Awesome / Adam Page

It's time for some Champion Shit!

• Page scores one of the biggest wins of his career when he defeats Minoru Suzuki in the 2018 G1 Climax. Someone who was usually a fall guy upsets and pins the leader of Suzuki-gun.
• The Casino Battle Royal, the gimmick-based match format is interesting. Four sets of five wrestlers enter the ring in order based on what suit of playing card they draw (hearts, clubs, spades, diamonds). The wrestler who draws the Joker card is the 21st and last wrestler to enter. Come the event, who was Joker? "Hangman" Adam Page, the eventual winner. Oh, and some of the entrants? Glacier, Billy Gunn, Tommy Dreamer and Shawn Spears (the former Tye Dillinger).
• The team of Page and Kenny Omega take on the team of Jon Moxley and PAC on the October 9, 2020 Dynamite. Seems pretty straightforward, two singles feuds being booked in a tag match. But the whole mood changes when PAC pushes Mox around too much. In response, Moxley gives PAC a two finger salute and a Paradigm Shift for his troubles, showing that Jon Moxley isn't taking shit from anyone.
• The Opening 4 way No.1 Tag Titles Contenders match at Bash at the Beach 2020. The four teams go wild throughout it each wanting the title shot with nonstop action throughout it. Culminating in Trent Superplexing Matt Jackson to the outside onto everyone.
• Page and Omega winning The AEW Tag Titles from SCU on the Jericho Cruise.
• Atomicos Match: The Elite vs Lucha Brothers and The Butcher and The Blade on the February 5, 2020 Dynamite.
• Page and Omega vs SCU for The AEW World Tag Titles on the February 12, 2020 Dynamite.
• Page and Omega vs The Lucha Bros for the AEW World Tag Titles on the February 12, 2020 Dynamite. A crazy match where either team on multiple times nearly had it, in the end The Elite win and retain the gold.
• Page and Omega vs The Young Bucks for The AEW World Tag Titles at Revolution 2020, FULL STOP. Not only a spectacular display of athleticism as always, but a masterclass in subtle, multilayered storytelling, as the tension between Page and the Young Bucks built to a boiling point with desperate peacemaker Omega caught in the middle.
  • Once the dust had settled, Dave Meltzer gave it SIX STARS, calling it nothing less than the greatest tag-team match of all time!
• Page returns after two months away and is reunited with his Elite stablemates on the May 20, 2020 Dynamite.
• The Main Event of Double or Nothing 2020, Stadium Stampede. Words cannot describe the utter insanity and crazy fun Inner Circle and The Elite and Matt Hardy had fighting against each other using an entire football stadium as their ring. Highlights include:
  • Page was not in The Elite's starting lineup and running a little late. Why? Because he was coming BY HORSE (which he uses to chase down Sammy Guevara).
  • Speaking of Sammy, he was back in the stadium after losing Hangman in the backstage area. Page, still on his horse, decides to just futz off to the bar.
  • Jake Hager is prowling the backstage area for Hangman Page, spots Page's horse parked outside the bar, and joins Adam for a whiskey. They immediately start an honest to goodness bar fight after one drink, and Adam, in what Vince Verhei calls 'the spot of Hangman Page's dreams', gets thrown onto the bar and slid face down across the entire bar, tossing drinks and food all the way like in the old comedy cowboy movies.
  • Kenny Omega then comes in for the save, busts open four bottles of Bubbly on Hager's head, then gives Page a boost to perform the Buckshot Lariat onto Hager. Kenny and Adam then share a drink (milk for Kenny).
• Page and Omega defending The AEW Tag Titles against Kip Sabian and Jimmy Havoc on the June 3, 2020 Dynamite. In which they finally get a name for their combined finisher, The Last Call
• Page and Omega defending The AEW Tag Titles against The Natural Nightmares, Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall on the June 17, 2020 Dynamite.
• Page and Omega defending The AEW Tag Titles against The Best Friends at Fyter Fest 2020 Night 1.
• Page and Omega defending The AEW Tag Titles against Private Party at Fyter Fest 2020 Night 2.
• Page and Omega defending The AEW Tag Titles against The Dark Order on the July 29, 2020 Dynamite.
  • After the match, The Dark Order attacked Page, Omega and The Young Bucks before FTR made the save.
• The Elite and FTR vs The Dark Order in a 12 man tag on the August 6, 2020 Dynamite.
• Page and Omega's 200+ day title reign finally coming to an end in a great match with FTR at All Out 2020.
• Page vs Frankie Kazarian on the September 16, 2020 Dynamite.
• Former tag partners Page and Kenny Omega set the tone for Full Gear 2020 in the opener, putting on an instant classic.
• Page, Silver and Reynolds vs MJF, Santana and Ortiz on the Brodie Lee Tribute Show was not only a heartwarming tribute to the leader of the Dark Order but genuinely a fantastic wrestling match.
• Page vs Brian Cage in the opening match of Double or Nothing 2021. A great match in its own right, but more importantly a devastating demonstration of how phenomenally over the Hangman is with the rabid AEW crowd, and proof positive that he's got what it takes to be the top guy.
• Hangman Adam Page is being interviewed by Tony Schiavone at Fyter Fest 2021 Night 1, when his former friends The Elite show up which include World Champion Kenny Omega who Page is the no.1 contender to face. When Matt Jackson gets in his face, Page nails him and when it appears he's gonna get beatdown, The Dark Order makes the save. Adam then gets the mic and tells Kenny that in the upcoming 5 on 5 elimination match that not only will they win but will also get a shot at Kenny's World Title and The Young Bucks' Tag Titles!
• Page and The Dark Order taking on The Elite in an absolutely insane 5v5 elimination tag team match to open Fight for the Fallen 2021.
• Page returning as the Joker in the Casino Ladder match at the second anniversary edition of Dynamite, and winning back the number one contendership.
• The next week on Dynamite, Page shows up full of fire and confidence, getting on the mic to cut one of the best promos of the year, and potentially one of the best of his entire career:
  Page: Damn, I'm excited for Full Gear! In 2019, my friends and I, we left our home in Ring of Honor and our home in New Japan to start All Elite Wrestling. And I was excited then, because I believed in our vision. I believed we could, and I believed we would, change the world, but it feels like the world changed us. I mean... it changed me. I told you all on literal Day One that I'd be the first AEW champion, and I failed. I lost to Jericho and I lost to Pac, and then it felt like I started to lose a hell of a lot more. I lost my confidence, I lost my friends, and truthfully, I lost myself. But for whatever reason, it seemed like no matter what I lost, the one thing that seemed to grow, that seemed to get louder, week after week, was these people chanting "COWBOY SHIT". And to me, that's very real, because "cowboy shit" was taking my shot on Day 1 and telling you I'd be champion. "Cowboy shit" was winning the tag team titles with Kenny and defending them every chance that we got. "Cowboy shit" was learning to let the past live in the past, and accepting new friends into my life. And "cowboy shit" was taking my chance and putting it all on the line, sticking my neck out for my new friends who stuck their necks out for me so many times. And "cowboy shit" was having the balls in the middle of the hottest run of my career to turn around and go back home to be there for the birth of a beautiful baby boy... that's cowboy shit. So last week, I finally picked up the phone, I put my body on the line, I climbed the ladder to grab the chip, to grab the shot at the one thing that's eluded me all this time. To me, that's the thing - when you fall off, you get up, you get back on the horse and keep riding, blazing on ahead! Because to me, THAT is cowboy shit! Now, I am not a fortuneteller, I'm not going to predict how Full Gear will end for me. But despite that brutal honesty, I feel like you all still believe in me... and for the first time in my life, I do too. So the promise I can make is that at Full Gear, I will give you everything. I will give you my heart, I will give you my soul, I will give you every fiber of my being, I will give you my blood, I will give you my sweat, and one way or another, I feel like I may give you my tears. The one thing, though, that I am 100% sure about is that at Full Gear? I WILL GIVE YOU COWBOY SHIT!
• Finally, the climax of a story that had been literally years in the making, as Adam Page finally faced his old friend Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship at Full Gear 2021. Page battled against the skills of the Best Bout Machine and the interference of Don Callis, fighting with a renewed confidence as he and Kenny traded moves and counters, including a sick springboard top rope liger bomb from Kenny to Page and a massive flying clothesline from the top of the ringpost to Kenny on the outside, sending both men through a table. Following a ref bump when Kenny pulled the official into Page's Buckshot Lariat attempt, Page finally took out Callis when he attempted to use the belt against him, then ducked Kenny's attempt to do the same and took him down with the Deadeye, getting a clear visual pinfall that would have won him the championship if the replacement ref hadn't had to run all the way from the back to count it. Surviving a barrage of offence from Omega, Page even slipped out of a One-Winged Angel and hit Kenny with an OWA of his own, which Kenny only barely kicked out of. Just as things were at their most intense, the Young Bucks limped down to the ring, despite Page's threat that he would ruin them if they screwed him this time... but as Page went for double Buckshot Lariats to finish Kenny off, one to the back and another to the front, they only watched, with Matt giving Page a nod of approval before he delivered the finishing blow. More than two years after he'd failed to defeat Chris Jericho at All Out 2019 to become the first AEW Champion, after years of struggling with self-doubt, Hangman Adam Page finally reaches the top of AEW, as the Dark Order come out to celebrate in the ring with him.
  • Dave Meltzer gave the main event 5 1/2 stars, making it the first time AEW had scored themselves two 5+ rated matches in a single event, and the second time Page and Omega have broken Meltzer's rating scale together since the start of AEW^note After their legendary tag match together against the Young Bucks at Revolution 2020.
• "Hangman" Adam Page vs Bryan Danielson opens Winter is Coming 2021 for the AEW World Title: the two go the limit, an hour long match that had nail biters and teased finishes between them - from Hangman's multiple Buckshot Lariats to Danielson's string of knee strikes, kicks and submission techniques - culminating in time running out just as Hangman hits the final Buckshot as he crawls to pin Bryan. To date, the latter has yet to record an official loss in AEW. Dave Meltzer would award the match a 5-star rating, Bryan's second in his career, while Hangman's third; notably, it's been 32 days since Hangman's prior 5.5-rated match at Full Gear 2021 against Kenny Omega for the championship, making him the fastest wrestler in AEW to be given 5+ rated matches on Meltzer's scale.
• "Hangman" Adam Page and Bryan Danielson meet once again on the January 5, 2022 Dynamite as AEW kicks off the New Year and a new era on TBS for The AEW World Championship. For a half hour they brutalized and bloodied each other, using whatever it took to beat the other, with their faces covered in blood. Hangman in the end hits The Buckshot Lariat and pins Bryan to retain.
• February 9, 2022 Dynamite: Adam Page defending the AEW World Championship against Lance Archer in the Muderhawk's specialty, a Texas Deathmatch. The last time Archer been in one of these matches is when he ended Jon Moxley's IGWP United States Championship reign. Nevertheless, Hangman is not deterred and battle the Muderhawk and this bloody match that leaves both men with crimson masks. Page himself eats a lot of damage from Archer such as being chokeslammed onto a garbage can, being stabbed on the head with a fork repeatedly and a Blackout onto the steel steps but Page remains stand. Even an interference from Jake "the Snake" Roberts couldn't stop Hangman. After getting his second wind, Page fights back by wrapping a barbed wire around his arm and punching Archer with it. With the top rope removed by Dan Lambert earlier, Hangman improvises his Buckshot Lariat maneuver by vaulting over the referee when the latter is bending down, and sends both himself and the Murderhawk through a table outside the ring, putting the monster down for the 10-count and successfully defending his championship,
• In The Main Event of Revolution 2022, Hangman Adam Page defends The AEW World Championship against Adam Cole. Hangman in the end, puts away Cole after hitting him with his own finisher and then follows with a Buckshot Lariat to retain.
• Hangman defending his title against Adam Cole once again on the April 15, 2022 Rampage - this time in a Texas Deathmatch! This was a bloody, violent brawl with both men going to increasingly brutal lengths to keep the other down. In the end though, Hangman managed to hit Cole with a Deadeye off the apron through a table while Cole had barbed wire wrapped around his head to get the win.
• Hangman taking on Konosuke Takeshita on the May 18, 2022. Takeshita, who was largely unknown in the United States up to this point, more than held his own with the world champion earning the respect of the AEW fans. In the end though, Hangman gets the win using CM Punk's GTS, much like how Punk used the Buckshot Lariat the week prior.
• In the lead up to Double or Nothing 2022, CM Punk had gone out of his way to provoke Hangman. When the match finally came, Hangman, despite being Punk's physical superior, was unable to keep his focus as his old insecurities crept back in. Hangman spent the match constantly trying to appeal to a Las Vegas crowd that was split down the middle between the champion and challenger instead of putting Punk away. Punk was able to hang in long enough, even kicking out of his own finisher when Page connected with the GTS, that eventually Page made a fatal mistake when he contemplated cheating to win by hitting Punk with the belt following a ref bump, before his own honourable nature made him stop and discard it in favour of the Buckshot Lariat. The long delay gave Punk the opportunity to counter the finisher into his own GTS and pin Page, becoming AEW World Champion for the first time.
• Page facing off with Jay White, Kazuchika Okada and Adam Cole for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Forbidden Door. Despite Cole suffering an unfortunate injury that caused the match to be cut short, what we got was 20 minutes of balls to the wall action that was easily one of the best matches on a loaded card.
• Two months after suffering a concussion from his World Championship match against Jon Moxley, Hangman returns with a vengeance. Not pleased with the outcome of their previous bout, Page attacks Mox for several weeks since his return and finally challenges him to a match once he is medically clear. On January 11, 2023, Dynamite, Hangman and Mox face each other again in what appears to be a brawl more than a wrestling match. In the end, Hangman pins Moxley to become the second man to defeat Mox cleanly, something even Kenny Omega couldn't do.
• The Texas Death Match between Hangman Page and Jon Moxley at Revolution 2023 promised to be a nightmare of violence as the two blew off their hate-filled feud, and it delivered! Both men bled buckets, as they tried to see if every wrestling match spot could be made more interesting with the addition of as much barbed wire as possible, Mox used a fork to rip up Page's forehead in a manner that would make Abdullah the Butcher proud, and later used a pair of bricks to try and smash Page's right hand. But in the end it was the Hangman who came out on top, appropriately enough by hanging his opponent, clotheslining a chain-wrapped Moxley over the top rope and holding the chains so Mox was actually forced to tap out in order to avoid being choked to death!
• The Elite and the Blackpool Combat Club went to war in Anarchy in the Arena. Just like last year, Jon Moxley's theme 'Wild Thing' was played over and over again on repeat as the match started, only this time being performed live by The Violent Idols, which continued until the Bucks got fed up and superkicked the vocalist when he showed off the BCC T-shirt he was wearing under his jacket. As with the last match, it was gruesome bloody carnage, with spots like Moxley suplexing Kenny Omega onto one of the giant poker chip props he'd studded with barbed wire and broken glass, Claudio Castagnoli piledriving Matt Jackson in the back of a pickup truck parked out the back of the arena, Moxley putting thumbtacks into Matt's mouth and him and Yuta holding him so Claudio could uppercut him in the jaw, Matt superkicking Moxley in the face with a shoe that exploded, and Matt having his shoe and sock yanked off his left foot then being picked up and dropped onto a pile of thumbtacks bare foot first (while everyone got their fair share of pain, it was not a good day at the office for Matt Jackson). In the end, Omega was about to put Wheeler Yuta away with the One-Winged Angel, only for his treacherous former mentor Don Callis to get into the ring and distract him, and then a masked figure to slide in and hit Omega with a jumping knee, revealing himself to be Konosuke Takeshita as Yuta pinned Omega with the Seatbelt Pin to win the match for the Blackpool Combat Club. Dave Meltzer would assess this match as being just as good as the original, giving the Anarchy in the Arena stipulation its second 5-star rating.
• Hangman teaming up with The Young Bucks, Eddie Kingston and Tomohiro Ishii to take on Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Konosuke Takeshita, Wheeler Yuta and Shota Umino in an absolutely wild ten man tag team match at Forbidden Door 2023
• The recently reunited Golden Elite of Hangman, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, & The Young Bucks taking on the Blackpool Combat Club's Jon Moxley, PAC, Konosuke Takeshita, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta in an absolutely brutal Blood and Guts match at Blood and Guts 2023.
• Hangman taking on another of the brightest young stars in AEW when he faced Swerve Strickland at Wrestle Dream. Page's focus clearly wasn't 100% on Swerve as he shockingly found himself playing the villain in this match as the Seattle crowd was firmly behind the leader of the Mogul Embassy. Still though, Hangman threw everything he had at Strickland in an excellent match that went back and forth until Swerve was able to pick up the win.
• Hangman taking on Swerve Strickland once again in an absolutely brutal Texas Deathmatch at Full Gear 2023. This was a war with both men going to any lengths to absolutely maim each other including Hangman stapling a drawing his son made to Swerves face, ripping it off and then drinking Strickland's blood. In the end, Strickland got the win when he forced Page to pass out by choking him out with a steel chain.
• Hangman taking on Swerve Strickland for a third time on the February 7, 2024 Dynamite to determine who would challenge Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship at Revolution 2024. As expected, this was another outstanding match between the two rivals which eventually resulted in the match ending in a time limit draw.