Adam Page On Not Feeling Like He Earned His AEW World Title Shot, The ELITE's 2017 - 2018 Run

Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman recently sat down with one of the members of The Elite, Adam Page, to talk about his new children's book "Adam and The Golden Horseshoe" on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. The book takes inspiration from Page's life, and he explained how his childhood growing up on a tobacco farm led him to always feel like an actual cowboy.

"I grew up on a farm, tobacco farm. We had cattle as well," Page stated. "So, in many ways, I am a literal cowboy. I grew up working with cows and stuff like that, but I think just kind of the the mythos of what the American Cowboy is and to me, it's not necessarily about cows or horses. It's not about boots and spurs. It's about kind of the sense of trying to figure out who you are [and] where you belong in the world and how difficult, often, that journey is. That to me is the story of what a cowboy is, and maybe I kind of have always seen that in myself [and] in my life."

Hausman asked if working on a farm prepared him at all for his current life as a pro wrestler. Page admitted that it hasn't, but it did teach him a lot of real-life lessons.

"It didn't prepare me for wrestling at all, maybe the opposite," Page admitted. "It prepared me for everything outside of wrestling, which has allowed me to maybe live a life where I could pursue wrestling as well. Man, I can just think about from like the time I was five and six years old, I was in a field working sometimes all day, even as a kid.

"So you kind of develop an appreciation for work, physical work, how much people put in sometimes [and] how little they get out. So it gives you kind of a realist perspective on what you want to do with your life. That's the way you want to live, or if there's something maybe more that you want to do or try to accomplish and just kind of realization of how much work it's going to require."

Page was at first recruited to join Bullet Club along with Adam Cole in Ring of Honor. Page grew closer with The Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes and his involvement in the Being The Elite series eventually made him an official member of The Elite as well. Page reflected on that time in his career and how you can never replicate the success they had in 2017 and 2018.

"Man, I don't know. It was something that I hadn't anticipated, didn't plan for," Page revealed. "Booking is what got me put with with Matt and Nick and Cody. It wasn't my decision, and even though I'm sure they had say in that, it ultimately wasn't their decision either, but we had a lot in common. I think we pushed each other to be more creative and certainly they helped get me off my feet in the wrestling world and kind of get noticed I guess. I guess what we had in 2017-2018 was just nuts. You can't bottle it. You can't replicate it. You can't fake it. It was just magic."

Hausman noted that Page's fellow Elite members speak highly of him and also put that into action with Page's placement in the first-ever AEW World Championship match against Chris Jericho. Page also reflected on that historic achievement admitting that he didn't feel like he earned the opportunity since he only did so by winning the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing as opposed to Jericho who beat Kenny Omega, who Page calls the best wrestler in the world today, in a one-on-one match.

"I think about how we got to the first ever title match, and Chris Jericho got there by beating the best wrestler in the world at the time and I might say now as well, Kenny Omega" Page said. "And I got there by getting to enter into a battle royal dead last and eliminating a lot of people who were largely kind of unknown, under known [or] under successful, maybe. So even our paths to the title match didn't feel equal. I never felt like I earned it, maybe, in the same way that Chris Jericho did, and then getting to be in that title match, obviously, is huge opportunity. And it's one that I blew, so here we are."

Page's book involves his main character searching for a legendary "golden horseshoe." Hausman wondered if the AEW World Title is Page's "golden horseshoe," but Page was unclear what that truly is for him.

"I don't know," Page admitted. "It's a good question. I don't know."

"Adam and The Golden Horseshoe" is now available for purchase at www.trismbooks.com. Page's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.