Ethan Page Comments On Recent WWE Releases And Teases Which Talent He'd Like In Impact
There have been numerous WWE releases over the past few weeks including The Revival who actually requested their release beforehand. The tag team hasn't revealed which promotion it will sign with but Impact Wrestling seems a logical spot due to their deep tag division.
Ethan Page of The North discussed the possibility of a Revival-North feud in Impact when he joined The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast.
"Yeah, there's three out there that are good possibilities. You've got Hawkins and Ryder against The North. You've got The Revival against the North and you have The Club against The North. So, who pulls the trigger first when things get back to normal," asked Page.
Along with The Revival, dozens of other talent and backstage personnel were released by WWE. Page shared his thoughts on the recent transactions.
"It's heartbreaking as it's a lot of my peers and friends that lost their jobs so it's not good to see. I am excited to see who adapts and creates something out of this. I think this is where stars are made or rebuilt," said Page. "Look at Drew McIntyre ? had he never left then he might now have the run he has now.
"But if you think about it, and this isn't me knowing any inside dirt, let's say this thing all clears up in the next three months. All of these wrestlers have gotten paid for the last three months so they might just get their jobs back at the end of this, fingers crossed. That's the greatest hope that things get better and they got paid to sit at home for three months. I don't know."
It's always tough when talent gets released but even more so at this time with the coronavirus pandemic. Other promotions likely aren't in the market to bring in talent when most promotions have gone dark and Page was asked if he thinks anyone will be hiring.
"Look, if you're asking me if I texted Scott D'Amore asking if Eric Young still lives in Nashville and if we're taping in Nashville if we can get Eric Young to come back, it's not impossible that I definitely did that [laughs]," stated Page. "He's a world-class talent and it was super-heartbreaking to see these guys lose their source of income and their dreams?
"But if you're telling me that The Club might show up on Impact to wrestle us or Eric Young might join The North or maybe I end up doing a match with Rusev at a super indie show, no one's gonna complain in the Ethan Page camp [laughs]. But it sucks to see people lose their jobs."
Page added that if he could become friends with one person during this bad time it would be Rusev.
Page is one half of the Impact Tag Team champions alongside Josh Alexander so this halt in the wrestling business couldn't have come at a worse time. He was asked how the business stopping has personally affected him.
"It took me two weeks to understand the fact that I wasn't going to an airport [laughs]. Now that we're over a month in, I can't even imagine going back to work now," admitted Page. "I think about the schedule I had before we stopped and it blows my mind that I was able to tolerate that much travel and that little sleep. I had a phone call with my mom today and I was like, 'This is the first time I've slept eight hours every night in the last four years.' It's been weird."
There's no sign as to when things will get back to normal again but Page was asked if he thinks talent will need an adjustment period when things get rolling again.
"I hope there is an adjustment period. I say that ? and this is gonna make me sound like an old-school Jim Cornette-type of person ? but I really hope that because we've had this break, as a promoter I'll be booking shows with no-gimmick matches or more singles matches. That is to re-educate the audiences because they haven't been going to live shows," said Page.
"So, we can almost tone down the product and enjoy the escalation and building to certain things that will mean more. Now we're gonna have an audience that hasn't felt that live experience in so long that we can give them less and get the same reaction. We can go a couple of steps back as it will help us out and it could elongate people's careers."
Follow Ethan Page on Twitter @OfficialEGO. Ethan's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.