WWE star Ethan Page has spoken about his memorable segment with The Rock on NXT and what it meant to be in a segment with The Final Boss.
One day after the Raw on Netflix premiere on January 4th, The Rock made his debut on developmental brand NXT the following night as part of the New Year’s Evil special. Prior to cutting a short promo at the end of the broadcast, the Hollywood star interrupted a segment between Page and General Manager Ava, who is also Rock’s daughter.
After Rock introduced himself to Page, the Hollywood star noted that he had heard a lot about the former NXT Champion, albeit not all of it was positive. After warning Page that there could be repercussions for his actions, The People’s Champion also gave an endorsement to Page that he hoped to see him on the main roster one day.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet about the segment, Page stated that he always wanted to do something onscreen with The Rock, and was able to get some advice from him later that night:
“To me, doing anything with him was always the dream. I was very fortunate enough to be given the chance to pull him to the side and tell him what it meant to see something that I created on my own and envisioned my whole life would be on screen with my favourites. To do it with my actual number one, and in the position that he’s in, and what he’s been doing for the last couple of years, the amount of things that needed to fall into place for this to happen, pretty crazy. But I was very glad that I was able to express that to him and to get some one-on-one time, and then it just kept extending, he gave me great advice, and he’s turned me into an absolute menace. Because, I mean, when the person you look up to the most, pretty much tells you to not hold back. Yeah, you ain’t gonna hold back. I’m sorry Ricky Saints about your throat.”
Ethan Page On Being Inspired By The Rock:
Later in the interview, Page was asked how much inspiration he took from The Rock as part of his own character, to which the current North American Champion stated that The Great One was a significant influence:
“Quite a bit, honestly. Mostly, I would say just in the confidence to say and do whatever you feel like out there, like on a microphone or in front of an audience. He’s someone that’s completely comfortable in doing some ridiculous things, or what he finds entertaining, or what he finds funny. But he’s always, I feel like, just at that perfect level of charisma, and I tried to keep the energy the same and give people their money’s worth when I’m entertaining them.”
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Featured image: WWE
