Monday, March 16, 2015

WrestleMania ..... Weekend

Hey everyone!

       I'm about to reach another landmark in my rise in pro wrestling. A career goal I set out for myself many years ago. WrestleMania weekend ... HERE COMES ETHAN PAGE!

       Now being flown out to San Jose to be a part of this spectacular weekend is enough to make me want to write a blog but so many other things factor into making this weekend SO MUCH MORE SPECIAL! So let me start with ... who BOOKS these events I'm on. His name is Gabe Sapolsky.

      Gabe has a history of booking/utilizing the next breakout talent. That's not really why I'm bringing him up, because for years I thought I was JUST THAT... the NEXT breakout star. In April of 2012 I worked a dark match for Evolve in Toronto. I personally think I did great! That match is online ... check it out. It's versus another hidden gem Alessandro Del Bruno - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YHtaUavN8Y - During, Before & After the match I asked/harassed Gabe for feedback or a chance to work for him on the main roster on a regular basis. I was ready to commit to being a wrestler. His words weren't too encouraging & his reaction to my match was lack luster. Needless to say .... heart = broken. But it's wrestling, I book shows, I judge talent, I get it. Business is business & I wasn't going to generate any business/revenue for Evolve or WWN at the level I was at. On the other hand, at the time, I totally hated Gabe. No word of a lie, I was ready to hang up my books THAT NIGHT & go fulltime promoter for Alpha-1 Wrestling which was gaining major steam locally. Fate struck me right in the face that same night when Jen Blake called me & asked if I could drive her to AIW the very next day. I was promised pay, trans & a dark match..... the rest was history! Bitter brat Ethan Page was gunning for Gabe. To prove I was better then his entire roster & that he made the mistake of brushing me off. Thankfully AIW & soon after AAW gave me all the opportunity in the world to improve on all aspects of wrestling. In ring, mic work, character development, story telling, drawing new fans, growing as a performer, marketing myself & maturing as a business man. Slowly but surely as time went on my stock rose, my value as an asset to any company grew & in my VERY humble opinion .. Ethan Page is a valued member of an elite group of wrestlers touring North America. I've reached a level of "indy stardom" ..... which garnered me enough notoriety & success to get the call from Gabe for WrestleMania Weekend... in 2015! 3 years of hustling to make something like this happen. Moral of the story, don't give up dudes/dudettes! Make shit happen on your own!

As for what I'm doing in San Jose for WWN live ... well, it's another solid reason why I'm uber excited! Night 1 for Evolve I'll be going one-on-one against Chris Hero ... for the 1st time ever ... on the biggest annual weekend in wrestling. Now Chris has been a fixture on the independents. But also a fixture on my fat ass mark bucket list of guys I NEED to wrestle. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli were in my top 5 wrestlers as a wrestling fan. Hands down, I admired these guys. Always hustling & traveling & making shit happen. Was a never ending list of things about them that impressed me, in singles action or tag team. Luckily I got to work with Claudio REALLY young in Canada thanks to local promoter Steve Brown. Dream come true for me real early. Now almost 7 years later, Page vs Hero is happening & I couldn't be more ready or excited. And for all the "you're just saying that so you can hype the iPPV" people ... here are 2 cold hard facts about my fandom for Hero.

1. When I started as "All Ego" my original idea was to be "The All Ego Kid" ... or at one time "That Young Ego Kid" ... straight up rip off of one of my favorite guys.

2. My old  gear that I still wear now & again .... 100% ripped off Chris Hero. Just changed the font a little bit ... terribly copied gear.

Here's proof!

Sorry about the zoomed in dick pics ... but you get the point.
I'm EXCITED!

Order this live on iPPV www.wwnlive.com - PLUS Night 2 I'll be going head to head with AR Fox for the 2nd time since 2013 ... 2 different wrestlers now & more matured & well rounded. We'll 100% blow our last match out of the water. This isn't a match you want to miss either! Then Night 3 which is the WWN Live Super Show - Mercury Rising - Not sure who I'm wrestling to be honest, but to be a part of this BIG event will be something special & you all know I'll be going hard! Don't miss all 3 shows!

This brings me to a couple big shows I have lined up for March & April.

- AIW this Friday! Gauntlet for the Gold! STACKED SHOW! 30 Man Rumble! Winner faces the champ at Absolution 10! The BIG 10 year mark! I WANT TO MAIN EVENT THIS SHOW!
www.aiwrestling.com - don't miss the road to Absolution!

- AAW this Saturday! Epic 11 Year Anniversary Event! Nothing is announced yet, but damn the card is GREAT! Title matches & stacked line up! Plus one of my favorite venues Berwyn Eagles Club!
www.aawrestling.com

- AAW on April 10th is the BIGGEST event they've ever run! Samoa Joe, Tommy End, Tomasso Ciampa, Gargano ... just freaking STACKED!

- DreamWave on April 11th - Monster Mafia debuts & Ethan Page returns! 4 way elimination tag match! We get to mix it up with Joey Ryan & Candice plus Hooligans! Fans 100% wanna see this & so do I!
www.dreamwavewrestling.com

- Alpha-1 Wrestling on April 12th - THE BIGGEST A1 Show EVER! Kingston vs Seleziya - Mike Bailey vs Rickey Shane Page - finally me vs Tyler Thomas in singles match! This show is HEATED & so much on it to be worth the price of admission or a DVD purchase!
www.alpha-1wrestling.com

SO MUCH going on! So many ways to support Ethan Page, Monster Mafia or Indy Wrestling in general!

www.prowrestlingtees.com/ethanpage is a good way to support too!

Thanks for the read guys. I'm super excited for what's to come in the future. Enjoy the ride, because I surely man!

- Ethan Page
@OfficialEGO - Twitter

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Living My Dream On My Own Terms

Hello fans & or people reading this to see how controversial this post will be ... either way, WELCOME!

Haven't really posted on here in a little while, figure I've reach another milestone in my career & wouldn't mind sharing my thought process with the people who've been supporting me throughout my efforts to become an indy wrestling superstar!

..... Hey look ... it's actually kinda happening now!


PWG this past friday was a dream come true.... obviously. A goal I set for Josh & I in 2012/2013 can't remember when it was exactly. But it was 100% the reason behind us becoming a tag team. To get to ROH, then use that ROH resume to get to PWG. Which ... I guess it KIND of went that way ... not really, but KINDA! To be honest, I never would have been happy with this dream coming true if the announcer said "Ethan Gabriel Owens" over the P.A. System in Reseda, CA. It just wouldn't have gone the way I'd always dreamed.

Let's touch up on that too. Ethan Page is who I am, who I've always been & who I will be forever. I mean, until Vinny Mac wants to pay me to make a living as his talent on the WWE roster ... this name will never change. I'm actually personally disappointed in myself that I let that happen just to achieve something on my bucket list. It was a great experience &  I loved working in front of the Ring of Honor audience. The fans were amazing & that in itself was a dream come true, but lets be honest ... it wasn't on my own terms. PWG & the feeling I had coming out the curtain, fans chanting "Ethan PAGE" ...  ROH also telling us that "Monster Mafia" wasn't a good tag name & they hated it ... well, the 300+ PWG faithful seemed to like it, since they chanted it a handful of times while we were killing it with the Young Bucks ... and that was the real dream come true. Realizing that I've put work into creating & branding myself & the name ETHAN PAGE or MONSTER MAFIA & all those years of work accumulated to doing what I love in the hottest promotion in North America? Biggest compliment & boost I could after how poorly myself & Monster Mafia was handled in ROH. 

(Side note, I never assumed we were on the roster or even superstars ... but damn it sucked)

Anyways, being seen as an asset was a great feeling. Achieving a career goal & being asked to return was a great feeling & knowing it was Ethan Page who did it & Ethan Page who will be talked about ... that was the BEST! .... Even though Dave Meltzer seems to think Ethan Cage is better ... who'd that guy ever beat though... toss Ethan Cage in a faction with Ethan Gabriel Owens, Al Snow & bring back the J.O.B. Squad. 

- April 3rd - Monster Mafia vs Matt Sydal & Chris Sabin - See everyone again in Reseda!

And this now brings me to the next day, AAW. A company I started with in 2013, 2 years ago now. Just as the opening act w/ Josh. We didn't even have matching gear. They just gave us a chance to do what we do best & we delivered. Fast forward 2 years & now Josh & I are 2 of the main players in AAW, the companies growth is fantastic, they've stepped up production & the up & coming talent is amazing. They found a gem in Eddie Kingston & rebranded him as an AAW guy & I love it. I'm proud to be a part of AAW & they've always treat myself & Josh great! This weekend they we're more or less booked in a corner & needed to fly us home from Chicago & the crew was stellar about it. Couldn't say enough good things about the whole experience. 

- March 21st - Monster Mafia will return to AAW - See everyone again in Berwyn, IL

All in all, since Josh & I started teaming it's been a wild ride. From driving thousands of hours in the dead of night on no sleep, to sleeping in airports traveling across North America knowing we add value to an event ... it's an amazing feeling. But the only reason promoters see us as an asset is because the fans see us as must see talent. So thank you guys for constantly supporting us & praising our hard work. It's greatly appreciated. 

- Ethan Page 

ps. Don't forget to see me live at 2 of my favorite companies to work! 

AIW in Cleveland - www.aiwrestling.com
Alpha-1 in Hamilton - www.alpha-1wrestling.com