out of Wednesday the winner or not,” Page noted, “but I want everyone to know I have ordered four pairs of tights just in case Ethan Page makes it all the way to the title match [at Full Gear]. I have a fresh pair of attire for every single match. I’m going all out.
“If this is the chance that they’re going to give me the ball? Alright, I’m going to dunk it. That’s my thought, at least. Every aspect of this,” Page added. “Plus, if Macho Man could wear three different pairs of gear and one tournament on the same day, I could do it over a couple of weeks.”
Normally, Ethan Page would be all over social media promoting this week’s schedule but he was the unfortunate victim of a Twitter hack. Page said he’s actually enjoyed disconnecting a bit, although he wishes it wasn’t during such a big week.
“I haven’t got it back yet. I’m still able to live a nice, peaceful, enjoyable life. But I think eventually we’re going to get my account back and it’s back to the trenches. But for now, I’m enjoying the break,” he noted.
“The only thing that sucks is that I’m about to have probably the biggest match of my career against Bandido, and I can’t even promote it so I’m a little upset about that. But I feel like people are going ‘whoever is going to watch is going to watch.’ I’m excited,” he added. “I would have loved to put the Ethan Page touch to promoting the match, and Twitter was a big tool for me.”
Page originally found out he was being hacked while he was having a cheat meal at home. He said it was initially stressful, but he ended up having a good laugh about some of the coverage that resulted.
“I am no joke, literally sitting, eating arepas fresh. I’d been looking forward to these all week. My wife [made them] for after the Eddie Kingston match, but my phone starts going on like ringing numbers I’ve never seen. So I answer the phone. ‘Hello? Yep,’ no one answers. ‘Okay,’ hang up. New number. ‘Okay. What’s going on?’ Nothing. New number. Someone giggling on the other line. New number? ‘Oh, my God. Ethan Page.’ Then I was like, ‘What?’ and I check my text, and then everyone’s like, ‘Bro, are you hacked? Are you hacked? What’s going on? Are you okay?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, no, this dude tweets my real phone number out.’ So I’m getting 100 calls every 30 seconds.
“It was a stressful 30 minutes, I’ll say that. We got all that situated, but I had no idea [what happened],” Page said. “I was just enjoying lunch and it made a great headline by the way. ‘Ethan Page gets Twitter hacked while eating arepas.’ Come on, nothing better than that.”
Ethan Page takes place on the November 16 episode of AEW Dynamite, with the winner moving on to the Eliminator Tournament finals at Full Gear. Check out our full video interview with Ethan Page at the top of this post.
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