Predicting The First 10 AEW World Champions
5. Hangman Page
Hangman Page's redemption comes not only in the form of victory over PAC, but by becoming the first two-time World Champion in AEW history.
The promotion must be careful to avoid WWE's mistakes here. 50/50 booking, when indulged in Vince McMahon style, is a star-destroying disease. Trading arbitrary wins and losses over a short period of time numbs audiences to the scraps themselves, renders their outcomes meaningless, and prevents wrestlers from standing out. This, absolutely, shouldn't be the case in AEW.
One might look at Page and PAC passing the World Title back-and-forth and assume this article is calling for All Elite to indulge in one of WWE's biggest problems. As always, context is king. Page's second title win wouldn't be a McMahon-style coin flip, but a careful, logical triumph as a result of Hangman learning from his mistakes in their first World Championship-changing match. Both bouts would see clean finishes, by the way. Leave that "he stole one!" garbage at home.
After a relatively short first run, this would be where Page comes into his own. Ideally, there'd be no talk of him being anything but a top, top star by the end.