Ethan Page did his best to keep his WWE debut a secret, including from one of the indie promotions he was scheduled to have a long-term storyline with.
Page is one of the wrestlers featured in Slowburn Shoot: An Indie Wrestling Story, a new documentary film that profiles Cleveland-based wrestling promotion Absolute Intense Wrestling. WrestleZone recently spoke with AIW owner John Thorne and Slowburn director Adam J. Wilde about the project, which has been years in the making.
Wilde filmed some of Slowburn during the COVID-19 pandemic, with some work being done before AEW even started back in 2019. Thorne said that aside from Britt Baker, who was/is under contract with AEW, most talent was filmed when they were free of any contractual agreements.
That includes Ethan Page, who was set to begin a long-term commitment with Thorne’s promotion after leaving AEW in early 2014. However, Page abruptly informed Thorne he would only be making one appearance, and didn’t tell him why.
Ethan Page mysteriously did a one-and-done appearance for AIW
“We were luckily able to get them all in between contracts. And when I say luckily, I mean at the end of the film, you see Ethan Page,” Wilde explained. “He had just left AEW and came in, and Thorne had been trying to book him for like six months. Then that night, he was like, ‘Sorry, Thorne. This is going to be it for me.’”
Thorne shared that once Page left AEW, they had worked out a deal for a six-month storyline on the indies. His initial (and now final) appearance at AIW Gauntlet For The Gold was a surprise, but they had the rest of the dates worked out in advance. After the event, Thorne thought something was off, and that’s when Page told him he wasn’t coming back.
“Then we’re walking out of the building at the end of the night, and he goes, ‘All right, well, I’ll see you in a couple weeks.’ Then he goes, ‘Actually, I think this is my last night.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? This is your first night.’ And he’s just like, ‘Thanks for everything, man,’ and walked away without saying anything else.”
Thorne thought he did something to upset Page, who had worked with AIW for twelve years. A few days later, he found out why Page was so abrupt about his stay on the indies.
“That was a Friday night, and then that Tuesday, he showed up on NXT. Then he texted me and said, ‘I hope you understand now, but I couldn’t say anything.’”
Thorne says he and Ethan Page are still on good terms
Thorne says he’s never gone out of his way to ask Page the particulars of his contract status, but they have been able to have a good laugh about the situation since then. Luck came into play while shooting the documentary, and he’s happy with everything they were able to get.
“A lot of the times with these contracts, it’s not happening until it happens, you know what I mean? So at that point, maybe he had not signed it,” Thorne said. “But now we’ve had a bunch of laughs about that because he was so weird when he walked off. He’s in [the final film], when he’s backstage and talking to Josh Prohibition and stuff in the film, that’s all from that night.
“So we kind of just lucked into some of these things, but Adam can tell you, he shot over 100 hours of footage for this film. These are the stories and the things he picked out of the footage he shot,” he added. “We probably got five seasons of a docu-series if you really wanted it.”
Ethan Page won the NXT Championship and North American Championship during his time on the roster. He was called up to RAW last month and he’ll face Penta for the Intercontinental Championship at the May 23 edition of WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Slowburn Shoot: An Indie Wrestling Story is currently touring the United States for a slate of roadshow screenings. The film will be screened in the following cities; additional stops may be announced at a later date.
June 11 in Los Angeles, CA at Braindead Studios
June 15 in New York, NY at Nitehawk Cinema
Read More: LA Knight Seen Leaving WWE RAW Early After Return
