In AEW, there is a main event in a week and a half’s time between three wrestlers. First is the world champion Samoa Joe, a heel who has garnered so much respect in the last twenty years he’s almost impossible to boo. Second is Hangman Adam Page, one of AEW’s most beloved heroes who due to his rivalry with Swerve Strickland, is getting booed. Finally there’s Swerve Strickland, a dastardly, despicable heel, who despite becoming more vile within his feud with Hangman, is now being cheered.
While Samoa Joe is easy with his standing, Swerve and Hangman are evidently scrambling into these new roles fans have put upon them. While this feud has undoubtably been a critical and main event-status success, it’s also creating problems that could have a long term impact on both of these characters stories and perception. How did we get here?
Prelude.
The prelude to this shift in perception is in November, where on AEW Dynamite Swerve breaks into Hangman’s house. Swerve and Hanger had a match a month before, but there was very little skin in the game. Mostly revolving around opportunities, In Swerves own words “it wasn’t personal”. If the feud had to carry on, it needed to get personal, it needed a shot in the arm and Swerve breaking into Hangman’s house and essentially insinuating he could if he wanted to, attack Hangman’s child, was bone chilling. The segment was more similar to The Blair Witch project than the skits AEW fans were being subjected to at the time and it stole the show. When Adam Page ran out of that ring we all knew the next time we’d see him he’d have his hands round Swerve’s throat.
On the next episode of AEW Dynamite, the show starts with Hangman Adam Page… walking to the ring. For a trios match. Against Swerve’s affiliates, the Mogul Embassy. What’s worse is that Hangman’s graphic when introducing him says “Hangman Page: Needs a better security system” a long running joke, but in poor taste considering the melodramatic sincerity last week gave us. He doesn’t try to fight these people who are close with Swerve, he doesn’t even start the match. He stands in the corner in a trios match with very little excitement and we watch him and think “… what happened?”
Halfway through this match Swerve appears at the top of the ramp and again, Hangman watches Swerve from the corner post as he shouts his catchprase of “who’s house/Swerves house” but changes it to “Who’s house/I was-in-your house!” Which while clunky, hit the nerve on Hangman who finally ran out of the match to attack Swerve.
All in all, the time between Hangman running to fight Swerve was less than ten minutes, but I believe it’s the beginning of what started the change between how both are perceived by the fans and it brings up a much bigger subject of how kayfabe and heat are created an maintained in and out the ring.
Pro-activity is the new face turn.
In AEW (not gonna be arsed to speak on other promotions), a real babyface isn’t necessarily someone who does the right thing, it’s someone who is consistently Pro-active. A huge reason why Swerve has managed to be cheered isn’t because fans like that he’s tried to put Sting in a coffin, break Billy Gunn’s fingers, left Nick Wayne in a pool of his own blood or broke into Hangman’s house, it’s because he’s been the instigator of excitement. He creates a gasp from an audience who know that when we see a camera following him, a story beat will progress, something entertaining is guaranteed. When fans can see how dedicated you are to your craft and to thinking outside the box, they appreciate it. Swerve’s commitment to his character is outshining his character himself.
From an exciting feud with Jon Moxley(/MEEEEoXlayyy) he wound up stranded in a heartbreakingly underwhelming rivalry with his Elite brethren against the Blackpool Combat Club that was filled with bad brawls, paint by numbers multi-mans and managed to feel agonisingly long while also have rushed storyline beats. Hangman was falling from the successor to Kenny Omega, to a guy that Kenny will tag with when Ibushi does’t text back. In a life imitates art moment, Hangman has failed to match Swerve by being too passive. Swerve almost verbatim said this to Hangman to kick off their rivalry. So while the fans turning on Hangman to some might seem purely due to the Swerve rivalry, the last year was like a brittle forest in the summer. All it took was one match to change everything.
What a match it was, though.
Full Gear. Sick shit. Two tough guys.
Swerve and Hangman competed in a Texas Death Match that is universally considered to have stolen the show and is for many fans the match of 2023- I don’t want to go into great detail regarding the back and forth of the match. There are much better writers who can pick apart each move, I want to touch base on what I think wound up leading to the fans switching sides.
Initially you could feel the collective sigh of relief when Hangman started the fight with the intensity we wanted in the first place, and wound up going above and beyond expectations by drinking Swerve’s blood. It displayed the hate Hangman had for Swerve, but was also a display of sick shit that fans love.
At this point in the match Hangman is still beloved and cheered by fans. However due to the one-upmanship structure the fight, Swerve cold-bloodedly walks through Hagman’s attacks with conviction and gets the exact same sick shit reaction Hangman got earlier. Almost (almost!) negating the impact of it entirely.
The praise for Hangman and Swerve’s chemistry is warranted*. They might be two of the most talented, well rounded, physically adept and versatile wrestlers in AEW and their matches both let each other showcase their skills perfectly. Each move can springboard each into another with a grace that’s unmatched by many other fighters on the roster. It’s incredible seeing two massive athletes fight at such an incredible speed, rolling perfectly from one move to another. It reminds me of a late 2000’s Arsenal v Spurs match where all tactics go out the window but the 4-4 draw is spectacular.
However, this structure of a match can sometimes make the match feel big at the expense of the story. Hangman wound up the loser, and it positioned Swerve as a top wrestler, but his status as a top heel was lost.
Where we are now, and the complications in Hangman’s character.
Hangman Adam Page, a wrestler who was rightly lauded for being a three dimensional, relatable conflicted, and flawed babyface has become a fragmented, frustratingly contradictory heel. It feels like he’s chasing the audiences perception of himself rather than have the conviction to stick to the character he’s built over the years. One of my favourite critics, Michael Sidgwick praised Hangman by comparing him to Drew McIntyre, but I believe the two couldn’t be further away from each other. The loss Drew sustained at at Clash at the Castle created a slow burning resentment towards the bloodline that, through a logic we could all understand, has led him to being a heel.
Hangman on the other hand, has had a knee jerk reaction to being booed and has taken the place of an aloof heel, who is determined to become champion more than he committed to destroying the man who threatened his child and has beaten him twice. Hangman is playing the role of a delusional hero, but also taking steps out of this character to soak what should be heated moments in irony by woodenly referencing drill tweets. It’s sad to see a character who’s survived being buried multiple times and still get cheered, turn into a character who has no clear motivation and no real identity.
Swerve on the other hand, is now being primed to be a cheered, babyface champion, having never been a babyface before. Like MJF before him, this is something he’s never done before. His maniacal demeanour already being replaced with a solemn “look at my resume, I should have respect” which isn’t what made me love Swerve, and talking about the years you’ve given to wrestling to SAMOA JOE is honestly laughable. I don’t know if Swerve will still be given the opportunity to be the villain whose segments feel like the Blair Witch Project.
I can’t help but wonder if this feud has managed to be successful in some ways, while also cancelling out two of AEW’s most consistent characters. Despite all this, I am gripped to see how this feud ends am confident in both performers can find new paths. It’s just been a rockier journey than I think others have let on.
Thank you so much for reading, have a nice day, and bring on Revolution.
*To step away from the Full Gear match for a moment, I question their chemistry when it comes to weekly storytelling. When he was feuding with Hangman exclusively, he was locked onto destroying Hangman like Max Cady in Cape Fear. Hangman however, has a flippant tone that even after the home invasion, was intent on trying to make the crowd laugh (referring to Nana and stealing his weed) and not even focusing on Hangman and making vague references to CM Punk in face to face confrontations. Hangman is so much more aware of the world around him, while Swerve is focused on his subject. It’s sometimes- to me resulted in awkward interactions beteeen the two.