#AllEliteWeek: Hanging on a Moment – The Adam Page Story

As All Elite Wrestling (AEW) prepares for their first PPV event, Double or Nothing, the likes of Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, and the Young Bucks are sure to bring in many general pro wrestling fans. But knowing the possible face of the company, and sure to be future AEW World Champion, is something that should be a top priority. That man is the one and only, Adam Page, better known as Hangman Page.

Hangman Page has everything you want in a modern-day pro wrestler. A well-built, charismatic, athletic performer who has the built to be a major player for any company in professional wrestling. After being a potential signee for the WWE, Page followed his Elite buddies as he would hop into being a key part of the All Elite Wrestling machine that we will soon enough see. Despite being a top budding star, the road to be that star is an incredibly unique one for the Hangman.

Adam Page, real name Stevie Woltz, began training at the age of 15 years old to become a pro wrestler. He made his in-ring debut at the age of 17 in 2009 as a part of the Carolina Wrestling Federation (CWF) Mid-Atlantic, a company he would spend six total years in. He graduated from high school just to head to Virginia Tech, where he would get his bachelor’s degree in just two years while developing his craft at Jimmy Valiant’s wrestling school in Virginia. Adam Page knew his future was in pro wrestling but knew at the same time he needed to pay the bills, so he became a high school teacher near his hometown. On Monday through Friday, he would be in the classroom teaching graphic design and journalism. On Friday through Sunday, he’d lead his dream as a pro wrestler.

It wasn’t until the end of 2010 that he would really begin to wrestle more and more as a part of CWF Mid-Atlantic. At the beginning of 2011, Adam Page would win his first championship in wrestling when he would team with Jason Blade to win the CWF Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Titles. In that, he also got his first opportunity in Ring of Honor, a place he would call home for most of his career. He would tag with Cedric Alexander in a dark match in which he would lose to Bobby Shields and Orion Bishop. He wouldn’t be offered a deal until the beginning of 2013, however.

Adam Page would become a regular at CWF Mid-Atlantic and Premiere Wrestling Xperience (PWX) for much of 2011 and 2012, fighting the likes of Roderick Strong, Trevor Lee, and Steve Corino. He would lose his tag titles with Blade in August of 2011 before becoming more of a singles competitor. Page would capture the CWF Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship in January of 2012, his first singles title yet. He would begin going to more promotions in 2012 including Northeast Wrestling, EVOLVE, and eventually making his return to Ring of Honor throughout the year.

Finally, in 2013, Adam Page would get his first break when Ring of Honor would include him in the 2013 Top Prospect Tournament. He would lose in the first round to Silas Young, but his name would begin to be more known as time went on. Page would get an opportunity to compete at the ROH 11th Anniversary show where he would be involved in a Six Man Mayhem match that would be won by ACH. Throughout 2013, he would face the likes of Adam Cole, KUSHIDA, and Eddie Edwards but continue to lose them all, unfortunately. In November of 2013, he would get his first ROH title shot against ROH World Television Champion, Matt Taven. He would come up short again, but the young Page was certainly becoming a future star in the process. At Final Battle, he would take on Matt Hardy, again losing but getting grand exposure along the way.

Adam Page was making his name more known as he continued to perform in Ring of Honor through 2014 becoming a member of the faction, The Decade. He would also make his debuts in Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG), CZW, and the NWA. The Decade was a group made up of ROH veterans BJ Whitmer, Roderick Strong, and Jimmy Jacobs. He was taken in as a prospect before becoming a full-time member in October. Under the guidance of these indie veterans, Page only got better and better as time went on.

In an interview with The Post and Courier back in 2016, Adam Page credited Whitmer with giving him the advice and guidance he needed to become the confident star is today. “He stripped me down to nothing, as a young boy, and built me back up to be the most evil thing he could make me be,” Page said. He would compete in all of the big events for Ring of Honor, including Survival of the Fittest in November and Final Battle where he would face mentor Roderick Strong following Strong’s removal from The Decade. Strong would defeat the young Page, proving Page had plenty more to learn before stepping into such a big spotlight against a former ROH World Champion.

For much of 2015, Adam Page performed as a member of The Decade, teaming with BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs would exit The Decade and Ring of Honor in April of 2015, allowing Page to become an even more important part of The Decade and ROH altogether. For much of the year, Page would find a rival in ACH as they would battle all the way to Death Before Dishonor XIII as they would face off in a No DQ match. As he would defeat ACH, he would make his way out of The Decade in the process, becoming a fan-favorite in the process. Fans and wrestlers alike saw the potential Page was showing but he never got an opportunity to be a champion. Once leaving The Decade, he seemed to fall back to losing on ROH television as the blue-chip prospect continued to look for his next opportunity to grow. With plenty of stars like Christopher Daniels and others clearly on his side of him being a big star soon enough, Page got the break that would help guide his future in May 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-bbw–9mfY

Matt and Nick Jackson, the members of the world-famous team the Young Bucks, would go out of their way to recruit Adam Page to the Bullet Club. He would become a member on the War of the Worlds Tour of 2016, turning on his teammates made up of The Briscoes and The Motor City Machine Guns. By joining the Bullet Club, Page would quickly gain the nickname of Hangman Page when he hung Machine Gun Chris Sabin by his hangman noose. Becoming the Hangman showed an extra dangerous side to the uber-athletic Page. It would be this same year that Page would finally leave his high school teaching job to become the full-time pro wrestler he was destined to become. He would go on his first tour of Japan in the summer for NJPW, teaming with various members of the Bullet Club, coming out the winner for much of them. Love or hate the Bullet Club, it allowed Hangman to become more featured and become the dark horse of the group.

His year would start off hot, wrestling at his first Wrestle Kingdom event, being Wrestle Kingdom 11. He teamed up with Takahashi and Bad Luck Fale in a Four Way Gauntlet for the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships. At Honor Reigns Supreme 2017, Hangman would defeat Jay Lethal for his biggest singles victory to date. Hangman was on a hot streak, earning himself a spot in the ROH World Television Title #1 Contender Six Man Mayhem match at the ROH 15th Anniversary Show, but would not walk out victorious. At Supercard of Honor XI, he would team up with Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa of the Guerillas of Destiny to challenge for the ROH World Six Man Tag Team Championships. Unfortunately for Page, his journey for gold in ROH would not stop there as champions Bully Ray and The Briscoes would retain.

Hangman would be given the lead on trying to make Frankie Kazarian, one-time Bullet Club member, pay for turning on the group to aid Christopher Daniels’ ROH World Championship victory over Adam Cole. Page would defeat Kazarian at the 2017 War of the Worlds in just six minutes, but the feud between the two would not be ending just yet. After tag matches and plenty of words between the two, it would lead to a strap match between the two at Best in the World 2017. Kazarian would come out on top to get his victory back. Page would get another big opportunity at the NJPW G1 Special in USA. Hangman would take on Jay Lethal in a first-round match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. And while not winning, Page would take a former world champion to the limit in this one.

After a number of failed attempts to capture Ring of Honor gold, he would team with two of his top believers in the Young Bucks to take on Dalton Castle and The Boys at the War of the World UK in August. They would defeat Castle and The Boys to win the ROH World Six Man Tag Team Championships. As champions, they would become the “Hung Bucks” and carry the gold into 2018. For the remainder of the year, he would defend the titles with the Young Bucks, as well as teaming with Yujiro Takahashi once again for the World Tag League in NJPW. They would go 4-3 for a second straight year.

The popularity of Hangman would rise higher than ever in 2018, as his involvement on the hit YouTube series, “Being The Elite”, along with a handful of spectacular matches all year long would lead him to be one of the hottest free agents by years end. Hangman would get caught in the “Bullet Club is Fine” angle between Cody and Kenny Omega, siding with Cody. He would team up with Cody and Marty Scurll to take on the Golden Lovers and Chase Owens at Honor Rising, beating them in the process. The Bullet Club separation would prove to be hurtful to the “Hung Bucks”, as they would lose their Six Man Tag Titles at the ROH 16^th Anniversary Show in a Las Vegas Street Fight to SoCal Uncensored.

As a key ally of Cody’s rise by going after Kenny Omega’s best friend, Kota Ibushi. At NJPW Sakura Genesis 2018, he would team with Cody to take on the Golden Lovers, as the team would be successful in putting out the Lovers. Page and Ibushi would then face off in singles action at ROH’s Supercard of Honor XII, as the crafty in-ring vet Ibushi would prove to have the edge over Page, defeating him. He wasn’t done, as he would challenge Kenny Omega at NJPW Wrestling Dontaku, but again losing to the soon to be IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

In July, Hangman Page got the opportunity to compete in NJPW’s legendary G1 Climax Tournament, proving that he is a top star on the independent scene and had earned it. Page would go 3-6 in the G1 Climax, gaining a total of six points with wins over Bad Luck Fale, Togi Makabe, and Minoru Suzuki. Hangman was out to prove something in that tournament, which he did taking Kazuchika Okada to the limit in a 17-minute bout as well as Hiroshi Tanahashi, the eventual winner of the tournament. Following his appearances in the G1 Climax, all roads for Hangman pointed towards ALL IN.

At ALL IN, Hangman would take on indie star Joey Janela in a Chicago Street Fight as it had been built upon “Being The Elite”. Following a hard-hitting battle between him and Janela, Page would hit the Right of Passage on Janela to gain a huge victory on Labor Day Weekend. Following the match, the angle built upon Being The Elite between Hangman and Joey Ryan would culminate as Joey Ryan returned from the “dead” to take out Page as he would be carried away by Ryan’s followers.

Hangman Page would follow his Elite friends, joining All Elite Wrestling. Page has kept himself plenty busy, being apart of Being The Elite to build up his matchup with PAC as the two created a heated rivalry. With Double or Nothing this Sunday, Hangman had a featured match with PAC that many fans were excited to see. And while the matchup has been canceled, they did compete at Wrestlegate Pro just last week when Hangman showed up unannounced to shock PAC and the people in attendance. In his surprise appearance, it proved that Hangman was a star. The star that AEW will build around as they move forward. Hangman accompanied his Elite pals and AEW’s President Tony Khan at the WarnerMedia Upfronts for the TNT announcement.

While Hangman was injured by PAC in their match and may not be able to compete this coming Sunday, Cody has made it known that Hangman will be there. Will he be a surprise in the Casino Battle Royale? Very possible as the winner faces the winner of Omega vs Jericho II for the AEW World Championship in the future. Executive Vice Presidents Cody and the Young Bucks has continuously made it known what they see in Hangman which is an absolute star. A star that many expect the company to build around in the future as he has it all, size, athleticism, promo skills, and does the little things well. Anything that a pro wrestler needs to be successful, Hangman has and more.

Hangman Page Wrestle Gate — Photo: Wrestle Gate Pro

For fans who do not know a lot about Hangman or have not seen much of his work, go out of your way to do so as he is one of the best young performers in the world despite his long tenure. The 27-year-old looks to be apart of the game-changing promotion in All Elite Wrestling as Double or Nothing airs tomorrow night, live at 4 pm Pacific / 7 pm Eastern. It is an exciting time for wrestling fans, as the next huge wrestling star looks to make a splash tomorrow night in some capacity.

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.

Check out our other #AllEliteWeek articles for more AEW news heading into Double or Nothing this Saturday!

Scott Edwards

Scott here. Currently an editor for LWOS Pro Wrestling. Lead for WWE content while contributing for AEW, NJPW, Stardom, and more. Also a writer for Inside The Ropes, Voices of Wrestling, and Daily DDT. Host of the Wrestling With Edwards podcast.