The Headliner: Anxious Millennial Cowboy Hangman Page Wins Big One

Four months ago on AEW’s annual Fight for the Fallen show, we witnessed match whose outcome divided fans. In fact, I wrote most of this article in the immediate aftermath of that show because I felt a loss so perfectly-crafted was having its nuance overlooked. We saw Hangman Page and The Dark Order against The Elite. An elimination match that, if The Dark Order won, Hangman would get a title shot against Kenny.

The Dark Order lost, and immediately I was reading comments both here and in Facebook wrestling groups that AEW botched the big storyline for Page. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned with AEW, it’s that the long-term story will make the short term worth it. The arc for Hangman though? I think his story is one of the best of the modern age of wrestling.

We’ve watched his growth play out in front of us. He started as the protégé in The Elite. He was pushed a little too fast at the onset of the company – I know that I personally had little desire to see him wrestle Jericho at the very first All Out show. I rewatched the match earlier today, and you can hear a not-small amount of boos directed at Page during his ring introduction. He came up short because quite frankly, he wasn’t ready. The crowd wasn’t behind him yet (although the support he had by the end of that match proved that he’s capable of winning them over).

Losing here helped make Adam Page who he was.

He kept at it. He was best friends and partners with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks…but he had to watch them be showered with praise. He heard fans on the internet saying how those guys were being underutilized and how they should be champions already in the company’s first year. None of that verbiage was used to describe him. So what did he do? He turned to alcohol. He tried to drown out his insecurities. The Anxious Millennial Cowboy was born.

At first, I hated it. Substance abuse gimmicks in wrestling have almost never gone well, and AEW hadn’t necessarily proven itself yet as a company that can handle delicate topics. Not because they had done anything wrong, but because they were too new to have any sort of track record.

So Page teamed up with Kenny, with his buddy trying to pull him back on track. But the alcohol lingered. A rift through the team frustrated both men, and Page (who wasn’t quite himself) struggled with what to do about it. There were many teases that turning on Omega was going through Page’s mind. But he wouldn’t do that. As lonely as he felt, the non-elite Elite member, he couldn’t do that. Not after everything Kenny had done for him. Kenny was a friend.

Four men, all best friends, stood in the ring at the 2020 Revolution event and had one of the greatest tag team bouts in wrestling history. The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, and Adam Page. They put it all out there, and yet after the match, three men stood together while one was on the outside.

The rift was growing. Ultimately, it was Omega who boiled over. Tempers flared, they lost the titles, and they seemingly wanted nothing to do with one another. Omega swept Page under the rug, almost literally by adding women dancing with brooms to his entrance, and immediately was announced for a Championship Eliminator tournament. If Page can’t hold gold with him, he’s going to do it by himself. Omega’s sense of self-importance ramped up here, and his entrances got bigger and bigger. He didn’t need Page to hold gold – Page was a loser.

But Page was inserted into the same tournament, and their paths would cross again. Page, the inadequate one (in his own eyes) was pinned in the middle of the ring at Full Gear 2020 by the man with whom he held championship gold just a couple months prior. He put up a fight, with an opening couple of minutes that seemed very personal in its physicality. But Kenny’s the one who had the confidence here, and he ultimately put Page away in only about 16 minutes.

Losing here helped make Adam Page who he is now.

Alone, a drinking problem, and no gold. This was the start of Page’s rock bottom. He watched from the sidelines as Omega would align with Don Callis to take the championship from Jon Moxley less than a month later. Did Hangman bring this side of Omega out of him, or was he always this person? Omega had an axe to grind and has been an absolute asshole since gaining the title. He rubs it in your face that he’s the best. After a while, he got his best friends The Young Bucks to embrace their inner douchebags as well. They are elite dammit, and they’re going to let you know it. They are flashy, they are self-serving, and they are the champions – good luck doing anything about it. They are everything Hangman isn’t. Quiet, self-doubting, and no gold to his name, Page found himself fending off the courting efforts of The Dark Order.

The Dark Order? That group of losers? That’s not even an insult; it was their founding premise. They took in losers who were willing to pledge themselves to the Order, and gave them direction – the biggest thing Page was lacking. But no. No thank you, Dark Order.

But they persisted. “No pressure” sort of proposals. And then on the January 20th edition of Dynamite, there was a literal proposal on Brodie Lee Jr.’s birthday. The Dark Order actually won a match with Hangman by their side. Still reluctant, Page declined (leading to an actually funny comedic beat in wrestling – the hilarious misfire of a “He Said Yes” sign) citing “I’ve done the group thing before and it didn’t end well for me. I’m so sorry.” The friends he had before cared way more about gold and glory than they did about their friend.

The decision to not be part of the group is what caused the rift between Page and The Elite. The Dark Order was different. They respected him, gave him space, and continued to just be friends with him. Meanwhile Kenny Omega was tearing his way through the division and vanquishing his challengers, all while getting more and more narcissistic (and more and more championships). But you know who else was on a parallel path of victory? Adam Page. He’d been ranked at the top of the division for what felt like months, but he never made any effort to challenge Kenny. The thought was too painful.

But that’s where friends come in. Friends give you the push you need. They believe in you and lift you up when you’re too scared or lack the confidence to move forward.

Kenny Omega was gloating about how he has beaten everybody when Evil Uno came out and put the prospect of another match with Adam Page out there. The Dark Order believed in Page. The fans believed in Page. Maybe it’s time for Page to believe in Page. Omega laughed off the idea but it was clear that deep down, he knew what Adam Page could do if he could fulfill his potential.

After Page finally emerged and was convinced to challenge Omega, we got a different match instead. We got a 5-on-5 elimination match: The Dark Order vs. The Elite. If The Dark Order wins, Page gets his match AND The Dark Order get to challenge for the AEW Tag Team Championship as well. BUT. If they lose, Page loses his shot at Omega’s championship. A fired up Hangman accepted the challenge, but if you kept your eyes on the Dark Order, Evil Uno was shaking his head “No.” Hangman’s victory hinged on teaming with a faction of habitual losers against three of the literal best in the world, and an additional well-decorated tag team in Gallows & Anderson.

So they lost.

Losing here made Adam Page leave.

This story was far from over. The Dark Order fought like hell for their friend, but they were no match for the best of the best in All Elite Wrestling. Three men stood together while one was on the outside. Revolution all over again, but this time the battle lines were drawn and they were uneven. Kenny and The Young Bucks against Adam Page by himself. Three champions against one contender. There’s no chance he was winning this, but there was also no chance of him going down without a fight. Hangman busted his ass and dug deep, but was only able to eliminate Matt Jackson before succumbing to the One-Winged Angel. He looked like a million bucks in defeat, and while I saw wrestling fans sharing opinions about how AEW was going to pull the trigger once it was too late, I didn’t see it that way. I sat six rows back on the floor at Double or Nothing this year, and after over a year away from the fans, AEW opened the show with Page. The pop was huge.

Now, remember how I said I wrote most of this shortly after Fight for the Fallen? Here’s how I ended it:

Adam Page is a star, and I think AEW is doing right by him by pushing him up the ladder one rung at a time. I still expect Page to somehow challenge Omega at All Out, but even if they push it a little further down the road it will 100% be Page who dethrones Kenny. They’re not going to fumble at the end of an almost two year-long story.

Page will win. And it will make him the future of AEW.

While I was wrong about the timeline, it was always going to be Page. In revisiting that paragraph, there was some unexpected poetry in referring to Page being pushed up the ladder one rung at a time, because it was a ladder match that got us where we are now. The Joker was announced to be a part of the Casino Ladder match on the Dynamite Anniversary show, and there were instantly rumblings that it just had to be Page. I felt it deep down, but was skeptical because I googled whether or not his baby had been born yet, and I found nothing. I had my doubts but when his music hit, I knew Full Gear 2021 was going to be the night. The conclusion. The Anxious Millennial Cowboy won his opportunity, won the fans, won his confidence back…all because he’d lost it all.

He cut one hell of a promo a couple weeks after winning the Casino Ladder match about the meaning of Cowboy Shit and cemented his place as the next top guy in AEW.

Tonight, Page pinned Omega and proved once and for all that Cowboys always get back on their horse when they’ve fallen off. This cowboy fell off his couch when it happened, and I got back up too. I’m just so happy at this beautiful story that’s unfolded over two and a half years. The fact that he got the Young Bucks’ nod of respect and approval at the end really brought this full circle and proved Adam Page is truly elite.

Winning here made Adam Page.

Thanks so much for reading. All Elite Wrestling has completely rekindled my passion for wrestling the past couple years, and it’s been so nice to fully immerse myself in their stories. They inspired me to write something, and I’m sure it won’t be the last time.

What’d you think of Full Gear? Is there anything else about AEW that you’d be interested in me writing a column about? Let me know! My only ask is that you don’t make the comments here about “us vs. them” and shit-talk AEW or constantly compare them to WWE. We don’t need to hear it. Just let us AEW fans enjoy our show.