Note: I only watched the singles match.
Hangman Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland - AEW WrestleDream 2023 - 01/10/2023
This was held in Washington which is Strickland’s home state, therefore he is more the fan favourite than everyone’s favourite cowboy. They started with a lock-up which Strickland won before they restart in the centre. The two exchange chops in the corner and Hangman kicks Strickland in the stomach and poses to antagonise the crowd. Strickland follows up with an awkward headscissors and an equally awkward head kick coming out through the ropes from the apron. Strickland poses and dances after hitting a diving back elbow and locks on a front face lock. Hangman blocks the attempted neckbreaker and hits a fallaway slam. Hangman hits an awesome moonsault to the floor and gets a two count following a pop-up powerbomb in the ring. Hangman starts to attack the hand, whacking it against the apron and then the steps. Hangman to his credit, takes in the negative reactions from the crowd into his stride. They poorly transition into Strickland regaining offence with Strickland landing on a release german and him turning it into an weird forward roll flatliner and rolling through again with a suplex. I always forget how much I hate how Strickland transitions and chains his moves together. He always has to add an unnecessary roll that makes the move less fluid than it would be without it.
Strickland gets a nearfall following a mushroom stomp and his House Call kick. They go to the apron and tease piledrivers on the apron and then the steps which Hangman reverses into a Dead Eye. Strickland sells this well to his credit. Hangman looks for a buckshot lariat but Strickland keeps getting too close so Hangman can’t hit the move which is a cool spot. Only when Hangman bites the hand of Strickland can he get distance to do the flop but this is reversed into a Danielson-like double arm lock in the smoothest sequence of the match. Strickland snaps the arm and the doctors check on him. In the distraction, Strickland is able to hit a double stomp on the apron. A sick spot that is followed up by a dumb 450 splash on the arm. Like that still wouldn’t hurt Strickland more than Hangman. An example of the poor indie instincts that Strickland still possesses. They tease Hangman tapping out with a cross armbreaker and then an arm-triangle but Hangman survives each time.
Hangman, still selling the arm, tries to rally and is able to hit the buckshot lariat but can’t immediately pin Strickland because he used the hurt arm. He still gets a cover in enough time but Prince Nana doesn’t take any chances and puts Strickland’s leg on the ropes. Another Buckshot Lariat but Strickland hits him with the concealed crown. That would’ve been a great finish but Hangman kicks out. Two bad looking House Calls later and a maximum driver finally does the trick, ending the first match.
I thought Hangman Page put in a good performance. I think he reacted to the crowd well. His selling was good and he came across just manic enough in his desperate attempts to work the hand to be unlikeable. Swerve Strickland continues to not impress me however. I feel like he does too many weird flips and rolls into a move to make it work for me. I don’t think it looks cool, it rather makes the move look stupid. When he was keeping it simple, working the arm and doing basic moves, he was totally fine but his high-level offence is either too weak or has an awkward choreographed look to them. The match was solid overall. Maybe ***1/4 for Hangman’s performance. I think it set up a potential bitterness there that would develop with these two, so there is that. ***1/4
Texas Death Match: Hangman Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland - AEW Full Gear 2023 - 18/11/2023
No pinfalls. Subs and KOs only. Texas Deathmatch rules. Hangman immediately comes into the ring and tackles Strickland, and then hits a Buckshot Lariat. Awesome start. Hangman goes under the ring and gets duct tape and binds Strickland’s hands together. And Strickland is then helpless when Hangman starts stapling his chest and arms. Gross (awesome!). Like Excalibur says, this is personal and Hangman is treating it that way. And in another incredible spot, he staples his son’s finger painting on Swerve’s face and drinks the blood. Deranged Hangman Page is the way to go. And just as it seems like the end is nigh, Strickland hits a low blow to protect himself from a barbed wire chair. Nana frees Strickland and Strickland in a state of adrenaline, brushes off following staple shots. In another sick spot, he even does it to himself while smiling.
Strickland digs barbed wire into Hangman’s face and digs out a cinder block which is a call back to the Hangman vs Moxley feud. Although the detail is nice, I found the use of it to be too over the top and ridiculous, even in these conditions. If a cinder block is to be used, and it is when Strickland hits a death valley driver on to the block, it needs to be the finish, and this was maybe 10 minutes in. More on this later. Both are bleeding profusely now, like dangerous levels and the pace naturally slows into a slugfest. Hangman wraps Strickland in barbed wire and hits a fall away sleep (a third in a row, but first with the wire). And in a case of near suicide, Hangman hit a top rope moonsault to the floor with the same chair in mind. And Hangman sells the chair too. Damn. Nana distracts Hangman enough to allow Strickland to counter the Buckshot and Strickland attempts to piledrive him but Hangman reverses and does it on the chair. And in a cool camera coverage moment, Strickland is lying on the floor with his arms across each side and the barbed wire chair behind his head, adding some religious iconography to the mix. I dunno if that’s accidental or not.
Hangman attempts to hit a deadeye but Strickland slips out and hits a chair shot but in a great shocking moment, a loose wire goes around Hangman’s face and hair and it gets stuck for a second. Strickland then escalates things again, bringing out glass which he pours over Hangman’s back and hits a 450. Ouch. But like the cinder block, this is incidental and moved on from immediately. Gotta make these spots mean more given how damaging they can legitimately be. Then he hits Jay Driller. Hangman just gets up at the last second. Strickland gets a barbed wire board but Hangman makes him back with a moonsault bodyslam of sorts. And then he nails him with a buckshot lariat. Prince Nana saves Strickland again by pulling him out of the ring.
Out of nowhere, Brian Cage comes down to the ring and attacks Hangman Page. Ughhh. Just unnecessary. Hangman gets rid of him and then focuses on Prince Nana, which was the spot they should’ve done instead of having Brian Cage come down. Prince Nana goes through a table after a Dead Eye. And finally, the cinder block comes back into play. Now, one of the things I liked about its use in AEW so far was it being an actual brick that didn’t shatter like an unfinished cake. It was solid, it had weight to it. But when Strickland hit Hangman Page with it, it shattered like it would in WWE which makes it look fake. I’m glad they used it for the finish but the execution is too silly. And Strickland gets the win again after hanging Hangman with a chain to choke him out.
This has its excessiveness. The time isn’t as bloated as I remember but it does linger on too long for my preferences and the type of match this actually is. But I concur with my original stance that this peaked in the first 10 minutes. But I think the two put together enough interesting and gnarly spots to sustain my interest when I have reservations about the two in the first place. Like the barbed wire getting stuck. A moment of magic. And they tried to escalate things into another level but I don’t think they ever captured the same energy, although I still enjoyed this plenty. I also think it suited the strengths of both men. Strickland was born in the CZW environment and Hangman has always been better with a hook to him and there were plenty of them here. The interference sucked and I would remove it fully if I had a chance because I don’t think it adds anything to the mix that Prince Nana or Strickland can’t achieve and it probably leads to a tighter finishing stretch. ****
AEW World Title #1 Contendership Match: Hangman Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland - AEW Dynamite 2024 - 07/02/2024
Fast forward to months later, and Hangman is much more blurred as a character, getting more obsessed with Strickland. The crowd is hot for the match to begin with as they lock-up. They go into the crowd when Strickland reverses an irish whip and follows it up with a running cross body. They quickly return to the ring and exchange momentum back and forth. Swerve plays up to the crowd well and likewise for Page but I got to say that there hasn’t been much to take not off. The wrestling lacked any bite to it and felt like your generic match opening portion. When the match starts to pick up the pace, Strickland disastrously attempts an octopus, failing so badly they have to go to the floor and attempt a double arm lock. They recover well, mind you.
Hangman goes big with the moonsault to the floor but he misses and Strickland hits his rolling flatliner move and then an impressive no-hands moonsault on the floor. Strickland lands on his feet (Well his head first but he rolled through) and hits a rolling kick. Muscular driver attempted, but he was thrown. Strrickland then ran at Page who hit a pop-up. And just as I was falling asleep, Hangman attempts a buckshot lariat but misses and gets hit with one fromStrickland in a great spot. Hangman almost gets pinned with a mushroom stomp but he kicks out at the last second. Strickland attempts a piledriver on the ring barricade, which he did at Full Gear but Hangman counters with a DDT as they cut to Ad break.
They come back with Hangman still in control, throwing punches. Strickland laughs them off and throws his own which get worse with each one thrown. He then switches to a neat backbreaker and ties Hangman up in the corner. Big mushroom stomp. Strickland attempts to put Page on a table which collapses. So he gets another one. And then does even attempt to put Hangman through it. Instead, he hits a 450 splash onto Hangman who got his knees up. The 5 minute remaining call is announced. Hangman hits a lariat and then a buckshot lariat but Strickland gets his knees on the rope. Hangman hits a deadeye and wants a count out as Nana rallies Strickland to rise to his feet. Like his dance is the modern version of the Undertaker’s urn lol. Hangman immediately follows up with a dropkick and blasts Nana with a chair. Strickland kicks the chair in Hangman's face and hits a stomp but he can’t get the pin because of a twisted ankle. And Hangman, seeing it, snaps at it in frustration. Finally the tables come back into play, and Strickland hits a deadeye. Ding, ding. Where is the DQ?
No time to dwell: Strickland attempts a stomp but his ankle continues to plague him. Hangman, not a minute after being put through a table, springs to life, tries a buckshot lariat but Strickland hits the muscular driver but the bell rings while the referee counts in an incredible rushed series of events. Strickland asks for 5 more minutes, Hangman gloatingly says no and Tony Schivanoe announces a 3 way. How predictable and boring. Just like this match.
I think they messed up this match royally. I didn’t expect a bloodbath like their Texas Death match but this failed on expectations I had coming out of that. In fact, this is the type of match I’d expect from these two before I watched their matches together. Bland, boring wrestling that is ill-paced. They run through generic your turn-my turn, meatless sequences to waste the first half of the match before they start to wrestle with any spice. If you were told these two were hated rivals, it’d be hard to convince you because this was so standard. And just as the match starts to reach its promise, the time left is brought to their attention and suddenly they go from 6 to 10. And they run through a lot of their planned spots in such a short amount of time that there wasn’t much time to really savour anything. You set up a table spot, which is illogical in a straight wrestling match, and execute a big move, only for it to be brushed aside almost immediately. I have no doubt in my mind that Hangman was supposed to sell that much long, ditto for Strickland’s injured ankle to be developed properly because that was equally as rushed. But something went wayward along the way. And the result was a really boring match. The fans liked it. Good for them. I was underwhelmed. Shame. **1/4
Verdict:
I’m not a massive fan of either so I wasn’t sure that I’d like any of these matches but I was surprised by two of them, which in turn made the one I didn’t like even worse. However, I found myself liking Hangman more than I usually do. I thought the Full Gear match was the better match and performance, but I was more impressed by the Wrestle Dream match because it elevated the match it was in. He came off more favourable than before.Now the third match on Dynamite is often what I think of Hangman on the average night, but that was 1/3 which is good odds. Swerve on the other had only come off well in one of the matches in which he wrestled very differently than the other two. He thrived in the death match but really floundered with his flowery, weightless offence in the others.
Each of their matches had a different level to them. Average, good, great. Showing they can reach any level they aim for but need the tools. And clearly a defined story, which the first two matches had. And lots of blood and violence, which only the second had. The third had neither upto a point, and then they wasted whatever potential it had. So, now I am prepared for their upcoming All Out match. I know what to expect. I’ve seen this pairing at its worst and its best, and will expect something hopefully in the upper echelon of that potential. Perhaps, even more.
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