Ethan Page says The Rock gave him advice during their WWE NXT segment that he has carried with him since. Page mentions that the segment went live on The Rock’s request, a common request other wrestlers have shared stories about The Rock.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on INSIGHT, Page reflected on working with The Rock in NXT and said the experience gave him a chance to tell Rock what the moment meant to him.
Honestly, both.
That whole experience was fantastic.
Page said he was able to personally tell The Rock how much it meant to share the screen with him.
The best part was getting to be able to tell him, “Hey, when I started all this, the number one goal was seeing what I created on screen with what I admired.”
Page said The Rock was the top name he looked up to in wrestling.
He was the absolute pinnacle of what I admire from professional wrestling.
He’s, to me, the best.
Page said being able to share that moment with The Rock was a major career experience.
To get to see what I cultivated in wrestling on screen with my number one wrestler, I mean, there’s nothing else that I need to do unless he wants to have a match with me.
Page then jokingly called out The Rock.
Come on, Rock.
Put your little underwear on.
Let’s do it.
Everybody wants to see your hamstrings.
Page said there was one specific backstage interaction with The Rock that stayed with him.
There was an interaction we had when we were going through everything and the situation is very interesting.
Page said he raised his hand during the discussion because people were debating how to handle something in the segment.
I ended up putting my hand up like I was in school because they were debating on how to handle something.
So I was like, “May I make a suggestion?”
Page said his suggestion ended up being accepted.
They’re like, “Yeah, sure, go ahead.”
So I say what I say and they go, “Yeah, that’s good. We’ll just do that.”
Page said The Rock later pulled him aside after the segment.
After the interview, Rock’s like, “Hey, don’t ever second guess yourself ever again.”
Page said The Rock told him to speak up when he had an idea.
He’s like, “If you think it and if you feel it, say it.”
Worst is we say no.
Page said that advice has helped him during his WWE run.
I was like, “Oh, okay.”
So I’ve definitely taken that with me going forward through the rest of my career in WWE and it’s definitely helped me.
Page also praised The Rock for being fully present during the interaction.
It was a very, very good experience.
I’m very happy that I could actually share that with him and just be like, “Hey, I’m very proud of this and I wanted to say thanks.”
Van Vliet noted that The Rock has a rare ability to make people feel like they have his full attention.
He’s being pulled in all of these different directions, but when he’s talking to you, he’s talking to you 100%.
Page agreed.
Oh, yeah.
Page said the segment also carried extra pressure because it was done live at The Rock’s request.
On top of it for NXT, a lot of the stuff is pre-recorded.
As far as promos and stuff, just because the amount of stuff we have to do in a day is insane.
Page said that was not the case with The Rock.
That one was live by his request.
Page said the live format made the moment feel bigger.
That’s not the nature of the beast with NXT.
So it was like, “Oh, this is new. This is exciting.”
It adds so much more weight to the situation because it’s like, yeah, we only got one take. It’s live.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, with a h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.
