10 Wrestlers Who Reward You For Paying Attention
2. Hangman Page
Before All Out, Hangman Page cost the Young Bucks their shot at an AEW World Tag Team Title rematch.
As Nick Jackson was about to spring for the Meltzer Driver, the camera panned to Hangman Page almost pitifully clutching his leg. He wore an expression of remorse directed away from his friend because he could not stand to look at him.
At All Out, in tremendous use of symmetry, Page clutched at the leg of Cash Wheeler just as he was about to deliver a superplex to Kenny Omega. This was an act of visual contrition that doubled as an in-match strategy: just ingenious storytelling that perfectly encapsulated Page's seminal, future-paving AEW character arc.
Hangman Page is telling a story of what it means to have anxiety in this hellscape of a modern day. His self-depreciation even extends to his lower third graphic Easter eggs, on which he endears himself to his fans without recognising that he has already earned their support. He is the most relatable and nuanced wrestling character of his generation. Cowboy Sh*t has so much more strength than the empty flex of the alpha male, but the agonising pathos here is that the character doesn't yet grasp it.
One day, at the culmination of this masterpiece of a storyline, he will.