On AEW Collision this weekend, All Elite Wrestling TNT Champion “The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher challenged AEW Men’s World Champion Hangman Adam Page at All Out Toronto.
This will be the second straight year that the AEW Men’s World Champion will be defending the title against the TNT Champion, as Bryan Danielson did this against Jack Perry (remember him?) at All Out in 2024.
I honestly wouldn’t be against AEW making this a regular thing. The New Japan Pro Wrestling anniversary shows in March used to have the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion face the IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the main event. I could see All Out becoming the show where they do this between TNT Champion versus World Champion with the men.
Or maybe this is just due to a lack of heels at the top of the show. Hangman Adam Page became AEW Men’s World Champion in July by dethroning Jon Moxley at All In Texas. He defeated Moxley soon after in a rematch and went up next against Maxwell Jacob Friedman at Forbidden Door. MJF was the obvious next choice, so obvious I thought AEW would try to hold off on it.
AEW instead built a terrible, “MJF gets his shot back by threatening to set Mark Briscoe on fire” so they could have MJF get another shot in the future without earning it. Page defeated MJF and sent him back to resolving his rivalries with Mark Briscoe and likely Mistico.
So who does that leave for Hangman? Who has been a top heel in All Elite Wrestling in 2025 besides MJF and Jon Moxley?
Sparse Heel Tunnel
The next top heel in the company would be Kazuchika Okada, who would be an incredible match up against Hangman and something we’ve been waiting for one versus one since 2022’s Forbidden Door. Okada however just won the Unified Championship and currently holds two titles. It’s hard to do this match without it hurting the new Unified Championship. It needs strong defences right now over being neglected on a World Championship shot. It would also be good for AEW to keep the two men separate until Okada drops the Unified Championship, and good to make those belts feel like they are different roads to the same glory.
Probably the most pushed singles star right now who aligns heel is Ricochet, who played the role of MJF’s lackey instead of an equal in the feud to Hangman Adam Page. Ricochet would be a great title defence, and I would have been fine with it at All Out Toronto, but he’s currently held up by the Hurt Syndicate after costing them the AEW World Tag Team Championship. I do think the goal for Ricochet and the Gates of Agony is to eventually take down The Opps, but that will have to be for WrestleDream or Full Gear, which keeps Ricochet out from anything more than a TV defence.
There isn’t much after that. You got Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta in Death Riders, neither of which are believable to beat Hangman. You got Big Bill, who just got a big win against Juice Robinson but the company insists keeping heel despite the cheers he gets. He’d just split the audience against Page, as much as I’d love that match.
Another heel I would love to see go up against Hangman Page but he wouldn’t be strong enough as a pay per view defence is RUSH, who is somewhat associated with the Don Callis Family but now focused on LFI in Ring of Honor with new member Sammy Guevara.
Speaking of Don Callis Family. The Don Callis Family has a fantastic cadre of heel miscreants. I actually wanted Hechicero to be Page’s opponent at Forbidden Door since I felt that was a good way to do a Forbidden Door style CMLL versus AEW match. Lance Archer has had his battles with Page when he was champion in 2021/2022 but that was a TV defence.
Brian Cage, Trent Beretta, Rocky Romero, all of these guys would only be good for a television defence. Josh Alexander will be getting a one on one with Hangman this week but it isn’t for the title. It’s a grudge match. Josh has been one of the better pushed members of DCF, so if he can’t get a TV shot right now, the other members can’t either.
Konosuke Takeshita is a bit of an interesting one. Setting aside the fact it looks like he might be turning babyface after telling Josh Alexander to stay in the back, never being on the same page as Kazuchika Okada, and even almost getting into it with MJF when he interfered in his match with Mark Briscoe. I think Takeshita would be a fantastic candidate to take on Page, but one problem. He’s the winner of the G1 Climax this year in New Japan Pro Wrestling. I doubt AEW or NJPW wants him taking a pinfall loss until he has his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match.
Maybe you could sizzle Wardlow up, but he just got back to the company and just joined the DCF. I think he should be considered as a, “In case of trouble break glass” but he should get some wins first before they need to break it.
The Next One
That leaves us with the Protostar. There’s really no other candidates who fulfill that upper midcard spot who could face Hangman Adam Page. While I would have preferred Fletcher stay without any losses as TNT Champion and focus on TV defences, I’m also fine with him getting this shot. As others have noted, there is a bit of a WWF Survivor Series 1992 feel to this, with Fletcher in the Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels role and Page in the World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart role.
Hangman has already defeated Kyle Fletcher this year, beating him in the semi-final of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament to face Will Ospreay in the final. Would another loss hurt Fletcher, especially now that he’s TNT Champion? I don’t really think it will. Bret tapped Shawn out to the Sharpshooter and Shawn stayed Intercontinental Champion for many months after. What was more important was it showed fans that Michaels could hold his own in a main event. Fletcher is getting his opportunity do that here, and that’s going to be fantastic for his career.
It’s funny to compare him to Michaels, because years ago I said Kyle Fletcher was going to be Bret Hart and Mark Davis would be Jim Neidhart. I just never thought it would be this quick. From his time in ROH to today, Fletcher has had a meteoric rise up the standings in AEW. He’s truly their best young star at only 26 and already looking like a top guy.
I have no issue with Kyle getting this match. The TNT Champion has faced the World Champion before, at the very same show last year, and it didn’t hurt the TNT Champion to lose. I think this does a lot of good for Kyle Fletcher in proving what he’s capable of as a top star, and it will give Hangman Adam Page a strong contender on the heel alignment to defeat. It’s a win win. I’m very much looking forward to the match at All Out. The question, however, is what’s next?
Running Out of Rope
There really isn’t a heel contender they can go to that will feel pay per view level unless going back to MJF or Jon Moxley. Especially not someone available. They could go with Okada but that would be a mistake. Who could possibly step up next to the Hangman without having him face another babyface?
Save for AEW turning someone heel, it’s hard to say. And that’s what makes me wonder if Hangman Adam Page makes it out of 2025 with the AEW Men’s World Championship. There’s far more babyface competitors than heel competitors. Think about the list: Darby Allin, a returning Orange Cassidy, Kota Ibushi, Kenny Omega, Bandido and Brody King when they are no longer tag team champions, a returning Eddie Kingston, and Samoa Joe. That’s eight contenders with Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland out! And that’s not getting into TV contenders like Kevin Knight, Mike Bailey, Juice Robinson, Powerhouse Hobbs, Daniel Garcia, and Ace Austin once he gets going.
I could speak on my frustration with Adam Page getting less focus on the week to week shows than Jon Moxley and MJF, but that’s for another day. It feels like that’s going to happen every time Page is AEW Men’s World Champion. I think part of that lack of focus is due to the lack of heels for him to face, but maybe that will change now that he’s getting entangled with the Don Callis Family. Either way, it’s best for the championship if they keep away from babyface versus babyface matches, and the heel side is so thin they have to resort to champion versus champion for a marquee match.
But that’s all the periphery. Fletcher is going to be a great opponent for Hangman Adam Page, and will likely one day become AEW Men’s World Champion himself. This is just going to be a glimpse into the future. Post All Out, unless AEW plans to get the title on someone else (maybe MJF after his honeymoon?), the company needs to work harder in developing top heel contenders for Page if he’s going to be champion beyond 2025.
