AEW Booms and Duds: Hangman Page’s mystery partner is underwhelming

Dud: reasonable but uninspiring decisions

First, this is not a knock on Dustin Rhodes. It is a testament to his character and fortitude that he’s still putting on decent matches over 20 years into his career. His promos in AEW have been some of his career best. I’m sure many of the younger wrestlers are learning so much from Rhodes.

He was not the obvious choice (that probably would have been Jon Moxley if he no-sold his injuries), but Rhodes made for a perfectly reasonable choice as Page’s mystery partner in his match against Jericho and Guevara.

His brother Cody, a member of The Elite, has a history with Jericho and Guevara, not to mention their upcoming five-on-five match. The Inner Circle taking out Nick Jackson, and the subsequent departure of Cody and Matt Jackson, left Rhodes the closest member to The Elite left for Page to tag with; remember that Omega is not medically cleared to compete with a broken wrist.

Oh yeah, Jake Hager broke Rhodes’ arm late last year as well. Hager also beat Rhodes at Revolution. If anyone wants revenge on The Inner Circle, it’s Rhodes.

He also told Page he was his partner rather than Page actually choosing his partner. I guess it works for all of the above reasons.

I was just hoping for someone more exciting.

I wrote earlier this week who I would like to see, and Darby Allin seems to have been the most logical option. Maybe they’re still selling his injuries from last week, but he has an extensive history with both Jericho and Guevara in singles and tag matches and should be seeking revenge after last week’s show.

Fans love Allin, and his style would seemingly mesh well with Page’s. What would have happened if Allin pinned Jericho or Guevara, or took the fall for his team?

Also, why debut what is supposed to be a menacing and devastating trio only for them to have issues against inferior opponents? Death Triangle should be, well, deadly, and yet it took them how long to beat Private Party and Joey Janela?

I like Private Party and Janela, but they’re more of a random trio than Death Triangle. Not every match has to be 11 minutes; this could have been a four-minute match putting over Death Triangle strong. It also continues the curious booking of Lucha Bros.

Lastly, I was hoping to be surprised by the reveal of The Exalted One. While we still might be surprised at the identity, I was hoping I wouldn’t know the date, and yet we’ll finally see the reveal next week (*cough* Scorpio Sky *cough*).

Those questionable decisions aside, at least the main event gave us this moment: