AEW Star Claims Elias-Ezekiel WWE Angle Was His Idea First
By late 2020, several reports had confirmed that Ethan Page was leaving Impact Wrestling for AEW. Subsequently, a storyline began on Impact where Page began to blame his tag partner Josh Alexander for The North's losing streak, which hinted at a feud between the Canadians. However, Page was written off Impact programming in the most bizarre possible way, with his alter-ego, The Karate Man, "killing" him off in a cinematic match at Hard to Kill on January 16, 2021.
While most fans caught a glimpse of The Karate Man at several shows leading to Hard to Kill, the lesser known fact is that Page began to workshop the gimmick at various indie shows through 2020, with hopes of portraying two separate characters — Ethan Page and The Karate Man — simultaneously on Impact. WWE had run a similar storyline last year with Elias doubling up as Ezekiel, whom he claimed was his younger brother trying to earn his chops in WWE.
Speaking on his "#SmallTalk" podcast recently, Page praised Elias for his entertaining portrayal of Ezekiel, but equally lamented the fact that his idea of pulling double duty never came to fruition — at least not in the way he wanted it to.
"You know what makes me the most mad?" Page began. "This is honestly both my gift and curse. I do everything too soon. This was during peak pandemic [March 2020 onwards], I had nothing going on. How was I going to tell stories with just myself? I thought I'll create this other character, I'll feud with myself. There's merchandise options, and all the other stuff. I'm doing double booking — so I'm taking these double paydays where it's like Ethan Page wrestles at 2, and Karate Man wrestles at 4. Ethan Page wrestles again at 8. Karate Man outsold Ethan Page in merch."
'The Karate Man Was Meant To Be Taken Seriously'
Page continued, "And then, when it was pushed on me to bring them [the dual characters] to television, I was offered an ultimatum where it was like, 'on your exit, you can either turn on your tag team partner [Josh Alexander] and feud with him, or you do Karate Man on TV.' So, I decided to go with Karate Man. In my mind, I was like, 'this will be fine, as long as it gets presented as two separate people.' So there has to be both Ethan Page and Karate Man on the show."
Page then explained why WWE executed the idea properly, while Impact never truly understood his vision.
"Nobody understood it [the idea], or they chose not to," Page lamented. "Either way, it's fine, I couldn't control everything. But then, about a year later, I see on WWE that they do exactly what I wanted to do — with Elias. And everyone loves it, raves about it, calls it a genius idea. And I'm thinking, 'hold on, I killed the business on a show that nobody really saw, but this guy — and it was awesome, more power to him — gets praised heavily.
"The part that sucks is that, when it comes to comedy, everyone has their own style. But my style is very serious, though that sounds stupid. My thinking was that, the more serious and on the nose you treated Karate Man, the funnier it is. I felt, if we treat the two characters as separate people, and that you have to take it seriously, people will think it's hilarious."
In conclusion, Page hinted at the possibility of bringing back The Karate Man to AEW or to another indie show.
"The Karate Man lives, which is good news," Page stressed. "He'll be around forever. I'm putting him in another project. Coming soon!"
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit #SmallTalk Podcast with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.