10 Ups & 8 Downs From AEW Fight For The Fallen

3. Page's Ponderous Victory

Although Hangman Page vs. Kip Sabian was put together with little build, AEW successfully weaved a narrative around the bout on the night, with Sabian claiming his esteemed opponent had been handed everything since the promotion was formed. This gave him a real chip on his shoulder, and whoever came up with this angle deserves a pat on the back. It gave the clash the extra bit of juice it needed leading into it.

While primarily designed to boost Hangman's momentum ahead of his match with Chris Jericho, this handsome battle attempted to give Sabian his share of the shine too. He left a more valuable commodity than when he walked in, though there wasn't much spice to his work, and while he showed flashes of greatness, the space between his moves wasn't always compelling. Not the most encouraging showing in the biggest match of his career.

The match had its positives, but it was cumbrous as a whole. Sabian and Page weren't able to grip a crowd who'd been enraptured by Lucahsaurus and Jungle Boy minutes prior. Their work wasn't bad, it just didn't connect, resulting in a fundamentally sound but unexciting contest that, worryingly, was supposed to give AEW's next pay-per-view headliner a massive rub.

That Hangman doesn't feel like anything close to 'The Guy' heading into All Out is a huge, huge issue. AEW need to rectify this on Being the Elite and Road To.