Ethan Page Discusses Being "Handpicked" by MJF for The Firm, AEW All-Atlantic Title Goals

Ethan Page has gold on his mind. Since being revealed as one of the members of The Firm, Maxwell Jacob Friedman's stable on retainer, faction manager Stokely Hathaway announced that All Ego's sights are strictly set on the AEW All-Atlantic Title. While it remains to be seen when he will go after champion Pac, Page already has big plans for where he will take the traveling title.

In 2010, Page founded his own Canadian-based independent wrestling promotion. Dubbed Alpha-1 Wrestling, this promotion ran events on and off over the past decade, featuring both established and future talent on its shows like Cody Rhodes and MJF, respectively. 

In its short existence thus far, the AEW All-Atlantic Championship has already been taken overseas, as it was defended at RevPro in England and OTT in Ireland over the summer. If Page gets his hands on the gold, he's hoping to add Alpha-1 and Canada to that list.

"I'd love to win All-Atlantic Title and bring back Alpha-1 Wrestling to my hometown and have that be one of my first title defenses," Page told ComicBook.com's Liam Crowley. "To bring the belt back to my hometown, bring the company back and defend it in my hometown, in front of my hometown crowd as the Canadian legend that I know that I am, that would be pretty sweet."

It remains to be seen if that dream will be fulfilled, but Page is optimistic about his aspirations within The Firm. Before the group was officially revealed at AEW All Out, Hathaway planted the seeds by handing business cards to the eventual members on episodes of AEW Dynamite. As fans will recall, Page was approached first. 

These cards were passed along by Hathaway, but as Page reveals, all of The Firm's players were chosen by MJF himself. 

"He handpicked everybody," Page said. "This was a very much a project that had MJF's fingerprints all over it."

Even just weeks into The Firm's existence, Page noted that has already seen more unique opportunities than when he was associated with American Top Team.

"I've had more opportunities to speak. I've been put in a spotlight more," Page said. "Stokely Hathaway will happily take a back seat to Ethan Page. I don't know if Dan Lambert and Scorpio Sky would say the same."

That selflessness from Hathaway is due to a long-standing friendship between he and Page.

"Me and Stokely have been buddies for years," Page said. "My first taste of attention or any kind of buzz doing something in wrestling was with Evolve [Wrestling] and I got to do that with Stokely. There's that mutual respect. And he even said it on the microphone: we've loved each other, we've hated each other. That's as true as it could be with our relationship in real life, but when it comes to business, I know his talents and I know his drive. Onscreen, offscreen, he will go out of his way to make sure everything he does is memorable and special, and I have that same drive and motivation."

Page and Hathaway's relationship goes beyond Evolve as well. Hathaway was in MJF's corner whenever he wrestled at Page's Alpha-1 events.

"I have known Max probably since his first week in professional wrestling. He used to work for me in Canada [at Alpha-1]," Page said. "Stokely was actually his manager at Alpha-1 Wrestling. The three of us have had a relationship together forever. We have natural chemistry. We're all actually friends. For us to be working together on a national and global stage like All Elite Wrestling, to be put in a position like this is incredible. We all trust each other. There's so many things that benefit us being together. This is not going to be a wasted opportunity for anybody involved."

MJF is one of the hottest acts in the industry right now, and he's only been wrestling for about seven years. Before signing with AEW, MJF made his name on the independent circuit, wrestling across the continent. When he ended up in Alpha-1, MJF and Page got themselves entangled in one of the most brutal match types in wrestling: a dog collar match. Regardless of all the bad blood, both literally and figuratively, within that storyline, the two emerged from the feud with a sense of mutual respect.

"To be able to do this with Max, there's a sense of pride because I saw him come up in wrestling," Page added. "I will happily stand by his side and make sure that he gets what he wants out a professional wrestling, because I know he'll help me do the same."

MJF has reciprocated Page's compliments as well. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, MJF proclaimed that Page is the "most underrated" wrestler in the business today.

"It's a great pat on the back. He's an opinion that people value, especially in the professional wrestling world, and he's the biggest star in All Elite Wrestling," Page said of MJF's comments. "To have the biggest dog say your name is always a good thing."

As of this writing, The Firm's only announced involvement in Wednesday's three-year anniversary edition of AEW Dynamite is with MJF, as he wrestles the Blackpool Combat Club's Wheeler Yuta in singles action. When asked if fans can expect to see any other members of The Firm mixing it up on Wednesday, Page remained tight-lipped.

"I'm not going to tell you nothing," Page said. "Mostly because everything that we've planned out, especially with The Firm and you guys saw that at the last pay-per-view, if we have a plan, I'm not really entitled to share."

One secret Page was able to share revolved around an outside of the ring endeavor. Inspired by his YouTube vlogs, Page is developing a comic book entitled Toy Hunt and is hoping to release it in 2023.

"It's about two kids whose dad goes missing and they have to find him using their toys. I can't tell too much," Page detailed. "It's a very, very, very adorable story. It's very heartwarming and filled with characters that'll give you nostalgia. There's elements to things that I loved growing up. The characters end up being based on my kids, so there's that kind of connection to me. So I'm putting a lot of myself into the book, and I'm absolutely in love with the story. I think it's a million dollar idea. I cannot wait for it to come out."

Further details about Toy Hunt will be available on Page's Patreon.