Matt Hardy Believes Tony Khan Had A Perception Of What Ethan Page Was Going To Be And What His Ceiling Was
All Ego bet on himself.
Ethan Page made his surprise WWE NXT debut on May 28th, 2024 after spending the last three years with All Elite Wrestling. Page made a quick impact in NXT, and successfully captured the NXT Championship at the recent NXT Heatwave PLE in Toronto.
On the most recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Matt Hardy was asked about Ethan Page leaving AEW for WWE NXT. Hardy stated that he is “super proud of Ethan for believing in himself,” and pointed out that he could have re-signed a contract with AEW. Hardy said that he thinks “Tony Khan already had a perception of what Ethan Page was going to be, what his ceiling was, and what he could possibly do.. and Ethan didn’t just settle for a payday.”
Hardy went on to talk about how Page “could have just got guaranteed money for three, four years, whatever the deal was, but he took a risk, he rolled the dice, and he went to WWE, and he bet on himself, and it paid off.”
“Super proud of Ethan for believing in himself. Once again, he could have signed a contract with AEW, but I think he realized Tony [Khan] already had a perception of what Ethan Page was gonna be, of what Ethan Page’s ceiling was, what he could possibly do, and Ethan didn’t just settle for a payday. He wanted to go somewhere where he could still bust his ass and grind away and become a champion and continue to elevate his status. For that, I have huge respect for him.
We had a conversation about this before, and I said, ‘Yeah, man, I think you’re doing the right thing.’ I am so glad that he did bet on himself because I feel like Ethan is a strong wrestler, he’s a great performer. He has a great mind for telling stories in the match, and he’s very good at incorporating character stuff and the story that you’re telling in the big scheme of things into the match and into the context of a match. So yeah, I was very happy he went there. I was happy he bet on himself. He took a risk. He could have just got guaranteed money for three, four years, whatever the deal was, but he took a risk, he rolled the dice, and he went to WWE, and he bet on himself, and it paid off. Very happy for him.
I’ve been a big advocate of Ethan Page, and that isn’t gonna change any time in the near future. So I hope he just continues to get opportunities, I hope he kills it, and at NXT, whenever his run is all said and done, he gets an opportunity on Raw or SmackDown because I think he can do great and excel on those shows,”
– Matt Hardy via The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy Podcast
You can watch the lastest episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast below.
Want to discuss wrestling further? Join our Discord community by clicking here!
If you enjoy Bodyslam’s content, you can help donate to the site here. You can also visit our PWTees store and buy Bodyslam official merchandise here.
You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel, Twitch, Apple, Google, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.
Follow me on X: @ToddHomegrown
Follow us on X: @BodyslamNet