8 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Feb 17)
Downs...
3. Big Money Blunders
Hangman Page and Matt Hardy vs. The Hybrid 2 was on its way to being a solid TV bout elevated by Hangman's characteristic explosiveness and the familiar, functional story of Big Money Matt stealing the pin after Page had done the heavy lifting. Here, Matt scored the 1-2-3 after Hangman had blasted Angelico and Jack Evans with a double Buckshot.
Unfortunately, things fell apart towards the finish. A couple of botches and clunky exchanges derailed the momentum, particularly when Evans mostly missed his intended target with a Phoenix Splash. Throw in a closing sequence that saw Jack and Angelico literally jump and step into place for Page to crash into them and awkwardness was the dominant impression.
Page revealed afterwards that he had swerved Hardy into signing a contract guaranteeing Hangman 100% of Matt's earnings if he could beat him at Revolution, following up from last week. Hardy, that snake, talked Page into matching the wager, then had Isiah Kassidy (disguised as the Jacksonville Jaguars mascot) and TH2 beat on Page until the Dark Order (led by -1) made the save. The rivals now meet in a Big Money Match on 7 March.