25 Great Wrestlers That EVERYBODY Turned Against
2. Hangman Page
Wrestlers are not your friends. Many might share some of your views if you spoke to them, but they're not your friends. They are each other's friends, but not yours.
There are various points at which a fan learns this, and typically it's associated with a little bit of heartbreak, betrayal or pain. The job is audience manipulation from the moment the performers (another key word) step through the curtain, but often with a view of creating a parasocial bond or at very least not discouraging one.
To its immense credit, All Elite Wrestling did this with its entire brand - the babyface promotion in direct opposition to longstanding heel outfit WWE. As its "main character" and somebody who'd shown lots of admirable character traits on both sides of the camera, Hangman Page was perfectly placed to extol virtues from a relatively stable platform. This served performer and promotion equally until 2026, when Page's former Bullet Club colleague and named-in-Speaking-Out Marty Scurll posted a picture of the two of them outside Cracker Barrel.
The image shattered how many felt about Page the person, damaging whatever it was they thought about him as a wrestling character. He spoke on it weeks later, referring to Scurll's actions as "abhorrent...disgraceful", after explaining why he'd chosen to keep in touch with him after 2020's revelations. It remains to be seen if he will receive a degree of forgiveness from his audience in the same way he's espoused it.