The Best of Times? | AEWeekly #210

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, Emiliana [@emilianartb.bsky.social] with a soulful cry to the MVP of the Week, and Sergei [@sergeialderman.bsky.social] talking about the Best Interview as well as editing and organizing it all.

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

We'd love for this and any and all of our content to be the beginning of a conversation with our readers. To interact with any and all of our contributors please accept our invitation to join the Pro Wrestling Musings Community Discord. Then follow this link to the #AEWeekly Discord Thread.

Max Friedman vs Adam Page

"(Texas) Death, Taxes, and Hangman."

by Abel.

There are certain matches that mark different eras or watershed moments in any promotion's history, and I can safely say that the AEW World Championship Texas Deathmatch between Maxwell Jacob Friedman and “Hangman” Adam Page will be one of those matches. However, I just wasn't expecting it to come so soon after All In. That is a testament to how well AEW has been running for the better part of a year now, and to how they are consciously evolving their storytelling inside the ring. The story told within, not only the squared circle, but the entire arena, was a masterclass of how wrestling is, and will always be, an art form unlike anything else.

There are a few things that are as certain in this life as “Hangman” Adam Page in a Texas Deathmatch. The cowboy always delivers and performs to the standard he has set for himself and the rest of the roster when they face him in the ring. When the stakes are the highest, that is when the Hangman shines the brightest. And honestly, while we are talking about it, we can start adding Maxwell Jacob Friedman to the list of wrestlers who deliver in big matches and moments. Any time the wrestling fan base starts to question MJF’s in-ring skill, he continues to prove them wrong. At this point, that should never ever be questioned ever again.

If you are reading this, odds are you either watched it live, saw the highlights on social media, or both. So, I'm not going to sit here and list out all of the moments in the match and relive them with you. There is nothing I could say in words that could outdo what MJF and Hangman painted in the arena and on the mat. It's like me trying to describe the Mona Lisa. Just look at it. However, I do want to talk about the little details that made me grin, from ear to ear, and all of the nuance I want to talk out with all of you wrestling nerds.

The match was brutal, sadistic, masochistic, and you could tell that both of the men in the ring enjoyed every second of it. Along with its brutality, we need to acknowledge the absolute out-of-this-world stamina both showed in the ring for 45+ minutes. For all of its gore and over-the-top action, deathmatches move at a much slower pace, but the body is put through so much more, physically. Keeping yourself mentally involved in this match, while fighting for air, must be torture of the highest order.

The cinematography of the entire match was great. From start to finish, the cuts between the action and the fans created tension. The reactions from the crowd at the Crypto.com arena made it feel as if we were all, simultaneously, living and dying with everyone in the world. It was a beautiful, unifying moment.

What caused Hangman to lose? His hubris. From the very start of this program, Page believed he could beat MJF, regardless of the stipulation, and his ego got the best of him. This was even a story angle in the match. There was no reason to pull out the dog collar; however, Hangman believed this would be the finishing touch to his masterpiece. Instead, the hangman was hanged by his own rope.

The visceral scene of Page hanging from the ropes, with the absolute force of gravity and failure, is an image that will not leave my memory anytime soon. The crowd. For as loud as the crowd had been for four straight hours, it was utterly silent when the bell rang after the 10-count. Even if AEW and the production team had tried, they could never have achieved a moment like Hangman smashing his head into the camera. The thump his bloody head made on the camera will live with me forever.  

I don't think my jaw has ever dropped further or faster than when Hangman’s lifeless body hit the camera, then the floor. The show ended with the conquering hero, mounted on top of his prey, with the ultimate prize in the air, which was the perfect way to end Revolution.

Putting MJF over was the right call with two thoughts in mind. First, he is the hot champion right now, so ending his title defense early wouldn't have made any sense. Just like when Hangman won the title at All In, that was the right time and moment to make that call. MJF is the right person to hold the title at this moment, and his win adds another notch to his already distinguished belt.

Secondly, it builds up Maxwell Jacob Friedman as not only a legitimate champion, but maybe the most complete champion All Elite Wrestling has ever had. No,  I didnt say best (Kenny Omega), important (Jon Moxley), or most popular (Hangman), but the most complete. If there is a match type you can think of, MJF has done it, and most likely, he did it for the AEW World Title. Also, as I mentioned before, MJF has been a big moment wrestler. Not that he wasn't going to be even if he lost, but MJF – rightfully so – will be the most annoying man on the face of the earth.

Where does Hangman go from here? That is where the legacy of this match will live. If Hangman and creative decide to give the cowboy a title shot, it all depends on how and when they do it. If it's a quick turnaround — within a year — then all of this is for naught. However, if the vacuum of the cowboy in the world title picture can be used by interjecting younger, fresher talent, then the Hangman’s sacrifice will have been worth it. 

Toni Storm

"Circus animals..."

by Sergei.

I've been away from my beat on Interview otW for a while… just lacking inspiration. Ironically, I watched AEW Collision this week and saw more than one promo that got my heart pumping, and thinking about writing up a "promo of the week" once again.... And then, AEW Revolution happened… and with it, two of the most dispiriting booking choices in AEW history. AEWeekly is meant to focus on the positive, and I'll get to that, I promise. But only flowers and rainbows this week would just be dishonest. 

The first of those booking decisions is, obviously, Hangman (presumably) being out of the running for the championship that has defined his career since day 1 of AEW. (The other writers on this team see storytelling possibilities in this development, and it may turn out that they were right. I didn't see the point of Hangman losing Texas Death to Swerve, either. Until later, when I did. But in this moment, I can't help but feel a little dubious.) But if Hangman is determined to NOT be the main character, there's another character and performer who is perfect for that role who I can easily transition my focus to. (I love you, Max, but no. Not you.)

On AEW Collision this past Saturday, Jack Perry cut a very decent little promo, elevating a title and match that I cared zero about to … a small positive amount, and sometimes that's the best you can do. It had me thinking: "oh I could write something about this"... And then Toni Storm was on my screen and nobody else mattered for a few minutes. Her metaphor comparing wrestlers to circus animals was amazing and her whole vibe splayed out dramatically in her kimono was a perfect example of how she maintains that main-character energy, despite not being in the World title hunt (for the moment)... And despite not having the mainstream media exposure of some of the women in her division.

In a sense, it's an acting trick: her "Timeless" character is supposed to believe she is the biggest star in the world. And there are other ways you could play that… It would be an obvious option to play her character as pathetically deluded. But instead she portrays a world-famous megastar SO convincingly that she forces everyone watching to believe it (despite that not being at all true outside of the relatively tiny niche of AEW fandom) through sheer aura.

Which brings us to the second disappointing booking decision: not only is JK Rowling's favorite wrestler in AEW, Toni Storm's precious time is evidently going to be wasted on feuding with her…. Going back to the promo that I'm ostensibly writing this piece about, pairing one of the most outspoken LGBTQ allies on the roster with… her… definitely feels like circus-animal treatment.

The Hangman story may very well turn out great in retrospect. One of the reasons we try to focus on the positive here at AEWeekly is that a story development that SEEMS to be a dead end may turn out to surprise you. But bringing on Rousey is a very different situation from that. I'm sure that AEW believes that they are doing right by Toni by pairing her with someone with broader fame. But sometimes a stunt casting just isn't worth it. I can only hope Rousey's stint on the AEW roster will be brief and ignominious – the polar opposite of Timeless.

Hangman Adam Page

by Emiliana

listen, i dont think i can pick anyone else for this category after the ending of revolution. i tried to wrap my brain around the possibility of someone else - willow for doing two matches, the bucks for putting on another great match with ftr and LOSING anyway, takeshita for such a nailbiter performance – but i simply cannot do it. the past few months have culminated perfectly to depict the downfall of one guy, one woefully dependent cowboy who has – on more than one occasion – latched all his hopes and insecurities on the winning of the aew men’s world championship and the texas deathmatch

he gave his word. he gave his word. and yet we know he will go back on his word; it’s the only thing that makes sense. will he break the stipulation and lose his fans as he loses his moral code? his honor? will he prove MJF right that he is no better than anyone else? or will the fans choose him anyway, cheer him on at the most unexpected moment against a most unexpected man? what will it be? i don’t think i have it figured out yet. but what i do know is that the match i saw against maxwell jacob friedman on sunday was one of the most intricate and enjoyable works of art i’ve seen in a long while. hats off to hangman and max both; i haven’t paid THIS MUCH attention to the layout and structure and storytelling of a match in so fucking long, it’s like i forgot what wrestling actually was. and holy shit, it just felt perfect

so many moments of mirroring, mjf sending hangman through a carnival ride of past moments with other more dangerous wrestlers, mimicking them in a way that felt almost childlike, cartoonish, wrong, phony, in which he was unable to hold the higher ground. and yet in the end it lulled hangman into a false sense of security, he allowed hangman to believe he had the higher ground, giving hangman the ability to show mjf up and then pull the curtain back against mjf himself - send mjf through one of his greatest personal traumas in the ring: he pulled out a chain with two dog collars tied to each end. "will you be my valentine?" the look on mjf’s face was priceless, but it was hangman’s own need for validation, his own misplaced certainty, that would set the noose around his own neck. refusing to tap once again, hangman would fall to the floor, knocked unconscious and leaving a splatter of blood against a camera at ringside

was the audience a distraction? or was he just distracted? did he choose the audience over the title?

i’ve said before that i thought hangman wanted the texas death match because he knew he could win it. that it was a crutch to him. it is the type of match that renders him entirely too confident of the outcome. it is his match. and it made him pay the devil’s price