On the eve of WWE’s Money in the Bank premium live event, the Hollywood Improv in Los Angeles, California played host to a special live edition of Insight with Chris Van Vliet—and the spotlight was firmly on the reigning NXT North American Champion, “All Ego” Ethan Page. With a packed house and electric atmosphere, Page sat down for an in-depth conversation with Van Vliet, diving into the biggest moments of his surging WWE career. From the story behind his shocking NXT debut, to reliving the buzzworthy moment he took a GTS from CM Punk on the CW Network premiere, and ultimately discussing his gritty, hard-fought victory over Ricky Saints to claim the North American Title, Page held nothing back. It was candid, it was passionate—and it was “All Ego” at his absolute best.

Here is a snippet of their conversation courtesy of Chrisvanvliet.com:

On his segment with The Rock:

“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 favorites. 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.”

On his NXT debut:

“[It came together] Very quickly, within like a week or two. I just ended up getting a phone call. This story might already be out there, but I was in between events. I was flying from Winnipeg. I had to go to Detroit and then drive from Detroit to Ohio for Revolver wrestling. And in between my connections, WWE called and offered me a job. And I did not think the call was real. The first call happened, they hung up, and I was like, Yep, that was a crank call. Then the second call came, and I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, wait, this is real?!’ And they’re like, ‘Yes, we would like to offer you a contract.’ I was like, very nice.”

On taking a GTS from CM Punk after losing the title on the CW premiere:

“Let’s also talk about how that was the last thing people saw on that episode is confetti falling in my stupid face after CM Punk knocked me out in the middle of the ring. You know what? There was some joy that I got out of it. It was the fact that Trick Williams won the championship. But the last thing people saw was my stupid face.”

On being NXT North American Champion:

“What an interesting question. It means a lot to me, and the more I think about it, I think it should mean a lot more to NXT. There was a moment in my NXT career where I was challenging Tony D for the North American Championship, and I told him in the locker room that this championship was beneath me, and now I’m sitting here holding this same championship, and I wanted to address that. After some time and thinking and using my logical brain in professional wrestling, which usually doesn’t work out, I came to the conclusion that the North American Championship is actually the most prestigious championship in NXT. I mean, Oba Femi, current NXT Champion. In description he’s the champion of NXT, which its home base is in Orlando at the Performance Center. So Oba Femi is the champion of the Performance Center. Ethan Page is the champion of three entire countries. Meaning that this championship is also higher than the United States Championship. So I wanted to actually thank Jacob Fatu for doing such a great job representing the US, as his superior. Because, born in Canada, made in America, and tomorrow will be beating some Mexican luchadors. I am the greatest American to ever hold the North American Championship, and this is truly the championship in NXT. Prove me wrong.”

You can checkout the full episode down below:

Spotify:

YouTube:

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