Prestige > Cinema
This Sunday, what will likely happen behind a solid steel cage will not be cinema. It isn’t going to be pretty. Neither man coming out will look more photogenic than when they came in. There will be violence, for some, the equivalent of a Gorno horror flick, but the blood and guts shed won’t be fake or metaphorical. The fact is, it’s not likely to be the end of the story. Just another finale that builds to the next finale joined by the connective tissue of two men’s deeper story arcs.
The idea of wrestling being cinema has been cheapened. Just like the concept of aura, it’s diluted and overused. A shortcut word for excellence.
Cinema is the wrong word to describe the feud between “Hangman” Adam Page and Swerve Strickland because the story leading into All Out and beyond couldn’t be contained in a single film. Not even a trilogy. The depth and detail compressed into this feud, like WWE’s The Bloodline and its presentation of toxic masculinity, is more akin to a prestige TV drama.
Not just because wrestling shows are episodic anyway and broadcast on TV. Compared to films, TV allows characters the time and space to develop depth and detail. To make characters seem like real people.
Both men are “corrupted” morally. Not the spooky kind of corruption. They each have their complex reasonings, justifications, and mindsets. Compared to The Judgement Day’s stereotypical raunchy teen comedy characters, Swerve and Page’s characters feel real.
Their fight within the confines of wrestling where police and the legal system have minimal control or impact, has elevated quickly to a top-tier level of hatred, storytelling, and intrigue.
Does anyone want it to stop?
How did we get to this stage?
Course Correction
A year ago, on 6th September Dynamite, post-All Out and “Hangman” Adam Page it seems was ready to refocus his career.
2023 was for some in terms of perceptions, a “putrid” year for The Elite collectively. Although united, creative issues and dissatisfaction had harmed all four members. The shadow cast by CM Punk’s departure opened even wider a scar that hadn’t even healed yet. Although the man described by some of AEW’s main characters, seemed poised after winning a battle royal, to begin addressing past mistakes.
In many ways, like the start of Page’s AEW run where he won the chance to face Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship after a battle royal, history repeated. Insecurity was exploited in the following big loss at the next PPV.
Unlike Page’s first arc, this was not a story of mental health related to feeling like an imposter. A fuller analysis of Page’s ascent can be read here. It’s more of a dark mirroring. A descent not into anxiety but anger.
With that most cliché of wrestling tropes… the interrupted promo.
Your Spot
Swerve Strickland’s first incisions at Page’s character cut to the bone. Strickland chose Page, the “mascot” of AEW, a cornerstone because of the Hangman’s complacency. The lack of direction, the lack of ambition to regain championships after a contract extension. It cut as both the character and fan perception. Was Hangman still AEW’s main character anymore? Did he want to be?
Swerve, offered a glimpse of fair warning:
“Option A, ride off into the sunset. Move out of the way and let me take that slot that you don’t want. Or option B., you man up, you cowboy up to get that confidence, show these people what cowboy s—t is all about!
Or we could do this now and you could fight me for that spot but forewarning, I have no regard for anybody. If you choose to do this with me, I will walk you like a dog. Either way, I’m coming for that spot that you act like you don’t even want.”
Page agreed and walked away. Swerve mentioned Hanger’s wife and kids. Page stormed back and walked into an ambush.
In hindsight, it was no wonder that like many of the best heels in wrestling in the 21st Century, fans got behind Swerve. Swerve’s words reflected some reality. Outside of Page’s Jon Moxley program and challenging stereotypes of masculinity with his “Because I’m a man” promo, there was little fire or consistent character development in 2023. What made Hangman a star had been neglected.
Swerve brought a version of Hangman back to the fans while becoming himself the main character of AEW. Before he became the AEW World Champion.
Little Black Cloud
September 27th Dynamite, the contract signing for WrestleDream.
In the prior weeks, Page’s fire emerged in matches against Brian Cage and a ROH six-man tag team championship victory over The Mogul Embassy. The former did not live up to their first encounters. The six-man tag team victory was short and had no relevance to the splintering (again) of The Elite.
Emotionless and precise, Swerve was already prepared, focused, and precise. After all, what is a farmer to a mogul? A cowboy to an outlaw?
The contrast between Page’s emotiveness to Swerve’s coldness was apt when weapons were compared. A buckshot of a gun is scattershot, hitting the target, but it’s messy and senseless. A killshot on the other hand (a reference to Swerve’s Lucha Underground persona) is singular. Accurate. Clean, deadly, and surprising.
In his retort, Page talked about the nagging “little black cloud” plaguing him for a year and a half. Victories and important moments came but Page could not be happy. A metaphor for CM Punk or mental health or both?
Brave or pathetic, the latter being Swerve’s take, Swerve’s admission that something might be mentally wrong with him showed the first signs of the pair’s similarities. Both are driven by the demons.
Page telling Swerve in response that he knocked every opportunity given to him out of the park retroactively seems true of Swerve’s own story in AEW. Rising from Rampage to become an AEW World Tag Team champion. Wembley replacement to The Continental Classic. Up to Dynasty and beyond as AEW’s first black male world champion. Swerve has killed every opportunity he’s been given.
The difference is Swerve’s composure and control. Head over heart.
Swerve slapped Page. Page stabbed Swerve in the hand with the pen.
Becoming Personal
WrestleDream from Washington put the hero cowboy in enemy territory and against the odds. In some ways a textbook hero’s journey first encounter. Put the hero out of their comfort zone and have them come up short. Giving everything, both men displayed the best of their offense. The chemistry part of why fans wanted their fourth rematch to main event All In this year.
Prince Nana’s interference distracted him. Two sick kicks and a JML Driver to put the cowboy out of his misery. Swerve won.
Swerve challenged Bryan Danielson for the number one contender for the TNT Championship on 10th October Dynamite. Hangman interfered, stopping Prince Nana from costing Danielson like he had cost Page at WrestleDream. Only in the aftermath, Page would lose to the AEW World Championship number one contender, Jay White. The first of many significant follow-up big losses for Page on this new path.
The following week, Swerve in a video ominously explained that due to Page’s actions, the dynamic of their feud had changed.
“Hangman Page. It wasn’t a personal thing. It was Swerve versus the opportunity. But now it’s personal and you couldn’t leave well enough alone after I beat you at WrestleDream. Nobody cares less about life than me. Just remember this. It’s not always you that pays for your actions.”
Who’s House? Your House
Let’s be honest, what has become the moment that has defined the Page/Swerve feud, the root cause of Hangman Page’s heel turn, was not a homerun when it aired on October 25th. The character change of Prince Nana stealing chocolate-coated cherries to pleading with Swerve to leave missed due to a larger gap in logic.
Even in the irresponsible world of wrestling, leaving a baby home alone was distracting. No matter how menacing as the lore has made it Hangman’s much later Collision promo cemented its significance. How Hangman left the ring to flee backstage feels off.
Swerve during an interview with Chris Van Vliet discussed the angles of horror-movie inspiration. Paranormal Activity, Jaws, and The Blair Witch Project where it’s what you don’t see that’s scariest. A strong idea in theory, but Prince Nana making them leave after giving Hangman Junior a shirt did not make me question what else happened off-screen.
Swerve’s words to the child in many ways cemented Swerve as the type of film villain you want to win. The emotionlessness, logic, and determination display something sinister and attractive.
“You owe me a debt, Hangman, and since you’re not here, is it Hangman Jr. who will owe me something? You will. Just not today.”
It might have been Hangman’s house, but Swerve’s ability to transcend the material, to fit himself seemingly into any scenario stole the show. Whose house? No longer Hangman’s.
Distance and the strong subsequent matches and character development have revised the memory of this angle. It triggered Hangman Page an ongoing relapse, which I’ve analyzed in greater detail here.
Symbolism Stapled to Swerve’s Forehead
It famously rains a lot in Seattle, but in LA during Full Gear it poured claret. The Texas Deathmatch was Page’s match in AEW. Established with victories over Adam Cole, Lance Archer, and Jon Moxley, it was fitting for a cowboy to deal with death.
How vicious will a good man get in pursuit of vengeance? Further than many expected. Of all the ultra-violent AEW moments, few have been character defining as Swerve vs. Page II.
Wrestling has had vampire characters before. Few drank the blood of their enemy at the source. The scene and images of Hangman Page tasting Swerve’s blood were controversial and attention-grabbing. For detractors of AEW, the ultra-violent display was another thing to put the promotion “under attack”.
Then Hangman took symbolism to another level. The drawing from Hangman’s son represented the invasion of Page’s personal life. It represented Swerve’s sociopathic line-crossing. Before friendship bracelets became the height of symbolism, this symbol of innocence, childhood, a man’s future, and the world, perfectly reflected each man’s mindset.
It represented how far Swerve was willing to go for vengeance. For Swerve nothing is off-limits. For Page, what he was fighting for and why he needed to win. Vindication that did not come. Despite the catharsis of stapling to the symbolism of Strickland’s head.
The juxtaposition between something as wholesome and produced by a kid with the brutality and destruction being created by two grown men felt a reminder of peak nirvana AEW storytelling.
Those moments of retribution meant nothing when Swerve won. When the fans chanted for Swerve.
The Turning Point
Career trajectories shifted. Swerve would steal more acclaim coming up short in The Continental Classic but elevated regardless. Positioned as the next AEW World Champion while Page remained stagnant as a character and on the card. Yet the crushing defeats to Swerve had engaged many fans in Page’s stories again. It wasn’t the end. It couldn’t be despite many falling in love with Swerve.
Choosing to wait until Dynasty rather than Revolution achieved three things. First, it meant the first black male world champion in AEW got center stage. Away from Sting’s retirement. The time allowed Page to transition into becoming a tweener/justified face/heel. It allowed AEW to tinker with Swerve’s character to avoid the issues that plagued Page’s world champions run.
The struggle of post-chase blues that babyfaces who complete their stories like Page experienced was avoided. A detailed look at how can be read here. However, despite the booking, both wrestlers behind the characters deserve credit for changing alignments while retaining their core character qualities that fans bought into in the first place.
The thirty-minute draw on February 7th’s Dynamite ended with a double turn as well as the fans wanting more. For Page, the feud became about stopping Swerve from becoming the champion. His temper and hitting of Bryce Remsburg at Revolution stopped him from fulfilling his promise. A well-timed suspension dovetailed Page’s shift with the emergence of The Elite’s corporate turn.
A dark mirroring of Page’s first arc, his friends were again in part responsible for pushing Hangman further away. Through a lack of support and implementation of distance. It set Page up to fail again.
Obsession
Page in many respects has become a version of Swerve in terms of his tactics and mindset inside and outside the ring. To beat the monster Page is acting as if he is a monster. He is?
Because it’s not working.
Working in the sense that Page has not secured the wins when it’s mattered. The Owen Hart Cup. Against Darby Allin. The Casino Gauntlet. Is the implication, in a reversal of the first arc, that the bumps in the road Page is encountering, these big losses rather than wins are because this isn’t Hangman?
That becoming like Swerve is justification for doing bad things doesn’t make it right? Is being like Swerve going to help Page beat Swerve and become the AEW World Championship again?
At All In, Page was willing to distract and cost Swerve if he could. If he could not be the one to take Swerve’s championship, then anyone else would do. Before this, Page’s return has been focused on madding Swerve pay. Of making anyone who gets in Page’s way pay.
At All Out, it’s unlikely this will be the end of the feud. A year on and the obsession has flipped. It’s no longer Swerve hyper focused on Page’s spot. Its Page focused on Swerve’s.
The obsession isn’t just between these characters. It’s fans who want these two to fight forever. To keep bringing out the hellish best in each other.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Header photo – AEW – Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS. AEW Rampage airs on TNT at 10 PM EST every Friday night. AEW Collision airs Saturday at 8pm Eastern on TNT. More AEW content available on their YouTube
