Ethan Page revealed what Shawn Michaels said to him before he NXT debut.
The Canadian wrestler debuted for NXT on May 28th this year, after being release by AEW. He spent three years with AEW, but struggled for TV time before he was let go earlier this year.
He clearly made the right decision to jump to WWE. Within weeks of his debut in NXT, Ethan Page had won the NXT Championship. He has quickly become one of the biggest stars in the developmental promotion.
All of this happened because NXT boss Shawn Michaels gave him an opportunity he never got anywhere else. Page appeared on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, where he spoke about meeting Shawn Michaels when he signed for NXT. He revealed that Shawn Michaels told him that he didn’t know everything about him. However, he promised to give him a “fair shot” to get over, which is exactly what Ethan Page needed.
“I was hidden in one of these back rooms in this building, and essentially it was like, Hey, I don’t know everything about you, but you seem like a guy that’s never been given a fair shot, so I’m gonna give it to you.”
Page isn’t sure what Michaels specifically saw in him, but he wasn’t going to overthink it, either.
“No, well also I’m not going to question it, because I’ve been in the game so long that someone looking me in the eyes and being like, I’m going to give you this chance, what you wanted to accomplish, you can try it right now. That was it for me. Someone’s telling me I’m giving you the ball. So if you do well, we’ll both do well. This whole thing has been extremely weird.
“Then to get the guidance of Matt Bloom and Terry Taylor and then Fit Finlay, any of these guys that I want to either pick something from or ask them questions, or they are just willing to just help you out. That’s not something I’ve ever experienced. It’s such a competitive business, especially everywhere else that I’ve been, you can have camaraderie with fellow wrestlers and stuff like that. But not many guys are just walking around being like, Hey, do you want to get better? This is how. No, because they want to do it themselves. They want that position. But here, especially NXT, I don’t know the main roster yet, but with NXT, this is such a great environment to hone your skills and to get better.”
Ethan Page: It Was Time To Leave AEW
In the same interview, Ethan Page explains why it was time to leave AEW to join NXT.
The NXT Champion revealed that he wasn’t getting the opportunities he would later get in WWE. He added that he had 70 indie dates booked after his release, prior to being snapped up with Triple H and Shawn Michaels.
“It was time. Yeah, it was time,” Page said. “I wasn’t getting what I magically got here, which was the opportunity to show what I bring to the table.”
“I had 70 independent dates scheduled because I was like, Oh, I got two kids. Got this house, these cars, I moved to America we just got our green cards. This is where we live now, so I have to make sure that my children are fed and the bills are paid.”
