5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (January 31 - Results & Review)

2. You're Lucky To Have Hangman Page

Toa Liona's audition as a potential singles guy went well.

Working in the tradition of the Samoan monster, when Page attempted to roll him up, he did the sit-down on the head spot, the one that a wrestler hasn't landed once. Worse still, that spot only works as a terrifying near-miss, and he missed by miles. Shaky early, he settled into the occasion by, and this was awesome, throwing Page over the ropes and directly to the floor after absorbing and roaring through two luckless second buckle lariats from Page.

That was the general story of the match, in which Page gave Liona loads in a bid to generate a more potent sense of drama than was expected. It didn't really work - the audience played along without truly being swept up in it all - but they played along because the two men did a good, rousing job with the primal savage versus cerebral babyface dynamic. Liona popping right back up after the Dead Eye worked because, as a grunt in a stable, it was so unexpected. Liona does a very good job with the template of the character and updating it athletically - that missed moonsault to the floor was crazy - but doesn't quite have that menacing aura. Also, Page is just so great that you can't tell if Liona will ever have a singles match that good again.

As a one-off to build Page as a continued presence in the main event scene, this very much worked, and that finish was classic Hangman: reversing a Samoan drop at the very last second into a crucifix pin, he played the cunning babyface desperate and smart enough to survive a situation of real peril.

Page, who almost channelled Bret Hart here, is just neat.