10 Things You Somehow Missed In AEW

At the time, the match order of All Out 2019 was something of a controversy: was it better to put the most exciting match on last, or promote the first AEW World Title match in the main event slot at any cost?

The reaction to the (very good) Chris Jericho Vs. Hangman Page match was subdued in the arena. The fans were left exhausted by a mind-blowing display of ladder warfare in which the furniture was arranged beautifully to hide the wires and elevate the thrills.

Jericho Vs. Page - which wasn't exactly hot throughout the build, adding to the debate - would have felt unlike a monumentally important attraction either way. But lost amid the discourse of optics is that the sequencing doubled as a storytelling choice: to set Hangman Page's epic character arc into motion, the Bucks had to deny his request for them to second him on his quest.

Of course, AEW could have accomplished this by swapping the matches around and explaining that the Bucks were too busy preparing for their Escalera de la Muerte war, instead of selling it, but regardless: what appeared to be a stubborn short-term decision actually informed the promotion's key long-term goal of elevating Page as the man.

"Wrestling tradition" wasn't at stake here: the future of the company was.