Ethan Page Reveals What Impact VP Don Callis Told Him That Inspired Him To Get Into Shape

As Vince McMahon would tell you, a big part of a wrestler's push is tied to his physique. Being in shape only helps you in the minds of your employer and the fans and that's something Impact Wrestling's Ethan Page has taken to heart.

Page is in the best shape of his career and he talked about his physique transformation as well as how his relationship with Impact's creative team is developing.

"It's getting better and better every taping because I think they're getting more comfortable with me and understanding my skill set and where I would thrive," Page told Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast. "I think that was a big change in these past tapings again, is getting that mic live in front of a crowd and having a segment with Rob Van Dam. Getting to show a little bit more of my character instead of just wrestling in matches that, in my opinion, were good but were essentially just wrestling for wrestling."

As for the improvement of his physique, Page mentioned who and what inspired his change.

"Don Callis made a joke this weekend saying, 'Get in shape or get a singlet.' They assumed that even though I'd get in shape, that I'd be getting a singlet [laughs]," Page said before adding that seeing how stupid a singlet looked was more than enough inspiration.

"So, when you gave me the ultimatum, I was like, it's now or never man. I need to fix this."

Page admitted that it was hard to get into his present-day shape but he credits his wife for helping him by getting him a personal trainer and dietician for Christmas.

"I was personally in my career that I wasn't satisfied in. I knew it was the one thing that would hold be back eventually, so I just decided to go for it and make the changes needed. Now, here we are," stated Page.

In addition to the improved aesthetics, Page says his confidence has also grown now that he's looking and feeling better.

"It's giving me a confidence that I can't really explain to you," revealed Page. "It's translated to my wrestling, to my promos, to meet-and-greets, to autograph signings and appearances. It's made my life completely better. It's made traveling better. It's made sleeping better. It's definitely improved my personal life too so it was something that needed to happen. But I'm very happy it did."

Apart from a couple of appearances in ROH in 2014, Page basically lived on the indies for over a decade before joining Impact. He talked about the transition in going from the indies to wrestling on TV.

"I've enjoyed it. It's been challenging in a sense of figuring out different ways to work within the guidelines of a TV show with times and stuff like that. Within the last year, I've gotten really comfortable with that. These past tapings in Toronto I've been given great opportunities to hold the mic live in front of an audience which is a thing that I've wanted to do since signing with Impact," said Page.

"I've had my goals set out and now they're slowly coming into fruition. I've enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to seeing what's next."

As part of now wrestling on TV, Page admits that he relies on match cues from referees to help him plan and to not overly complicate things.

"Although [Impact's] taped, everything is essentially live-to-taped, so you want to make sure you're not taking away from the rest of the show... Even on the indies, I've been forcing refs to give me time cues just so I get the muscle memory of it. I'm bettering myself for my employer."

Ethan Page can be seen on Impact Wrestling every Friday night at 10 pm EST via Pursuit and Twitch.

Ethan's full interview with Wrestling Inc was included in a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In it Ethan discusses The North's Impact Wrestling debut, tag teams main eventing Rebellion, Don Callis pushing him to get in shape, the possibility of AEW and Impact working together and more.

You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.