Ethan Page: It ‘was time’ to leave AEW, NXT title run has been validating
Holding the NXT Championship has been a validating experience for Ethan Page.
Page, who has now been NXT Champion for nearly three months, joined the brand this May shortly after departing AEW. He’s scheduled for a title defense against Trick Williams when NXT premieres on The CW Network next Tuesday (October 1). In advance of that match, Page was interviewed on Insight was Chris Van Vliet.
When asked how he’s felt about his NXT run so far, Page said “validating” is the word he would use to describe it. Being booked as a top star by Shawn Michaels has been a dream come true.
“Validating? I think that’s the perfect word: validating,” Page told Van Vliet. “It’s like — imagine your whole life you have this vision of what your potential could be, and no one around you sees the same vision as you. And then, magically, the greatest wrestler of all time just has the same vision as you and is like, ‘I’ll let you do that.’ And here I am doing it. Yeah, the boyhood dream, dude.”
Page said, when he made the decision to leave AEW, he did not know that signing with WWE was a possibility. He booked a full slate of indie dates for the rest of 2024 before receiving a call from WWE.
In AEW, Page could tell he was on a “downward tick” and felt like it was time for him to make a change.
“It was time. Yeah, it was time,” he said about leaving AEW. “And I wasn’t getting what I magically got here, which was the opportunity to show what I bring to the table.”
Before next week’s CW premiere, Page and Williams will both take part in a press conference on NXT tonight (September 24).
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.