Moment of the... Year? | AEWeekly #194

Welcome to the #AEWeekly review discussion where PWM contributors reflect on the highlights of the last week in AEW. The eligibility week always includes the most recent episode of Dynamite and Collision, plus any social-media exclusives up until publication.

This week’s contributors are Abel [@loza3.bsky.social] covering Match of the Week, Lauren [@sithwitch.bsky.social] exploring a key Story Beat, Emiliana [@emilianartb.bsky.social] giving us the Moment of the Week, and Sergei [@sergeialderman.bsky.social] talking about the MVP as well as editing and organizing it all.

 A page of links to prior installments may be found here: #AEWeekly

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Bandido vs Mascara Dorada

"Mi tiempo es ahora"

by Abel.

There is no doubt in any sane wrestling fan's mind that Bandido is, at least, a contender for wrestler of the year. 2025 has been an outstanding year for the Luchador from Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico. This latest match against Mascara Dorada continues to add to his impressive resume—a rematch taking place on the November 1, 2025, edition of Collision, following their first encounter earlier in June. Bandido’s Collision match against Mascara Dorada is a testament to the historic year Bandido has had.

This match not only highlighted both wrestlers' skills but also underscored AEW's commitment to Lucha Libre. Headlining Collision on a "Dia De los Muertos"-themed night, Bandido vs. Mascara Dorada for the Ring of Honor Championship stands out—making Bandido's case for top wrestler of the year even stronger as our match of the week. Matches like this are exactly what Collision needs to showcase Bandido's abilities and attract more fans to watch on Saturday nights. This follows the tradition of top-tier Collision matches that have made waves online.

Bandido’s appeal isn't only in ring: his aura – as the kids like to say – is unmatched. His entrance, complete with his full Charro get-up, made him look like an absolute superstar. He looks the part and acts the part of a world champion. His extraordinary ability outside of the ring is only matched by what he can do inside of it. Still, Mascarada Dorada wasn't outshined. The native of Mexico City has been making his presence felt in AEW and makes an impact with every opportunity he has been given. When the lights are at their brightest for him, Dorada comes to perform.

This was Dorada’s first major AEW match since his epic triple threat for the unified title against Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada, where he performed excellently. Bandido rebounded well from this loss 10 days ago.

The match started on the mat, not the ropes, letting both Luchadores showcase their technical skills. The top-rope action soon followed, energizing the crowd throughout the more than 20-minute match. The audience remained engaged, regardless of where Bandido and Mascara Dorada battled.

What Bandido and Mascara Dorada achieved in the ring was jaw-dropping. Mascara Dorada’s kick off Bandido’s chest/traps was, without hyperbole, one of the most fantastic things I've ever seen. The match was highly physical — Bandido’s knee to Dorada’s face was felt in my living room. Bandido, pound-for-pound, might be the strongest man in wrestling. Mascara Dorada worked as a rudo in just enough moments to put Bandido over and ensure the crowd rooted for him as the ultimate champion.

Bandido picked up the 1-2-3 and retained his title, further fueling speculation about his trajectory. Is Bandido set to become the next—and first Mexican—AEW World Champion? The momentum he has built suggests that moment may be just ahead.

Hangman Adam Page

"If I Am The Phantom, It Is Because Joe’s Hatred Has Made Me So"

by Emiliana.

I write to y’all during the election night high of November 4th, 2025, to talk about the greatest moment of the past week in the world of All Elite Wrestling. As the American people turn the tide, so too did Hangman Adam Page remind us that good prevails and assholes deserve to get decked by the forces of whimsy.

The set up was perfect. Picture this: on social media over the past week, AEW posted the clip of Hangman revealing himself as the man in the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man costume from Fright Night in October of 2021. Throughout the night, backstage segments featured a chicken, a cow, a meat ghost, and a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in the background. Matt Jackson even looked slightly suspicious of them as he passed them on the way to the ring. Tony Schiavone did a backstage interview, wearing a Phantom of the Opera mask - a callback to a moment from his younger days as an interviewer on a wrestling show.

Samoa Joe taps out HOOK. Tony Schiavone comes to the ring, still masked, with the cow, the chicken, the meat ghost, and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, to have Samoa Joe sign the world title contract for Full Gear against Hangman. Now, Joe, he’s no idiot, either. He orders the Opps to take out the costumed people, leaving the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man for last. They unmask him; but it’s not Hangman! Joe makes a remark about Hangman not being as creative as he used to be, and signs the contract without looking. (Yes - without looking; perhaps that comes into play later.)

Tony Schiavone, who had made his way to ringside, asked the Opps to join him in a toast, passing out beers. Joe cuts a promo about Hangman, and then Schiavone makes a toast - and funnily enough, you can hear a soft voice mumbling the words as he speaks, while Schiavone makes his way to the ring, stopping right behind Joe. Suddenly, this other voice takes over:

“To the AEW world champion….long may he reign.”

It’s Hangman. Dressed as Tony Schiavone. Wearing a Phantom of the Opera mask. He takes off the mask.

Without hesitation, he takes out Shibata and Hobbs first, leaving Joe for last. Dropping him, he takes off his wig to fully reveal himself and his golden curls to the crowd, and the crowd absolutely erupts!

Beautiful, 10/10. No notes.

I don’t even think I can explain to you the utter joy that I felt at seeing my world champion babyface proving himself smarter than his heel challenger. But not only that – I also felt such joy at the callback to 2021. I love when AEW calls back to its own history. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Sure, it’s fun to have little Easter eggs in there for the fans of wrestling who have been here for decades, but drawing upon its own history makes AEW so much more savory. Impeccable vibes.

I hadn’t had that much fun since the week before when I saw Mercedes and her puppet counterpart both go through a cake. Let’s keep this ball rolling.

Hangman Adam Page

"Forever MVP..."

by Sergei.

Hangman Adam Page is the MVP of the Week because of the Moment of the Week. We could call this section Moment of the Week II. If anything, I feel that Emiliana's praise in the Moment section above was faint: for me it was the best moment - slash - angle in wrestling in … I couldn't even say how long. It was that sort of rare moment that has us wrestling fans calling up or texting friends who don't even watch wrestling to say: "you gotta see this!"

That was built on three things: concept, execution, and character. They started with an amazing concept for an angle that built on past angles so that the viewers (and the characters!) had an expectation that something had to be up. But then they added a twist that let us still be surprised. Clues were planted throughout the evening – the costumed mascots and Schiavone in his throwback Phantom of the Opera fit – that all led to such a satisfying culmination.

I've often said that the art form closest to pro wrestling is stage magic, and this segment was a perfect example. Pulling off this amazing trick was based on the same foundation as a great bit of stage magic – misdirection. Did Adam Page look perfectly like Tony Schiavone? No, probably not. But he wasn't the focus, either, so to the extent anybody spared him a glance he looked ENOUGH like Schiavone that nobody questioned it. The technical brilliance was in the use of misdirection to take crude tricks that maybe shouldn't have fooled anybody and raising them to the level of "how was that even possible to pull that off on live television."

For example, a Mission-Impossible style mask might fool you into thinking that's a real face, but no way you'll buy into it being a specific real face that you're very familiar with. BUT, what if he's wearing a Halloween mask also? And they make the switch when there's a bunch of chaos and people moving everywhere?

And then, even though he's the speaking character, the focus isn't on him but on Samoa Joe's reaction right up to the moment of reveal. Which made me wonder (I'm sure I'm not the only one) how did they pull off Schiavone's voice? Either Adam Page is a great impressionist or a really good lip syncher, it seems. It isn't till a rewatch that you realize his face was never really in focus enough for lip synching to be an issue till right at the reveal moment when he started speaking in his real voice again.

There were a lot of moving parts and a lot of contributors, from all of the performers – Schiavone, Hangman, the Opps, the costumed jobbers – to the makeup folks and the sound and camera people, and it all had to fit together just right to keep AEW's best twist ending from becoming AEW's biggest letdown since the exploding ring debacle.

But there is a reason one of those folks is MVP and the biggest reason this segment worked SO well is that it fit with and built on the Hangman character. Hangman said that he was going to make Joe's life a living hell, and that had us all thinking of Swerve, but maybe we should've been thinking of an earlier Hangman feud – Big Money Matt Hardy.

The Swerve feud showed the side of Hangman that he's a very scary guy to get into any kind of escalation with. But way back when he tricked Matt Hardy into signing a disadvantageous contract when Matt thought he was the one doing the tricking, it's been established that Hangman is the smartest and trickiest babyface in pro wrestling. And that's a combination that makes him MVP this week and, let's be real, most weeks.