9 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Collision (July 1)

8. Renewed Focus For All Ego

AEW Collision Ethan Page MJF
AEW

Heading into this week's AEW Collision, some savvy wrestling fans had pondered whether AEW may opt to utilise Ethan Page in a meaningful way. A hugely talented, oft-underserved performer, would All Ego get the chance to shine in his hometown?

The answer to that, was an unequivocal yes.

So far, Page's AEW run has been an extremely mixed bag, with his solid in-ring game and extreme charisma being underutilised on main AEW programming. Instead, the Ontario native has bounced from the Men of the Year, to the Firm, to being under the charge of Matt Hardy, and unfortunately found himself more featured on Dark and Dark: Elevation than Dynamite and Rampage.

Making his first Collision appearance here, MJF - fantastically decked out in USA-themed gear - put away local talent Kip Morst in barely 30 seconds. Lambasting the "crappy-ass Hamilton" crowd, the Salt of the Earth threw out the challenge to face the best grappler this city could offer up. After a brief tease, it was Ethan Page who stepped out and stepped up to Max.

Page cut the sort of serious, passionate promo AEW audiences have yet to really see from him, as he shone a spotlight on his own story and the story of his family, who moved to Canada from Macedonia. The 33-year-old then put up a valiant fight - complete with brilliantly selling an injured left knee - before eventually being put away for the 1-2-3 after a Heatseeker.

Now, it just remains to be seen if this is the start of a renewed, fresh focus on Ethan Page, or if this was merely a one-off moment in the Collision spotlight for a hometown hero.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.