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Welcome to the #AEWeekly review discussion where PWM contributors reflect on the highlights of the last week in AEW. The eligibility week always includes the most recent episode of Dynamite and Collision, plus any social-media exclusives up until publication.
This week’s contributors are Abel [@loza3.bsky.social] covering Match of the Week, Sachin [@sachin0mac.bsky.social] talking Best Interview, Lauren [@sithwitch.bsky.social] exploring a key Story Beat, Peter [@peteredge7.bsky.social] with the Moment of the Week, and Sergei [@sergeialderman.bsky.social] giving us the MVP of the Week and editing and organizing it all. Feel better soon, Emiliana [@emilianartb.bsky.social] !
A page of links to prior installments may be found here: #AEWeekly
We'd love for this and any and all of our content to be the beginning of a conversation with our readers. To interact with any and all of our contributors please accept our invitation to join the Pro Wrestling Musings Community Discord. Then follow this link to the #AEWeekly Discord Thread.
Chris Jericho vs. Bandido
"Bandido proves he’s one of the best in the world”
by Abel.
I can't believe I'm about to say this sentence in the year of our lord two-thousand twenty-five, but here goes nothing: Chris Jericho was involved in the AEW Match of the Week. Ok, the match being the best of the week has to do more with Bandido being one of — if not the — best luchadors in the world (shout-out to Coahuila!) than Jericho being outstanding. To be fair to Jericho, he did hold his own in the match — it wasn't as if Jericho was a complete stiff in the ring. He was just good enough to help highlight the greatness of Bandido.
No one, including Jericho, can have a bad match with Bandido. The Mexican luchador is the perfect mix of strength, agility, and speed in the wrestling ring. That backflip power slam from the top rope was dangerous enough to maim or injure an average wrestler. But not Bandido. He was strong enough to flip Jericho over and land on the mat for the match's highlight. This match was a showcase and a coming-out party for anyone who hasn't seen the masked bandit of lucha libre… or perhaps forgot. Bandido is too talented not to be featured on our television every week!
The proof of this lies with the crowd from Collision. Even after tapings of two shows of AEW television, the crowd sounded the loudest it had all night for Bandido. His star was shining bright as soon as he made his way out of the tunnel. On the other hand, Jericho had the crowd yelling, "Please retire!!" …which perfectly fits his "character." Say what you will about Jericho — and trust me, there is a lot to say about him — he knows how to get the crowd fired up and rooting against him.
Unfortunately, Jericho's fingerprints can be seen in the match, specifically the "duel" spot. The luster and pageantry from the spot has worn off for me (primarily due to Jericho overusing it) but the crowd was still really into it and loved every second of it — even if it wasn't as good as when Bandido and Bryan Keith did it.
Has the Learning Tree Gimmick overstayed its welcome? Sure. But has it also left their members in a better position than just a year ago? Yes. Big Bill is slowly moving back toward a singles run. He is getting involved in great programs — as with Powerhouse Hobbs — and Keith is becoming a recognizable name, and has undoubtedly earned his spot in the Continental Classic later this year. If he can return to the "Bounty Hunter" gimmick with a bigger following, then the Learning Tree did its job.
A surprise counter roll-up for Jericho was the perfect way to keep this rivalry going and keeps the door open for a Bandido revenge match. The push Bandido has received since his return from a two-year-long injury has been fantastic, and even with this loss, this feud has positioned him to be the next Ring of Honor World Championship. Or, if the plan is to give him an AEW singles title, the fans will undoubtedly be happy about that as well.
Collision has been on an incredible roll in 2025, and if this trend continues, the "B" show will become the A show before the end of the year.
Hangman Adam Page × MJF
“This is Real, Brother…”
by Sachin.
Year is 2025, we are in a world where Dean Ambrose is hell bent on “improving” AEW, where the guy in position to be the underdog babyface (Cope) keeps big-timing the dominant heel and keeps calling him (a 40 year old) a kid, where FTR haven't been hunted down and stabbed in the dick for abandoning another storyline because it isn't about them.
People are starving, God (Tony Khan) has poisoned our water supply, burned our crops and delivered a plague unto our houses!
Daniel Garcia sold out to Ronald Mcdonald, Rush got suspended (first time), Takeshita walked out not shirtless, Chris Jericho had a good match.
People are suffering.
But as the scriptures foretold us, the dark reign of injustice can only go on for so long. This too shall pass, along with badly-crafted, overly-dramatic Introductions.
Forces of nature have conspired and the stars have aligned. The venue on this weeks’ Dynamite resembled the initial Daily's Place set-up from the pandemic era, the man who was in first match AEW ever had walked out first, and the first guy AEW made into a top star came second. In the ring are the two of the best talkers in the business and the best part about it?... they are All Elite.
Hangman after having the Best Feud of the Year with Swerve got rewarded with a feud with Jeff Jarrett. MJF after having the Worst Feud of the Year with Adam Cole (I have two nickels now) got punished with Jeff Jarrett. (What the fuck?!) But now they collide.
Max starts off the promo. He gives a concise history of their past interactions while also putting himself over and denigrating Hangman and the crowd. Max, in recounting their history portrays himself as the “main character” and behaves as such.
Hangman responds: "Why are you talking to me like I don't know who you are Max?"
MJF has to keep talking about his success to mask his failure. Nevertheless, Hangman knows MJF is a phenomenal wrestler and acknowledges it.
I know what you have done. You are 28 years old and already a history-making wrestling career. I'll give you that. And you should be proud, but when you listed all of your accomplishments you sounded angry about it. All of that and you can't be happy. Is it because there's something that you still haven't been able to win?
It takes him less than 30 seconds to get to the point — why is MJF angry when listing his accomplishments? As much as he can pretend and lie to others, he can't fool himself. The devil loves his worshippers, but they don't like him no more — and, as much as he hates to admit it, it eats him up.
You think I care about them, I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THEM. I just think it's funny that these Hypocrites get to decide who's morally redeemable and who's not. You've had everything handed to you on a silver platter 'cause these Schmucks woke up one day and decided you deserve to be the main character.
Max diverts the attention away. From him… to them. He doesn't truly resent Hangman. He resents the fans for their unwavering support for him. Something he wishes he still had… but if he can't have it then neither can anyone else.
Everybody loves Hangman Adam page. But I got a question for you, bud. After everything you've done: Do you love you? Did you love yourself after you ended the career of your Mentor, that worthless, talentless, jobber, hack Christopher Daniels?
You want to talk about my insecurities, No, let's talk about yours. You drank his blood, you burned his house, you stuck a needle in his face… and you ended Christopher Daniel's career, too, all because you wanted to.
If MJF is unhappy because he didn't get what he wanted, then Hangman is unhappy because he did get what he wanted.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman in his proper form is unparalleled. Not only did MJF make himself look like a vile, low-down heel by belittling and vilifying Christopher Daniels, but he also set up Hangman for a full-on face turn:
DON'T YOU DARE. DON'T YOU DARE. Christopher Daniels is 10 times the man that you will ever be and if I could rip out my spine and give it to him I would do it in a heartbeat. A 32-year career, a 100 times around this globe, and if there's a wrestling company in our lifetimes: he gave a part of his life to it. And he went out fighting, fighting for his life. He died a Warrior's death and I know CD, I know that he never would have had it any other way. He took care of professional wrestling even when professional wrestling did not take care of him. He is the best of all of us.
Hangman if I could rip out my spine and hearts and liver and every other organ to make you live another lifetime I would. I also wrote something about how selfless and how beautiful Christopher Daniels' retirement was and it was not as beautiful and as touching as what Hangman said. It hits home because it's true. Christopher Daniels was one of the best.
If your career ended tonight what would they say about you? Would they say that you are a credit to our sport, would they say you are credit to this world or would they say that you are an opportunist, a selfish coward, a man who has taken every shortcut that he could chasing the kind of power and the glory that you thought would win their admiration.
Hangman finally takes a direct shot at Max. He takes the same approach as Soldier Boy's father:
I'm surely not going to be as arrogant to put words in their mouth but I can speak for myself. I know what is right and I know what is wrong and I tell the truth about it. In 5 years I have probably lied a hundred times but never once have I lied to them and if I have had a problem I have faced it head on, eye to eye. I didn't run from it, I didn't hide it and everything that I have had I have worked for – The Tag Team titles, The world Championship, and a family through all of this that has stood by me unconditionally. I worked for it, it was not easy — and you have spent five years cheating, scheming your way to the top and anyone who stood in your way you would tell them that you were better than them and I hope that for once, for your sake there is a small part of you that's wondering is it true, because it's not. And deep down I think you know it.
The first line of this particular part carries a lot more venom than apparent at first glance. Hangman Adam Page doesn't really try to get catchphrases over with the crowd. MJF on the other hand has conscientiously made an effort to get several chants over and succeeded. e.g. “Ain't No one on the level of the Devil”, “Their Scumbag”, ,“Better than you……”, “Thank me later”.
Still the crowd chants for The Hangman. They chant the one catchphrase that Hangman got over early in his career.
COWBOY SHIT!
He sketches his career and character as an antithesis to MJF's career and character. Thereby making the match seem a clash of two extremes. Hangman, a family man, hard worker, respectful and grateful of all he has earned and proud of his honesty, bravery and determination. He considers Max to be the south to his north. A lying, cheating scumbag, who didn't earn it. He thinks he is insulting MJF by saying that he took shortcuts but this sets up Max's response perfectly.
Oh my God! Are you a child? Oh oh oh, I'm sorry Hangman and all the fans, Did I not win fairzy-squarezy on my way to the top?
Hey – news flash, dipshits, The history books don't give a damn how you get the job done. I earned EVERYTHING.
Max quotes Mox here, “History books don't give a damn.” Which is true — but the people watching today do care, and they are tired of seeing championship matches ending with screwy finishes. (Now more so than ever).
Max's response shows disregard for Hangman and the fans. He claims that he is not only not ashamed of the way he won things, but he is proud of it and mocks everyone else for not seeing it that way.
Whether you care to admit it or not before the doors of this company even opened the powers that be decided they were going to prop you up. You came walking into this company in 2019 with all the buzz and propaganda in the world. You know what I came in with? — a scarf and a mic. You have earned nothing.
Uh Oh! We get Shoot Shoot now. Yes, pro wrestling is Fake. It is a constructed exhibition of athletic talent in such a way to stimulate entertaining wrestling bouts. The results are predetermined and the ultimate decision to send people up and down the card lies with the booker.
MJF loves to be REAL. It's a feature, not a bug at this point. Not a good feature in my opinion and I have come to detest this particular style of promo especially when it is forcibly injected into a feud to make it REAL. But here I didn't mind it as much as the broader point MJF is trying to make is that he is the underdog and Hangman is the one whose success is unearned. None of it is true of course but every good heel should be a little delusional.
Max then directly retorts to Hangman's comparison to him and whereas Hangman told him point by point what makes him the “good guy”, Max approaches this with the subtlety of a sledgehammer and starts yelling:
I walk better than you, I talk better than you, I look better than you, I dress better than you, I am better than you. You name one thing you do better than me. NAME IT.
Hangman: "I am real."
Hangman's defining character trait is his honesty. He is very consistent with his facts and he exhibits it throughout this promo. He doesn't try to end with some outta-nowhere, headline making zinger. He simply compresses what he has been saying throughout his promo, He is liked because he is believable.
However Max is as Fake as fake gets, you'll have to go to Tunnel Talk Pod for more on this but basically this (Maxwell Tyler Friedman) is a real guy playing an insecure, over-confident character called MJF, who in turn pretends to be a big-shot, has-it-all-figured-out type. This man does an incredibly difficult job and has failed to deliver good feuds recently and therefore has been getting some much-deserved criticism.
Both these guys need each other more than they'll ever admit. In recent times MJF has disappointed everyone in terms of the substance in his promos. His promos, as of late, seem to be targeted to only bring momentary enjoyment for the in-house audience. They take a long time getting to the point, increasingly rely on low-hanging fruits and are almost always inconsequential in the long term. Hangman on the other hand has managed to captivate the audience even with the limited amount of promo time he gets. His promos are concise. Every line is there for a reason, he speaks in order to further a storyline or show a character trait. He restricts his references to the show and therefore the audience understands him and they believe him.
You know what? You can be the main character all you want. I got no problem being the Bad Guy.
Music to my ears. After all the recounting and revisioning of their history, after all the character dissection of one another and then diminishing and insulting each other with sharp needles of truth or half-truth, both these pro-wrestlers have returned to their roots.
They stripped themselves of all the lies and phoniness and now they face themselves naked, not hiding anything from each other because they know the other one can see it. There's no point in pretending anymore. They're just out to destroy what they see.
MJF and Hangman Adam Page
"“I just think it's funny that these hypocrites get to decide who's morally redeemable and who's not..."
by Lauren.
Hangman Adam Page and MJF seem, on the surface, about as far apart as two people could be. Hangman's cowboy presentation is that of someone down to earth, while MJF is a self-aggrandizing yuppie in a suit. Hangman posts pictures of plants and links to charities on Bluesky, while MJF picks fights on Twitter. Hangman is cheered, MJF is booed.
As MJF discovered the power of friendship with Adam Cole, Hangman lost his friends in the name of revenge. Both spent a good chunk of time bullying elder statesmen of wrestling, with Hangman going so far as retiring Christopher Daniels, an act which was presented as nearly unforgivable.
Despite this, the crowd continues to love Hangman. When MJF listed all of the horrible things Hangman has done lately – arson, attempted murder, blood-drinking – the audience still cheered. This is the crux of MJF's frustration: why is Hangman beloved and MJF hated?
After Adam Cole returned from injury a few months ago, their feud was wrapped up by Cole and company beating MJF and declaring themselves the good guys whose preemptive betrayal was only common sense. The crowd may still chant “He's our scumbag,” on occasion, but a defensive MJF insists that he neither wants nor needs their love despite betraying how he clearly still craves it by playing to the crowd.
The man who wants the love of the crowd but doesn't have it, and the man who doesn't think he deserves that love but has it anyway. The man who was betrayed by the only person he ever called friend, and the man who was forgiven by the wrestler whose career he ended.
The answer might lie in the last portion of their confrontation in the ring. When asked what Hangman has that MJF doesn't, Hangman responded, “I'm real.” It’s a funny thing to say in regard to a character that he plays in a form of entertainment that blurs the line between reality and story, yet… it still rings true. Hangman's strength as a character is his vulnerability, his willingness to show the audience what he fears and hates and loves. MJF, on the other hand, takes great pains to not show that soft underbelly, only letting it leak out in unexpected moments and immediately covering it up with insults.
The choice of these two as rivals makes great sense from a meta perspective: Hangman is too beloved to stay irredeemable, and MJF needs to rebuild his credibility as a heel. Setting them against each other acts as a sort of reset, squaring them off as the ultimate main character and the ultimate villain.
But it's not as simple as it was when they both started in AEW. They aren't quite those same people now. Hangman will always bear the knowledge of what depths he can sink to, and MJF will always remember what it felt like to be cheered.
Who deserves forgiveness? The audience will decide as MJF and Hangman lay out their cases with words, fists, and …likely… no small amount of blood.
MJF
"...you…"
by Peter.
It was the eagerly awaited face-to-face between Hangman Adam Page and MJF. Weeks of tension had finally blown up the previous week and the pull-apart brawl with the pair got AEW fans buzzing with excitement. This was a segment so eagerly awaited that Triller's AEW Plus page had the faces of Adam and Max as its renders.
Of course Max had to start, and as you can tell from this week's AEWeekly, all of us were excited about this segment and anticipating its results. But of course, Max had to tell us that he's the victim in this story.
AEW's chief villain had to weave a narrative that Hangman Page has everything handed to him by the executives of AEW, that their supposed "main character" had done nothing wrong in the eyes in the fans. Such narratives as you could only find if you spent too long on social media: that while Hangman got the phone that said "AEW" back on Day One, MJF had had to start with only a scarf and a mic. Accusations of Hangman cheating in the Casino Battle Royale, (the way I remember, MJF tried to steal the win by sneaking up on a prone Page after spending minutes on the outside.)
The guy who got a trust fund is accusing Hangman Page of being the beneficiary of nepotism. The man who started his adult life on third base is claiming that Adam Page has been getting the benefit of a bigger strike zone than others.
It's preposterous that Page is the golden child of Tony Khan, in the AEW canon and in real life and you don't need a badly written ChatGPT lawsuit to tell you that and yet in the worldview of MJF, I'm not sure he sees it that way.
In his attempt to needle Page, he conveniently forgot that while yes Page might have been the guy destined for greatness according to Kenny, Matt and Nick, he himself had been that other EVP's golden project, the protege of the one EVP who isn't there any more, (the guy who might sell his soul for less than 5 dollars this coming weekend.)
But back to MJF. The man who uses words to wound others. The man who in the last five years has been an edgelord who has said vile things to get into his opponents head and dare I say it, with his own large strike zone to aim at with Adam Page, threw a ball.
He couldn't get into Hangman's head, he couldn't get under Adam's skin with the usual superficial crap that has been more predictable than a Ricky Hatton body shot. Because Page knew for the both of them that MJF was reaching in his argument, but that reaching is something that happens when you are spouting off from your own narrow worldview.
MJF is mad that Adam Page is loved by the crowd, that he has his second chance with the AEW fans — a fanbase that Page thought had rejected him in favour of the man that invaded his house. …Mad at a man who — despite the "unforgivable" deeds he committed — is back in the fans' affections. In airing his grievances, MJF sold the feeling that he can do no right.
In his own world view, the fans betrayed him. He said it in Cardiff to Will Ospreay in their face-to-face the Dynamite before All In. Yet that's not how reality shook out. The fans didn't turn on MJF like fans have booed other wrestlers that were on the correct side of the morality line. MJF didn't hear a boo from August 2023 to the time he punted Daniel Garcia in the balls the Dynamite after Forbidden Door 2024.
But MJF's brain isn't telling him that. The story that Maxwell Jacob Freidman is telling himself isn't the one that the story we watched on AEW programming has told. Let me quote something from a website called Recovery Village:
If you’re in the depths of your depression, what I want you to remember is this: Depression is a monster, and it’s lying to you.
In the moment when MJF accused Hangman of being the beneficiary of nepotism, the monster that envelopes MJF's thought process got exposed and proved that MJF might have been telling himself a lie all this time… and weirdly enough, this moment might have been the most relatable MJF has ever been to me.
Because I have been in that position that MJF is in. That position being lied to by the monster that dominates your head… and maybe you've been too. It's a monster that is hard to get rid of. Those impulses that have driven MJF to do the heinous things he has in AEW might have been driven by that monster telling him lies… But this time 'round, MJF has crossed paths with a man who won't play the game he wants to play and MJF got caught in a moment that he can't get out of…and showed the world his vulnerability.
Toni Storm
"...the biggest package..."
by Sergei.
This week, the AEWeekly team are sharing one brain cell, with almost everyone talking about a single segment, the long-awaited confrontation between Hangman Adam Page and Maxwell Jacob Friedman. And that makes sense, because it was a fantastic segment and one that it feels like the entire history of AEW has been building towards. But a certain Timeless One took to her stage to share a few words with her breathless throng of fans and show off her new World Championship, and she reminded us all that a Cowboy and a Bad Guy aren't the only main characters around these parts.
She started out in her usual crude glory, slinging her bawdy couplet catchphrases and adding one extra with pride: "...this Tramp is your new CHAMP!" She went on to say all of the things she usually does about her archenemy: that she broke her heart, etc… But went on to say that she was also proud of May, which I think is a good tack for her to take. After all, she was her protege for months — it makes sense that she would take some pride (and thus some credit) for her success, even if it was at her own expense. This could lead to some interesting things since the feud with May looks to be continuing at least till Revolution.
Then she made some amazing promises… Presuming she gets past the challenge of the ex-champ's rematch, she is going to be a fighting champion, specifically calling out Statlander and Nightingale (two competitors who have been stuck on the Moné Train just a little too long) as potential future contenders. (Not to mention Wendi Richter, naturally.)
A strong case can, of course, be made for Hangman or MJF as the MVP of AEW this past week, and in Page's case that's true almost every week. Once upon a time, AEW fans believed in four pillars of their future, but at least two of them have almost certainly crumbled. But it takes more than one division to make a promotion, and the new World Champion is the one strong pillar of hers, and her credentials as MVP right now are just as strong as anyone's. As a certain Superbowl performer might say... >>>>