Ethan Page Reveals Backup Plan if He Had Walked Away from Wrestling

Ethan Page has taken WWE’s NXT by storm since his debut in May, quickly capturing the NXT Championship just over a month after signing with the company. However, his path to WWE wasn’t always guaranteed. In a candid interview with Rich Ucchino for The Takedown on Sports Illustrated, Page opened up about the moments he considered stepping away from wrestling altogether and what he would have done if he had walked away.

Page admitted that he had doubted his career path many times, often questioning whether wrestling was right for him. He even discussed those moments of uncertainty with his wife.

“I’ve had this conversation with my wife, I was going to say a thousand times but I’m going to give you an honest probably 15 times, like a genuine, ‘What should we do? I don’t know if this is it, maybe I should look into this,’” Page revealed.

During those moments of doubt, Page began working on a potential exit strategy—starting with his YouTube channel. It became an outlet for him, allowing him to explore other interests and prepare for life outside the ring. However, now that he’s reached his ultimate goal of making it to WWE, Page has put those outside projects on hold to focus entirely on his wrestling career.

“The YouTube channel was a really big part of that in trying to almost give myself an exit plan. I don’t know if that hurt me or helped me because now where I’m at right now, I don’t want to say I’ve given up on all outside projects—I still have a comic book coming out, I would still like to do YouTube projects—but this was my ultimate goal, getting to WWE.”

Page then humorously reflected on what might have happened if things hadn’t worked out in WWE. He admitted that he would have likely launched a YouTube channel or podcast where he would have vented his frustrations and burned bridges within the industry.

“If I wasn’t here and everything kind of flopped, I probably would’ve started a YouTube channel or podcast and just ripped apart professional wrestling and burned a bunch of bridges and made a bunch of money just telling stories I probably never should have told.”

Jokingly, Page credited Shawn Michaels for saving many careers in WWE by ensuring his wrestling dreams were fulfilled.

“Anyone’s career that I did not explode on my hypothetical YouTube channel, you can all thank Shawn Michaels for saving your careers because I definitely would have told everything,” he laughed. “Anyone listening to this, make sure I don’t retire or you’re all screwed!”

Ethan Page’s journey is a reminder that even those who achieve great success have moments of doubt. Thankfully for Page—and the wrestling world—he stuck with his passion and is now living his dream as a top star in WWE’s NXT.