At AEW Grand Slam 2021 at Arthur Ashe Stadium, which was All Elite Wrestling’s biggest gate to date, Paul Wight (fka Big Show in WWE) was featured in a three-on-one handicap match, albeit one that was aired on a future episode of AEW Dark: Elevation a few days later. He faced CPA, VSK and RSP (Rickey Shane Page), and Page, in an interview with Fightful, revealed that his appearance in front of a 20,000+ crowd came about courtesy someone you could never expect, MJF.
Discussing how the current AEW World Champion contacted him the day before the show for a potential spot on the card, RSP said,
“That is a crazy story, just in general of how it came together. So that was the first Arthur Ashe show, so there was like 20,000 people there. Oh, were you? Yeah, it was wild. So the day before the show, MJF called me and he was like, ‘Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?’ I was like, ‘Nothing. Why?’ He was like, ‘Can you be in New York?’ I was like, ‘Sure.’ “
“I’m probably gonna get him in trouble, but he was like, ‘I told them you were in New York already, they need guys.’ I was like, ‘Okay.’ So I went literally took a shower, spray tanned, packed my bag and just drove overnight to New York.”
Page revealed that he did not even have a hotel room booked in New York, but was accommodated by “the other Page,” Ethan.
“I slept on Ethan Page’s hotel room floor, and I woke up the next morning and I was having a free continental breakfast for a room that I didn’t have at the hotel. Thank you, Tony Khan.”
Rickey Shane Page further disclosed how he got to know he was facing Paul White, with Aubrey Edwards being the one to share the news at breakfast.
“I was eating and Aubrey, the ref, came up to me and she was like, ‘Oh, hey. Do you know what you’re doing today?’ I was like, ‘No.’ She’s like, ‘You’re wrestling Paul Wight.’ I was like, ‘Shut the f**k up. No, I’m not,’ and she was like, ‘Oh yeah.’ I was like, ‘Uh, okay.’ That’s literally how it happened. So, shout out MJF. He’s always looking out for me. He’s the best. It was so cool. Paul’s great. He’s a super good brother.”
Discussing his backstage experience in AEW, RSP said,
“Everybody at AEW is super nice. I don’t have anything bad to say about my time there. They were so good to me, and Tony was so nice. He was just there, you know? You can go up and talk to him. A lot of times I would just stand in Gorilla position and watch him direct the show, ‘cause I’m very interested in that stuff. He was always cool with me standing there. I’m just an extra. I’m kind of in the way, but he’d let me sit there. I watched him do things. Super cool environment. Everybody was really rad, and I got to wrestle some of my childhood [heroes].”
