10 Iconic Wrestling Storylines Summed Up In A Single Frame
5. The Elite Civil War
What's genius, about the Elite Civil War storyline, is that every player in it holds an understandable position.
Hangman Page is a beer-drinking southern boy who failed to capture the AEW World Title last August. He felt like an embarrassment to the name of an Elite stable he wasn't compatible with. He isn't an affected teetotaller like the men he once called friends.
The Young Bucks believe in him - they did at his lowest moment, minutes after his All Out introspection - but there was always a sense that they were too keen to share in his later celebrations, as if they were a part of it. But they sort of were. They recruited him as a raw prospect in Ring Of Honor, but - and there's always another, beautifully woven layer in the fabric - they cruelly and patronisingly reminded him of this on the Revolution go-home Dynamite.
Kenny Omega changed the wrestling world with the Young Bucks, and reached its pinnacle as they returned to his side. In the reality and fiction of pro wrestling, he tells pioneering stories of friendship and love dating back to his Golden Lovers team with Kota Ibushi. He senses a connection with Hangman Page, but the glorious tension that underpins it - and makes it soar so spectacularly in the ring - is that it's purely professional.
After an incredible, emotive classic at Revolution, in which every one of these emotional beats manifested with state-of-the-art physicality, the line was divided. Page, the loner, retreated, unwilling to celebrate with the men he insists are his former friends. Omega, through a deeper friendship - and, in another phenomenal layer, a deeper sense of respect - sided with the Bucks.
Page teased the Buckshot. Subtly.
The Elite teased a stereo superkick. Subtly.
This was instantly seminal episodic pro wrestling, and somehow, it has taken an even more compelling turn...