Well, kind of a cheese ass header for the VERY first official blog post ... I guess it's my second post, but I made a cool ass header for this site & either I'm really bad at this blogging stuff or there wasn't an option to put a wicked graphic at the top of my BRAND NEW BLOG!
By the way, welcome to the mind of "All Ego" Ethan (Insert which last name you know me best as)
Anyways, back to my very captivating & dramatic title of this post.... Death Before No Ring of Honor!
* shivers *
Bone chilling isn't it? Well to be as honest as I can, which I always have been... especially with my supporters/fans, I truly believe in my heart for Josh Alexander & myself it will be Death Before No Ring of Honor this weekend. For days, months, years we've been chasing the impossible goal of gaining full-time spots/contracts with Ring of Honor. I know, I know ... it's fairly dramatic of me to say "impossible" considering we've already been wrestling for ROH in recent history & the ball seems to be rolling. But, this blog is called "the Mind of All Ego" .... so let me bring you into the crazy unorganized wild mind of Ethan Page (Gabriel Owens) .... ugh!
Let's go allllllllllllll the way back to 2005! Ethan Page was nowhere to be found... not even an idea in my mind yet. To the world (aka my 5 friends & 20 high school buddies) I was "Julian Logan" or "Physique" <------ HAHAHAHAHA! Yup, I was a badass backyard rassler!
Yup, that's me .... I use to be sooooo lean! Notice the elaborate wrist tape "J" ... Julian Logan! So anyways, what does this have to do with Ring of Honor? Well this was my first introduction to INDY wrestling. Sure I had a blast jumping off sheds & falling onto grossly stained mattresses we found in the dumpsters across Hamilton, Ontario. But my favorite thing about our clan of misfits was when we'd all log into the MVZone & download copious amounts of music videos edited by some of the most creative/talented dudes on earth! Now, I'd say 80% of these videos had guys that either were currently in or on their way to Ring of Honor. So for me as a fan I watched EVERYONE & EVERYTHING from the age of 15. 15 years old watching guys just blow my god damn mind in the ring & evolve my mind into what it is today. That was in 2005, in my mind the idea of sharing a locker room with, nevermind the ring with these guys wasn't even crossing my mind. I remember buying Claudio Castagnoli's T-Shirt at a UWA Hardcore show & just being happy he signed a DVD I purchased. These guys were my idols, which coming from a guy who idolizes THE ROCK to this day, I'd say my standards are fairly high as a wrestling fan. So, as per usual with obsessive wrestling fans with BIG dreams & aspirations I left the backyard & joined a local wrestling school & starting ripping off all the moves, poses, matches, sequences, promo lines & looks of ALL these Ring of Honor superstars. This is where I wanted to be & what I wanted to do.
Now before this turns into a freaking long autobiography about my life story, lets fast forward to some certain points in my career. My first BIG match....
Thanks to a good dude named Steve Brown ( @renownedBrown ) I got to share a ring with a guy really looked up to, Claudio Castagnoli. Now you know why I mentioned my giant fanboy moment of buying his t-shirt & getting his autograph. This was the be all, end all of my life. That day I could have retired. I was elated! Happiest dude of all time that night, till I woke up the next morning & realized "hey, I did alright against one of the worlds best, maybe I can actually do this". So it began, that was the moment my "ego" started & the little dream of Ring Of Honor started to grow slowly. Days, Months & Years past. Road trips to the Chikara at the age of 18 happened, I had my 19th birthday in the ECW arena. Skipped out on my "legal drinking age" in canada to shit the bed in a legendary wrestling building. My dream grew & I slowly but surely grew as a performer. The dream grew more one night watching ROH live in the ECW arena. This was a MASSIVE event for ROH & a big moment for me. I will gladly thank Adam Flash & Stephanie Feiner for getting me into the ECW Arena & Velocity Pro Wrestling. I was 19 years old & ROH held a double header with Velocity Pro, which meant I could walk freely in the ROH locker room without really being looked at like a fan sneaking in the back (I'm sure that's what they thought though).
So time passed, more opportunities came & went but ....
on July 25th, 2009 Death Before Dishonor (Night 2) Claudio Castagnoli remembered that chump he wrestled in front of 60 people & put in a good word for me to get a dark match. So technically 5 years ago was my first match for Ring of Honor. Again, a dream came true & the next day, the dream grew, my aspirations grew. I was in a locker room with my idols. Shook hands with them. For a brief moment these guys were my piers. That blew my mind!
So even more time passed & more opportunities came & went until I found myself at cross roads. I was dating a vixen of a woman & my best friend/tag party was in the exact same boat. Both ready to give into these retched females. Now, I was in no way, shape or form "ready" for ROH or anything to be honest, by that dream in the back of my mind started to die a slow death month by month. I've always struggled with balancing my real life & pro wrestling. Growing up as a eastern european my parents instilled values & a lifestyle that doesn't really mesh well with wrestling. Family is everything & to make it in wrestling, family more or less needs to take a backseat. So dating this girl I got fat, I got depressed & eventually I got cornered into choosing one or the other. I chose the dream.
So more time passed & I found myself at AIW. My true home. My comfort zone. My church. This is the place I flourished the most. John Thorne & Chris Biggins opened the door for me & said "go be you, show us what All Ego is" and that's when heads started to turn. Attention started coming my way & I got off on it. I owe AIW & those 2 men everything I have. They put me in the ring with the best in the world & it challenged me to grow & get better. I got into better shape, I started hitting the road as hard as I could. Made my way to AAW with Josh Alexander & that's where the idea of Monster Mafia became a reality. I made a promise to Josh that if we'd team, if we really gave an honest effort as a tag team, we'd become one of the most talked about team in the world. I laid out a plan for us & it all happened JUST as I said it would. Which lead us to .....
Another dream come true & an ego boost for Josh & I. More proof that we could hang & we belonged on the same level as these guys. Then less then 30 days after our match with the Young Bucks the DEBUT of the Monster Mafia in RING OF HONOR happened on September 28th, 2013! The dream became a reality. We absolutely delivered on all aspects! We looked like a team, worked like a team, next level performance. I was high on life & felt electric in that ring. I belonged in that ring with my best friend & we tore the house down. We did so well that ROH offered us a spot the following week in Baltimore. This is where the downward spiral started. All the hard work we put in & dedication to our dream all came crumbling down. We got caught at the border, doing something that didn't make us wealth, didn't cause anyone any harm, we were just living our dreams.
The higher you go, the longer the fall.... and we FELL ... FAR! Josh's back was nearly broken & debt from putting real life on hold to chase the dream started to pile up. He did what was best for him physically & financially & moved to Calgary. The Monster Mafia disbanded, but more importantly I lost my best friend & road buddy. No offence to anyone else I have or will travel with, but nobody compares. We were in sync. We had the same goals, same drive, same dedication to achieving the SAME goal.... Ring of Honor.
With Josh gone my dream seemed to fall apart bit by bit. I kept traveling to AIW & AAW to keep my name in the reports online & not completely lose my steam. Almost a year went past & I sucked it up & did the ROH Camp in Pennsylvania. Did a show in Chicago on a Friday, drove 12 hours through the night & made it to the camp at 10:10am, the camp started at 10:00am & I did TERRIBLE. It was a tag team camp....and my partner was on the other side of the planet it seemed. Just totally dropped the ball at this damn camp & it crippled my confidence. But, for whatever reason, all the stars aligned & I got invited to do Future of Honor & the next day get my ass kicked on Ring of Honor TV. All seemed to be well, finally got my foot back in the door with ROH & the ball rolling again. I guess seeing me get steps higher in my career reignited Josh's dream, because the crazy SOB drove BACK to the Toronto area & said "Lets make this happen man!" so, now we're doing JUST that.
Monster Mafia debut on television! A few weeks ago we went toe to toe with the ROH Tag Team Champions on National Television. All eyes on us now this weekend at Death Before Dishonor in Chicago, a city that MADE the Monster Mafia what it is today. All this blog is, is my way of saying "we're here" and we won't stop trying to make Ring of Honor our home until we die. Death Before No Ring of Honor is the truth. My scaphoid bone in my wrist is cracked, Josh barely has feeling in his right arm & he tore his lumbar a couple weeks ago in Cleveland. We aren't invisible, but our dream is & this weekend is one of ROH's staple events & fans seemed to be excited for our match against the Decade. So do your best to make it to this event & never stop supporting us, because we'll never stop trying to steal the show & leave a lasting impression on the wrestling world. This weekend is the biggest "booking" of my career. My best friend & I leave for Chicago at midnight tonight with a dream & a goal. We've driven cars into the ground, ruined relationships, broken bones, missed family events all to make this little dream, become a reality & I honestly feel like FINALLY the carrot we've been chasing is on the tip of our tongues!
Which is great, because we're f*cking HUNGRY!
- Ethan Page
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