From humble beginnings to the Elite, Hangman Page has had a wrestling journey to remember. However, has AEW seen a turn to the dark side for Hangman Adam Page? Co-written by Sonal Lad and Josiah MacDonald.
When ‘Hangman’ Adam Page announced he was joining his fellow Elite members in AEW, everything seemed very straightforward. However, as the months have gone on, it seems as if Hangman Page has slowly been moving away from his teammates along with a change in personality.
Here’s a look at the slow journey Hangman Page has taken to the dark side from the start of his Elite career to now and predictions for his future.
Ring of Honor/ New Japan Pro-Wrestling (Sonal Lad)
When a young Adam Page first made his debut in Ring of Honor all the way back in 2011, it seemed as if the future Elite star blended into the background. Although putting on good matches against some high caliber ROH stars from Matt Sydal, Roderick Strong, Jimmy Jacobs, Matt Taven and many more, it wasn’t his time to shine yet. It seemed as if his attempts to play fair wasn’t working.
However, a change in attitude and an accepted invitation to one of the biggest and most famous factions in the business in May 2016 seemed to be the change he needed.
During a 10-man tag team teaming Colt Cabana, The Briscoes, and The Motor City Machine Guns, Page turned his allegiance to another by hanging Chris Sabin with a noose. Thus, Hangman Page of the Bullet Club was born.
From here, it seemed to be an upward journey with some major wins against Jay Briscoe and eventually winning his first ROH title in the form of the Six-Man Tag Team Championship with the Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson). Alongside these big matches and storylines, Page’s personality was beginning to show and we got to see a charismatic yet sadistic side to the newest Bullet Club member.
After joining the Bullet Club in 2016, in June that year, Page made his first trip to New Japan Pro Wrestling. Making his debut at Dominion, Page was in a 6-man match teaming with Bad Luck Fale and Yujiro Takahashi where he got the pin against the team of Captain New Japan, Yoshi Tatsu, and Togi Makabe,
The turning point in Page’s career in NJPW had to be the G1 Climax 28 in 2018. Although coming joint bottom of his block, he put on some amazing showings against veterans Minoru Suzuki and Kazuchika Okada. However, the highlight had to be his match against the Ace Hiroshi Tanahashi. Even though he lost, Tanahashi saw potential in Page and even offered to help him get rid of the Bullet Club ‘poison’. After one G1 match, Page even said that the crowd reaction made him feel like he wasn’t just seen as Kenny or Cody’s friend, but as Hangman Adam Page.
If you look back at this section in Page’s career in New Japan, he always seemed to be the odd one out in the Elite. In my opinion, he always seemed to team better with the likes of Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi rather than being pushed to the background teaming with the likes of Kenny, the Bucks and then becoming an almost sidekick to Cody.
Was this foreshadowing the distance between Page and the faction once they left ROH and New Japan?
Move to All Elite Wrestling (Josiah)
Upon the announcement of the formation of All Elite Wrestling, Hangman Page was announced as one of the first major signees to the promotion. Page then went on, in the press conference about the launch of AEW, to promise that he would be the first AEW World Champion. This was a natural choice for a signing given Hangman’s performance in the G1 and his victory over Joey Janela.
Upon the first AEW PPV, Double or Nothing, Hangman Page won the first Casino Battle Royale. He was originally supposed to face PAC, but PAC was removed from the show due to circumstances with Dragon Gate. Instead, they had a match in the UK, and it involved PAC injuring the knee of Page. Page came out limping as the final entrant and managed to win the match, showing tenacity.
However, there was something that upstaged Hangman in the first few months of AEW. First, the signing of Chris Jericho, and then the subsequent signing of Kenny Omega both left Page looking like a secondary act to the bigger stars of The Elite. Page would understandably have a sense of frustration concerning this.
Eventually, the title match was announced. Chris Jericho vs. Hangman Adam Page to crown the first every AEW World title match. Hangman earned his shot through the Battle Royale, and Jericho did as well through defeating Kenny Omega. The date was also set: AEW All Out. In the time leading up to the match, Hangman and Jericho both spoke about how important it was for both men to to win the AEW World Championship.
For both, it was a career defining moment. For Jericho, it was about his legacy, and for Hangman, it was about making his mark on the business by defeating a legend. After a hard fought match, Hangman ultimately lost to the Judas Effect by Chris Jericho, and failed to win the AEW World Championship. On the surface, this shouldn’t have hurt him as he lost a well fought match to one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. However, Page did not take the loss well.
In the lead up to the match, we saw Page on BTE requesting the Young Bucks corner him like they have done for Kenny Omega many times, but they refused, talking about their responsibility as EVP’s of the brand new company. After the match, Page was seen as distancing himself a bit from his friends, and not dealing with the loss well. Page went on to lose several other matches, leading to him saying he was leaving the Elite.
After doing this, Page still remained friends with them, though the relationship was obviously strained.
Page did manage to defeat PAC at Full Gear, achieving a small measure of redemption that started his turn around from where he was. Page started teaming with Omega more frequently around this time, and the two began to see success as a tag team, though Page and Omega had crossed wires several times and ended up accidentally causing friendly fire with some of their moves.
However, they were able to overcome this in all their matches, even defeating SCU at the Jericho Cruise and becoming the AEW World Tag Team Champions.
Hangman Page wins the AEW Tag Team Championship (Sonal)
Going into the championship match against SCU on the Jericho Cruise, there was a lot of talk from crowd on whether Kenny and Page could co-exist and go up against one of the strongest tag teams in the company.
In the past, we have seen the lack of tagging experience between Page and Omega on show whether it inadvertently catching their partner with offence or confusion with tags. SCU have been known for their amazing tag team chemistry and, even with the less experienced combination of Sky and Kazarian, they have been formidable opponents for any team put in their way.
However, apart from a few blips that may have been down to either miscommunication or the egos of two very skilled singles wrestlers, the two managed to perfectly mix their two styles. With Page’s brute strength and agility combined with Omega’s fearlessness and athleticism, they were the perfect combination to beat the team of Sky and Kazarian. With a brutal Buck Shot lariat to Kazarian and Sky on the outside of the ring, the Elite duo managed to pin SCU and become the new All Elite Wrestling Tag Team Champions.
However, at the end, although both stood tall with the titles, something felt off. As the Young Bucks flocked to the ring and started celebrating the victory with Omega, Page quickly retreated to the outside of the ring to celebrate with the fans. Although it may not have been seen as a huge gesture, there was something about it that seemed out of the ordinary. A quick glance from Nick, Matt and Kenny to Page made it clear that they were also not clear on why Hangman Page was not in the ring celebrating their victory.
The Post-title win (Josiah)
Later in the show, Page and Omega were interviewed, but Page was cut off more than once, showing clear annoyance as the interview went on. First, the interviewer cut Page off mid-sentence to ask Omega about PAC and how he was going to handle his threats and challenges. Omega, after discussing PAC for a bit, brought the attention back to the title win that he and Page just had, and as Page was going to talk again, the Young Bucks cut him off.
The Bucks congratulated them, with particular focus on talking with Omega, continuing to play up the idea of Page being a third wheel, so to speak. This was furthered again on the January 29th episode of AEW Dynamite where Hangman Page and Kenny Omega ran out to make the save for the Young Bucks when they were being attacked by Butcher and Blade. Page handed his beer to Matt and hit a Buckshot Lariat, destroying Butcher, and then taking the beer and chugging it and then leaving as the other 3 celebrated.
This shows that Page is conflicted, as he obviously counts the Young Bucks as his friends, but he has been showing an edge towards them, especially in promos where he lightly taunts them for winning the tag titles before they have. Omega is caught between the two, valuing his friendship with Page, but also being an EVP of the company and balancing his friendship with the Young Bucks too.
Predictions
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Sonal: If the past is anything to go by, then there will be conflicts from the start. When Kenny was the IWGP Heavyweight champion, we saw him give the first title shots to his friends or faction members. I think this could be the same again with the Young Bucks or Cody and Dustin probably being at the front of the line for a tag title opportunity. However, I can see this being an issue for Hangman Page who has always worked for whatever he has got.
Josiah: I agree completely. I think the direction they are going for AEW Revolution is to have them defend the tag titles against The Young Bucks. The result of that match can go either way, if they want to continue down the path of Hangman & Kenny teaming for a little while or if they want to make the division a bit quicker with the Bucks going over. I think the best course of action is to milk this for as long as possible, especially since Page is getting huge reactions for his character right now.
Sonal: There is also going to be a major battle of the ego’s with both men known as singles wrestlers and this is going to come to play at some point. Page and Omega have to be two of the most diverse and talented wrestlers on the roster and there will be a time when there’s too many cooks in the kitchen or other title opportunities are on the line. Obviously. The rest of the Elite will side with Kenny and this will be the breaking point for Page – so what happens next?
Josiah: This battle of the egos will eventually come to a head. I love how they have been playing it so far – Kenny not taking the slights personally in the tag matches and going out of his way to think the best of his friend. Hangman getting clearly annoyed by his friendship with the Bucks, when he thinks they should be focusing on their team, is also absolutely fantastic. When the time comes for these two to have their singles match it is going to absolutely tear the house down, and Hangman will come out as one of the top stars in the entire company. They are doing a phenomenal job of building this tension.
Sonal: I always thought this in New Japan but, if Hangman ever did leave the Elite, he wouldn’t join anyone else. Almost like a lone soldier, he would create his own path being neither a babyface or a heel capturing the hearts of the fans but becoming the centre of hatred from wrestlers. It might even be as if Hangman and the Elite never happened. But this is where Page will thrive and, like the G1, he won’t become part of someone else’s legacy but create his own destiny.
Josiah: I have to say, I love this idea. Hangman as a lone ranger type character would be perfect. Some will draw comparisons to Steve Austin, like Moxley is right now, and that will be okay, but Hangman will definitely be his own thing.
I think the idea was for Page to turn heel initially, but even if he does, I can only see it leading to the eventual babyface turn where he will be even more over.
Page can also ride that tweener role well, given that is essentially what he is doing at the moment (though it is really just a babyface with an edge). Page will absolutely create his own legacy going forward, and will be one of the major players in AEW for years to come.