Ethan Page: I Want To Abolish The Phrase ‘Main Roster.’ It Spits In The Face Of What I Have And Will Continue To Accomplish At NXT
Ethan Page joined WWE in May 2024, and quickly ascended to the top of the card, winning the NXT Championship in July 2024 and the NXT North American Championship in May 2025.
Many believe Page will join the main roster of Raw and SmackDown soon enough, given his NXT success and partnership with Chelsea Green, but Page doesn’t see NXT as being lower than any other brand.
“I want to abolish the phrase ‘main roster,'” Page told Adam Silvertstein on Getting Over. “I think it’s demeaning. It spits in the face of what I personally have and continue to accomplish in NXT. I believe that when one of these other promotions, Raw or SmackDown, goes out of their way, because they need me, to come steal me from Shawn Michaels, then it will be a lateral move for me career-wise because I already am a ‘main attraction.’ I don’t think there is a level up. Right now, Shawn Michaels has the best wrestler in the WWE on his roster. I just play for a specific team. I’m not in the B league. I play for a different team in the NFL, MLB, NHL. I win a lot for my team. I will end up being traded, I’m sure, but for me, it will be a lateral move. The word developmental pisses me off, too, because I believe, and many others do, too, that I am the best wrestler in the WWE, currently. How on earth are there wrestlers on this so-called main roster, who aren’t as good as me? Maybe they need to develop. Maybe they are developmental wrestlers because they need development. I do not. I am one of the best wrestlers in the WWE, if not the best. I carry my brand with pride, very well. Weekly, as a professional, my paycheck is very good. Wherever I go, I promise it’ll be a lateral move. Let’s abolish this main roster talk. I’m better than everyone on Raw and SmackDown. This is not a step up if I go somewhere else. I’m being traded from one team to the next. This is not a developmental brand. We have our own network, seen weekly.”
When asked if he felt he was “forced” to NXT, Page replied, “What do you mean forced? I could have said no. I was not forced. I was looking for employment, and Shawn Michaels offered me a spot on his roster. It turned out to be a perfect position for me to grow into the performer that I am today, and WWE is very lucky that Shawn Michaels hired me for his roster, because now I am under the WWE umbrella. How I came here and where I started means literally nothing. This belt right here [NXT North American Title] has the WWE logo right in the center. I am a champion in the WWE. So good that they sent me to another promotion [AAA] that they just acquired and now I’m a champion [AAA Mixed Tag Team Champion] there, too. I don’t think there is a normal trajectory for Ethan Page. I think I’ve outgrown every position I’ve been put in, in every company, which is why I’ve left every promotion on my own, because I knew I needed to grow. Now, here I am, I’m growing and growing. I don’t want to put some kind of ceiling on me or my career because other people think a certain way. I’m breaking the mold. I’m breaking this whole developmental crap. It’s not real. It’s a facade. These ‘main rosters’ like Raw and SmackDown want to continue the facade because it helps them separate themselves from me. Me, specifically. Maybe not the locker room, but me specifically. Everyone on Raw and SmackDown knows I’m coming for them, and they are genuinely worried, so they like to throw words like ‘developmental.’ I don’t like it. I’m over it.”
Page and Green successfully defended their AAA Mixed Tag Team Titles at NXT Gold Rush week one, defeating Joe Hendry and Thea Hail.
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