Hangman Page On His Match With Bryan Danielson at AEW Winter Is Coming, Working With Dark Order

Hangman Page defends his AEW World Championship against Bryan Danielson at AEW Winter is Coming tonight, and he discussed the match and more in a new interview. Page spoke with Bleacher Report promoting tonight’s show, and you can see some highlights below:

On winning the AEW World Heavyweight Championship: “It’s an incredible feeling, a validating feeling. I think when AEW started, I was not yet in the wrestling world, a main event guy, or hadn’t been. And I’ve had opportunities here and there. But I did want to go ahead and say from the beginning at the AEW press conference, that’s who I wanted to become. And that’s who I promised I would become. And it took a bit longer. It’s certainly not the journey I imagined it would be. But I think the journey is what makes it special.”

On what pro wrestling means to him: “The things that I liked about wrestling might not necessarily be the things that other people like about wrestling, and that’s great. I think that’s what makes it interesting. It makes our show, Dynamite, different. Because we’re allowed to be ourselves and kind of put our vision for what wrestling could be, at least for us, out there kind of untethered.”

On facing Bryan Danielson at Winter Is Coming: “Well, I faced someone who has often been called the best in the world at Full Gear and beat him quicker than when Bryan ultimately wasn’t able to. So there’s pressure, but not insurmountable pressure.

“I think I’m more excited for the match than I would have been a year or two ago. I feel good now about who I am as a wrestler, and I’m more excited for the match than anything. It’s not something that I anticipated or had even crossed my mind as a possibility until the day after Full Gear. But now we’re here and I’m honestly kind of tired of waiting.”

On working with The Dark Order: “Once mine and Kenny’s tag team fell apart, the only natural next thing for me to do was something with [The Dark Order]. And whichever twists and turns that took, those twists and turns came naturally. But it was the only reasonable thing that I think there was for me to do at that time, and I’m glad. All those guys are great. I love working with them. They get it.

“There’s a lot of times when I want to explain something that I want to do, something complicated or weird or it’s not typical pro wrestling, and they’re totally on board with it, which I’m grateful for. Because a lot of times the wrestlers get stuck in like, ‘This is what wrestling is supposed to be.’ And it’s kind of hard to imagine something being a little different, but they totally get it and are cool with it. So they’ve been really great to work with.”