Well if it's outside of New Japan or Ring of Honor, I'm just worried about tacos, mostly. You gotta go corn tortilla, a little steak, a little cilantro, a little onion, and maybe a little salsa. No cheese or sour cream and all that crap.
— Adam Page
It's been pretty wild, but the teaching schedule is a pretty awesome fit for wrestling. No weekends, all summer, and plenty of sick time.
I always knew that in the U.S., if you wanted to be a wrestler, Ring of Honor was the place to be.
I really don't feel like just going to WWE is the absolute end-all, be-all in wrestling.
I had an interest in film, but I didn't want to go to Hollywood and make movies.
Around Christmas time, I passed by a Hot Topic at the mall. They had the Christmas decorations up in the front of the store with AC/DC and Metallica, Harry Potter, Star Wars and Bullet Club. So, we are certainly a part of pop culture.
When you're a chill, laid back guy, you maybe have more pent-up frustration, anger, bitterness, than maybe somebody a little wilder would have.
I was a high school teacher when I joined Bullet Club and started going to Japan.
When I was 19 or 20 years old, I wasn't making a living wrestling. I needed a full-time income.
The Bullet Club is fine, man. We've got a lot more to focus on than the problems that we may or may not have with each other. When you have so many guys together that are so talented, you're going to butt heads.
I found out I was joining Bullet Club and going to New Japan and had probably two or three weeks to get ready for that.
I love my job. I love waking up in the morning and doing this, and I want to continue making a living doing it.
For the past, I guess, three years or so when I joined Bullet Club and as a member of The Elite, I was honestly kind of in the shadow of all of my friends.
I want to have fun and I want to bring something new and fresh to fan's eyes and have it be something they enjoy, no matter where it is, no matter what capacity. To have an outlet for creativity. That's been my goal.
I like to think I've always been a good wrestler.
Bullet Club has been huge. It's something that's transcended wrestling a little bit.
My number one goal has always been to try to tell interesting, cohesive, long-term stories.
I had a cousin who dated someone in CWF, so I was traveling to shows by age 10 or 11. I got to work with them later after I started wrestling, and it was awesome.
I feel like everything in my life has somehow just fallen into perfect place at the perfect time. I don't know how it happened. It's always like right at the point of my life about to fall apart, and then something amazing happens. I don't know how, but it happens.
When I left teaching, I don't think anyone I worked with necessarily understood what I did or the level at which I did it but I think they all do now. I think its Bullet Club stuff and what we're doing now in wrestling is, honestly, such a big part of pop culture that it's kind of hard to avoid, even if you don't follow wrestling.
There are a lot of guys who have never had to go to a commercial break during their match.
That first year I was in Ring of Honor, maybe it wasn't even a year, I was wearing the trucker hat thing and wearing John Deere stuff because I felt like part of what made me different from a lot of guys was that I was kind of a good ol' boy and a southern type of guy.
My life did a 180 when I joined Bullet Club. Joining Bullet Club opened the door to New Japan for me. It made me more valuable.
I was brought up knowing that you have to make a living.
For sure yeah, Bullet Club is definitely synonymous with pro wrestling as a whole.
The first thing I wanted to be was a clown.
Doing comedy stuff is maybe more fun, but maybe the serious stuff is a little bit more rewarding.
I've been honestly sitting in the living room every day doing little DIY projects. Painting and making stuff and all that stuff. That's been kind of cool. I got to find out I apparently have a passion for that.
I guess I don't take compliments well.
I'm sure there are people wearing Bullet Club shirts who don't even know what it is. It's one of those kind of things, but that's good.
Being in the Bullet Club is definitely a huge opportunity and guarantees more eyes on my work.
When I was a little kid, WWF was all I had access to. After a year or two when I found the indies and could watch wrestling live, it was just as big a deal to me as WWF.
I moved back home after graduating from Virginia Tech. And that's when reality hit. I knew I had to do something. I guess it doesn't click when you're that young. I was 19 and had finished college. I got home and had to figure out what I was going to do.
As a wrestler, sometimes I'm fortunate with some free time.
I guess when I talk to friends and family back home they don't know anything about wrestling, but when they bring it up they bring up the things they may used to watch and love.
Part of what I've tried to do since I became 'Hangman' is try to give back to the world because I know I can make people feel a little more uncomfortable than maybe most wrestlers do.
When I signed with Ring of Honor, looking back now, I don't think I deserved it.
We'd like to put an end to SoCal Uncensored, but I really want to spend more time with Bury the Drug Free Bear. I think he's going to be really big.
I got into circuses and put on circuses in the backyard. My dad had horses and he'd bring them and we'd do horse tricks. I was 6 or 7 years old putting on circuses for the family or whoever in the backyard.
I have not held a singles title in New Japan or Ring of Honor, whether that's the TV title or the world title or something else.
All In' is not my baby, it's my brother or my cousin. We sold out a 10,000 seat arena in less than 30 minutes, and that, to me, says a lot about the health of wrestling outside of the machine.
That always catches you by surprise, you know, the amount of inspiration, should you choose to, that you can give to people.
It wasn't until I had a platform and an opportunity like 'Being the Elite' to show people that I'm a real human being. Show people I have a personality. I think that's helped more than anything in my career.
