Ethan Page is not losing any sleep over the backlash surrounding his new entrance music. In fact, he says upsetting fans was exactly the point.
Appearing on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, the Raw Superstar discussed WWE replacing his popular "All Ego" entrance theme with a remixed version that debuted at Saturday Night's Main Event. The updated track removed the crowd friendly "ego" chant, a decision Page personally welcomed.
"I mean, good. Yeah, screw them, dude. It sucked," Page said. "Everyone just wants to take everything and make it their own."
According to Page, the chant had reached the point where fans were hijacking his entrance by changing "ego" into an insult that forced WWE's broadcast team to censor the audio.
"I come out and everyone was going 'ego' right away, and then they turned it into a*shole," he explained. "Nobody's hearing what Booker T is saying because the crowd is doing what they want, because it's censored. It's literally they’re just cutting the audio."
Page said entire entrances became overshadowed by the chants, leaving little room for his character to connect with the audience.
"I've had full entrances where you can't hear anything. You just kind of see me smiling and mocking and pointing, and then once I get in the ring, the chant stops, and just boo. I wanted to take that away. It was too involved. Don't involve yourself in my stuff, and I don't want to be like everybody else."
He also took aim at what he believes has become an overly crowd pleasing style across professional wrestling.
"I think everybody's lame right now. All wrestlers right now are corny and lame, and I don't want to be corny and lame, and I don't want to cater to this pop pro wrestling garbage that's happening right now."
When asked whether he had specific names in mind, Page doubled down.
"And if they think I'm talking about them, I am, and that's just your insecurity showing, and I love it."
Rather than encouraging sing along entrances, Page says he simply wants music that fits his character.
"I don't need people to sing along. I don't need people to chant. I just want to have a nice, catchy tune that I can walk to the ring to."
The former NXT Champion revealed the latest version of his entrance music came after extensive collaboration with WWE's music team.
"I went through seven iterations with a producer to be able to make that song what it was, and then once people took that from me, I was like, okay, well, we'll change it again. Number eight."
Elsewhere during the interview, Page reflected on one of the lowest moments of his career, revealing WWE once told him in writing that he would never be signed.
While still with TNA and preparing to leave the promotion without another contract secured, Page received an email that appeared to close the door on his WWE dream.
"The email was from WWE telling me that they're never going to hire me."
At the time, he had already informed TNA he was leaving, while AEW remained only a possibility.
"I just told Impact that I'm not staying. AEW was like a possible option, but nothing was concrete. And then I get this email being like, yeah, we're not hiring you. Just stop. Pretty much like this is the end of the road. It's not gonna happen. Just kind of let it go."
Rather than letting the rejection define him, Page recorded himself immediately after reading the email.
"I filmed myself right after reading the email, and then had a conversation with myself, documenting it pretty much being like, are you gonna be okay with this, or are you gonna shove it up their a*s?"
He still has that footage today and joked it may one day feature in a WWE documentary.
"To watch it back is pretty rough, but I got it, so I can't wait to sell it to WWE for whatever documentary they make."
Looking back, Page believes the biggest hurdle in his journey was simply trying to break into the American wrestling scene from Canada.
"It's impossible," he said, explaining the long process of securing work authorization, visas, and eventually a green card before finally earning his opportunity in WWE.
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