The finals of the Owen Hart Tournament bookended the AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view last weekend with a shot at the AEW Men's and Women's World Titles at AEW All In on the line. Both matches were excellent back-and-forth affairs but at the end of the evening Mercedes Mone and "Hangman" Adam Page emerged victorious, earning their marquee spots on the promotion's biggest show of the year.
While all four competitors proved that they deserved title shots at AEW All In, the question of whether Mone and Page were the best choices is one that is up for debate.
Had Jamie Hayter beaten Mone at AEW Double or Nothing the story of Hayter going for revenge against Toni Storm, one of the people Hayter holds responsible for her injury and subsequent year long absence from competition, practically writes itself.
Hayter's run as AEW Women's World Champion came to an end because of that injury and it would have been an all too easy to tell Hayter's story of revenge and redemption over the next seven weeks. Not to mention, Mone had another interesting feud with Athena simmering on the side, which would have given the promotion two very high-profile women's matches for their biggest show of the year.
That being said, AEW booked the women's Owen Hart Tournament exactly right. This year's version of AEW All In is being held in the United States for the first time. It also marks the promotion's biggest show in the U.S. as well, making this a landmark event for AEW. Because of this, the promotion would be smart to give its fans the biggest possible matches it can. And there is no bigger match that AEW can put on right now than Mercedes Mone versus Toni Storm.
Mone and Storm are easily the biggest stars on AEW's women's roster. Storm has used the last couple of years to display her ability to do unrivaled character work with her "Timeless" gimmick and Mone is the best female in-ring performer actively wrestling today, in any promotion. Since joining AEW, Mone is undefeated and is finally being used as the star that she is. Pairing her against Storm in the biggest domestic show in the promotion's short history was absolutely the correct decision.
However, the booking of the men's Owen Hart Tournament final is another story
While "Hangman" Adam Page is deserving, there is only one Will Ospreay. Never has a wrestler's catch phrase been truer, Ospreay is truly on another level inside the ring, and his loss to Page at AEW Double or Nothing was a mistake.
To be clear, "Hangman" is a good choice. He is the most complex character in AEW and that lends itself to what could be some really good storytelling in the build that leads into AEW All In.
But we have seen Page versus Mox before, multiple times. And while those matches were good, putting Ospreay in this spot would have been a better choice for a variety of reasons.
First, we have not seen Will Ospreay versus Jon Moxley in an AEW ring, and a first-time match between a champion that most of the AEW fanbase is desperate to see dethroned and the most popular wrestler in the promotion is a match that sells itself, not to mention that Ospreay is the best wrestler in the world today.
Next, Will Ospreay is simply taking too many singles losses in AEW. On one hand, it is refreshing to see someone of Ospreay's ability come into a new promotion and willingly put so many people over in singles matches. However, since having his first match in AEW around fourteen months ago Ospreay has lost singles matches to Kazuchika Okada, Ricochet, Darby Allin, Kyle Fletcher, MJF, Swerve Strickland, and now "Hangman" Adam Page. And while none of these losses should be considered a bad loss, if you have the best wrestler in the world on your roster, at some point a certain number of losses in a relatively short period of time is too many losses. And we are at that point when it comes to Will Ospreay.
Finally, much like Mone is in AEW women's division, Ospreay is the biggest star in the promotion on the men's side. AEW would have been well served to put its biggest star in the biggest match in its biggest show that it has ever held in the United States. A match between Page and Mox just doesn't have the same appeal as a match between Ospreay and Mox.
If there is one thing AEW does well nearly one hundred percent of the time, it is put on must see pay-per-view events. The 2025 version of AEW All In will most likely be no different. But AEW missed the opportunity to put its biggest star in the biggest match when they booked Ospreay to lose to Adam Page at AEW Double or Nothing. No matter how good AEW All In ends up being, it is not going to reach its full potential because of that decision.