At WrestleDream 2024 over the weekend, Hangman Adam Page lost the opening match to Switchblade Jay White clean as a sheet in the middle of the ring.
For Hangman fans this is their greatest fear. The company cannot stick to pushing him at any time. Even as AEW Men’s World Champion the focus quickly went from him as champion to the new shiny toys like CM Punk, Adam Cole, and Bryan Danielson. Page was expected to fight all of them, and eventually lost to the shiniest toy of all.
Since then it’s been constant ups and downs, “We’re Back” and “We’re Doomed“, the only consistent cycle being to never let your guard down because soon enough the Hangman Page fans will be back at square one.
Usually when fans do this sort of thing it’s just a matter of never being happy that their guy isn’t on top. It isn’t based on what’s the best thing for business or the best story to tell. Maybe I’m biased since I love ol’ Hanger but he has actually proved he’s best for business with how well All Out drew once the cage match was announced against Swerve Strickland. His t-shirts have proven they can sell. He draws in the quarters he’s in. AEW fans love to watch Hangman Adam Page as a babyface or heel. He is the Protagonist.
The story with Swerve Strickland was the best story told in the company. At a creative level, financial level, critical level, and in-ring level combined? He’s arguably the very best in the company. So why isn’t he World Champion?
Reviving Jon Moxley
It’s pretty clear that the company is focused on rehabilitating someone over him, that someone being Jon Moxley. Moxley and Page have always been kindred spirits, as evidenced by their phenomenal feud in 2022-2023 which was the best feud of 2023. Moxley is a major star for All Elite Wrestling, and one of the few guys with a real say in the locker room. Even he got lost in the shuffle, having to take a step back to MJF and the Devil storyline in 2023. When The Elite was expected to be the top angle, he was off having some of the worst matches of his career as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. He lacked purpose. He lacked focus. He felt like just another guy. And Jon Moxley should never just be another guy.
So AEW President Tony Khan has made part of the focus of 2024 to be the gold watch run of Bryan Danielson, giving him the main event to All In when the better story was Page and Strickland, and ensuring the legend gets to finish his full-time career at top. That Danielson story felt like it was going a regular road of defences with a finish whenever. Instead, it was all up ended by the return of Jon Moxley, who bullied his way into a title shot and defeated Danielson at WrestleDream.
Jon Moxley has the ball, the focus, and the attention as the top heel in the company. He essentially took it from Hangman the first Dynamite after All Out. And AEW is very much an ADHD company with trouble being able to focus on more than one thing.
This has left Hangman Adam Page, after an incredible All Out ending, to “tie loose ends” with Jeff Jarrett in a disappointing strap match and now move into a feud with Switchblade Jay White, another guy who needs a bit of rehab.
Resharpening The Switchblade
Jay White came to AEW in a shocker as most thought he was expecting an open door into WWE around WrestleMania in 2023. Jay spent the first year in a bit of a struggle to find where he fit in the company, with Will Ospreay’s debut making things even more difficult. Ospreay is clearly a more favoured gaijin from New Japan Pro Wrestling than Jay.
After a rough feud with MJF for the AEW Men’s World Championship which saw Jay White try as much as he could to get the program on track, he worked the Continental Classic before starting 2024… in a feud with The Acclaimed. The match against Billy Gunn might be the worst moment for AEW in 2024, with Tony Khan deciding Billy Gunn in 2024 should look like a menacing threat against Jay White. It was an absolute embarrassment.
After an injury which happened in his match with Adam Page during the Owen Hart Memorial Tournament, Jay White is now back to get revenge. That revenge has White officially a babyface, instead of heel or in between. White had a good, if forgotten, run as a babyface in Impact Wrestling during the pandemic which I was a big fan of. I’m seeing that Jay White here and I’m glad.
Jay beating Adam Page is about rehabilitating Jay White as a top guy, and giving AEW a new option for babyface while there’s a top heel as champion. This is what the number two heel should be doing. Setting up babyfaces to be credible against the number one heel. It’s hard when you want Page to be that number one heel, but everyone has a role to play.
And also, let’s back up a bit. The match between Hangman and Switchblade? Incredible. Absolutely everything I wanted. Two very smart workers with great chemistry and different styles despite similar attributes mixing it up perfectly. Jay came in with a strategy to disarm Hangman’s mobility while Page was a wrecking ball trying to re-injure White. Jay’s strategy ended up working out as Page struggled to get off the Buckshot Lariat and ended up flipping right into a Blade Runner by Jay White. Pro wrestling perfection. That’s everything I want in a pro wrestling match.
Fear The Hangman
A lot of people view openers as “the bottom of the show” but in AEW that’s not the case. All Out opened with an MJF match. Forbidden Door opened… with an MJF match. Double or Nothing opened with Will Ospreay. Dynasty opened with Kazuchika Okada. Revolution opened with Christian Cage and was followed by Eddie Kingston versus Bryan Danielson. World’s End in 2023 opened with the Continental Classic competitors eight man which included Danielson and Jay White. Full Gear in 2023 opened with Sting, Darby Allin, Adam Copeland, and Christian Cage. And WrestleDream 2023? That opened with yes, you guessed it! MJF.
The opener spot on the pay per view is not a low rung on the PPV card. It’s a comfortable spot for upper midcarders and marquee stars not currently involved in the main event. It’s a good way to kick off with big stars without giving everything up early. People can prefer the International three way or Danielson versus Moxley but to me Jay and Adam had the very best match on the show. A show that I think was by far the best pay per view AEW has done in the 2024 calendar year.
Hangman Adam Page lost, but Hangman Adam Page isn’t lost. He burned Swerve Strickland’s world to the ground but that fire is essentially out. Swerve is back. Hangman needed something new to burn to the ground. He needed oxygen. He needed fuel. Losing clean to Jay White is plenty fuel for the fire. Hangman once again has someone to ruin.
So long as Jon Moxley’s Crusade is the top of the show? There isn’t a place for Hangman to supplant him. That’s just the reality. Moxley needed to be reborn. Jay White needed to be rehabilitated. Hangman has allowed Jon that time, and Jay that win. He’s doing this because he doesn’t need that rehab. He’s in a good place.
But Jay isn’t here to beat Moxley. He isn’t an AEW Original. And Moxley isn’t here to be champion forever. Darby Allin is likely to be the man to defeat him soon. And once that happens? Darby Allin needs someone new to be a threat. That threat? Is going to be an AEW Original himself.
Don’t worry for The Hangman. Fear The Hangman. His time will come.
"He comes, he comes
Judge so severe
Seven trumpets speak
Speak the sound of fear"
- The Northern by Alexisonfire
