Hangman Adam Page is the most feared man in All Elite Wrestling. When making an ominous threat to Tony Schiavone and looking like he was going to follow through with it, nobody came out to save the beloved announcer.
Nobody except The Last Outlaw.
Simply Irresistible.
Double J.
The Chosen One.
The King of the Mountain.
Jeff Jarrett came out for the save. Some have expressed disappointment that the follow-up for Hangman Page winning the main event of All Out against the former AEW Men’s World Champion is a match against a part-time veteran in his late 50s whose only claim to fame in the company is being the Texas Chain Saw Massacre Deathmatch Champion, a championship he has yet to defend even once.
It would have made sense for Hangman to try to avenge his loss against Bryan Danielson in the 2024 Owen Hart Foundation final, but he absolutely has unfinished business with Jarrett. Hangman might still express an obsession with righting the wrong’s of Swerve Strickland, but the Jarrett situation is completely separate from that. It’s a brand new situation he created, collateral damage due to his burning obsession with taking Swerve down.
The Jeff Jarrett situation wasn’t created by Swerve Strickland. It was created by Hangman Adam Page. Though really, it was created by Jeff Jarrett.
A cynic would say Jeff Jarrett cut a passionate promo about trying to prove he still has it, only to be proven wrong immediately by Hangman Adam Page. Page defeated Jarrett soundly in the first round of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, ruining any dream or plan that Jarrett had of winning the tournament for his fallen best friend and going to try to win the AEW Men’s World Championship. But Jarrett took the loss personal and got himself involved with Page, eventually playing guest referee in the match between Danielson and Page.
It was honestly perplexing why AEW would allow Jarrett to play the special guest referee in that match, with his clear bias against Hangman. Some would say that Jarrett called it down the middle, but his mere presence is a distraction. Regardless, Hangman Page lost that match to Bryan Danielson, and Jeff Jarrett is the man Page has to thank for it.
Page never properly got his revenge on Jarrett. In fact, Jarrett would end up the man who prevented Adam Page from winning the Casino Gauntlet at All In 2024, smashing him in the head with the signature acoustic guitar and preventing Page from gaining a pinfall victory against anyone.
This is what Jeff Jarrett does. This is how he survives.
I pointed out in the Fallout From All Out that Jeff Jarrett has essentially slipped into the role that Sting left behind, and did it before Chris Jericho could. I originally argued for Jericho to take a break and come back the elder statesman of AEW, the veteran star the company could rally around. Jericho didn’t take a break, and while he changed the tune of some after a good match with Orange Cassidy, his constant presence has made it impossible for Jericho to be beloved while people still have venom for him.
Jarrett, on the other hand? Double J was overexposed in WCW as The Chosen One, forced upon the WCW fans as a top guy when they hardly saw him as such, even in the dying days of the company. When him and his father Jerry Jarrett started NWA:TNA, Jarrett was once again treated as the top star. From King of the Mountain to Planet Jarrett, it felt like the company kept revolving around Jeff Jarrett as the primary bad guy no matter who the company brought in.
Post TNA, Jarrett would try to start up Global Force Wrestling, which was basically an attempt to become what All Elite Wrestling ended up being. Right down to the point it had Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks, plus a close relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling and promotions all over the world. Even The Bullet Club couldn’t avoid Jeff Jarrett. Global Force Wrestling would one day merge with TNA, and then later a lawsuit would emerge.
After this, Jarrett was just another old wrestler from the 80s/90s/00s with a podcast, making the occasional nostalgia appearance in WWE, before appearing in Game Changer Wrestling as The Last Outlaw. Decked in black, Jeff Jarrett re-invented himself on the independent stage, and was one of the only good things to mention about GCW’s The Wrld on GCW pay per view.
Coming to AEW, most were worried we would be seeing the Jeff Jarrett of TNA, a man who does everything he can to steal the spotlight from other wrestlers. And in some ways, he has! His crew of Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh, Sonjay Dutt, and Karen Jarrett felt like a TNA nostalgia faction messing things up for wrestlers in the midcard. Funny enough, Chris Jericho’s The Learning Tree now fills that spot.
But with Jeff Jarrett turning babyface, the fans don’t see all of the baggage he brings as a negative anymore. They don’t see Planet Jarrett, they don’t hear the Kid Rock ripoff theme, they don’t see Jeff Jarrett beating up kids pretending to be an MMA enthusiast (but they should), they see a weathered veteran of professional wrestling standing up to a man he probably can’t beat, but doing it is just the right thing to do.
That’s a story anyone can get into, and it’s a story Jeff Jarrett knows how to tell.
The fans want that Unforgiven story, the last outlaw getting one last shot at redemption for their sins by taking down someone worse than them. Jeff Jarrett has done a good job getting in the way of Hangman Adam Page, but with his current momentum it’s hard to see him being able to accomplish anything other than delaying the inevitable.
“I’m going to make a promise to you,” said Jeff Jarrett. “If it’s the last thing I do in my career? Some how, some way, some place, The Last Outlaw is going to kick your ass!”
Now, pardon me for once again being cynical (please forgive me Double J fans! I love BREE WOO too!) but I don’t see Jeff Jarrett ever retiring, so him talking about last thing he’ll do? I bet we see Jeff still lacing up them boots in his 60s. He’s a smart enough worker to pull it off too.
But saying those words makes you think the end is near for Jarrett, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to stand up to this bully. He’s ready to try to redeem himself for all of his sins in the wrestling ring, every time he spilled innocent blood, every guitar he smashed on a good man or woman, and every time he took what wasn’t his to take.
It will likely end in loss. Ending the career of Jeff Jarrett (even temporarily) is far more likely than Hangman Adam Page falling to The Chosen One. And that’s why this is a great story to tell. AEW needs a heel like Hangman, and it needs Hangman to not only have Swerve Strickland’s blood on his hands, but the career of a legend.
Jeff Jarrett is a flip side to the Adam Page coin. Jeff was a bad man, who is redeeming himself at the end of his career by doing the right thing and standing front of the line against evil. Adam Page was a good man, who has allowed revenge to blacken his soul, going so far it’s hard to see how he could ever go back. He’s in the prime of his career, and ending Jeff Jarrett’s career will be just another sin he cannot apologize for.
Jeff Jarrett has spent most of that career finding every dirty way to win. Adam Page knows what you burn down to ash cannot be put back together. If this is the last stand of the Last Outlaw? Just like he did in WCW. Just like he did in TNA. Just like he did in Global Force. He’s going down swinging. Even if there’s nothing left of him in the ashes? Dying for the right cause is redemption for Jeff Jarrett.
