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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.
Welcome Lauren, aka LW Salinas, to the #AEWeekly team covering Story Beat. We are so pleased to have her on our team! But we are still looking for someone to cover the best Match each week.
This week’s contributors are Sergei [@sergeialderman.bsky.social] talking Best Interview, Lauren [@sithwitch.bsky.social] exploring a key Story Beat, Emiliana [@emilianartb.bsky.social] with the Moment of the Week, and Peter [@peteredge7.bsky.social] giving us the MVP of the Week.
A page of links to prior installments may be found here: #AEWeekly
Casino Gauntlet Match
"Please come write for us..."
selected by acclamation
Casino Gauntlet was the match we all agreed was most notable this week, we are still on the search for someone to write this section! Please reach out to me, @sergeialderman.bsky.social if you are interested!
Kenny Omega
"The Real Deal..."
by Sergei.
There was a lot of disagreement this week about the best promo, between those who felt that Hangman's segment on Collision was the obvious choice, and me making the case that it was Kenny, especially the moving segment after the show went off the air. ICYMI:
After a bit of set-up for his match next week with Herculean Callis stooge Brian Cage, and a few words about just how grueling and disheartening his year of diverticulitis rehab was, Kenny got to the heart of his message for us:
Now, I don't want the message of the day to be "don't listen to your doctors"... that's maybe the wrong advice to give… But what I will say is… if you have strong conviction… if you have a strong belief — in your heart, in your mind — that you can do something… TRUST ME when I say: if you really, truly give it your all… you can accomplish whatever it is you set your minds to.
Of course, none of that is literally true. Lots of people struggling to rehab a debilitating loss of function never can regain the ability to do something they loved. Lots of people are told by their doctor that their life will never be the same, or even that they don't have long to live, and that turns out to be the case. And some pollyanna jackass may say "well, if only you had a strong belief… if you had truly given it your all…"
An uncharitable interpretation might call Kenny Omega just such a pollyanna jackass. But Kenny is so obviously unreservedly earnest and intending no harm with these words, it's safe to say that he doesn't mean it that way. Instead, he's talking about how frequently the opposite happens: if someone has a powerful internal motivator — such as Omega's desire to return to a career and artform that he loves — it may not literally guarantee the result you desire, but it can often make such a massive difference to rehabilitation outcomes, and that's an important and worthwhile message.
Kenny Omega is very different from most great professional wrestlers we've seen throughout the history of this spectacle. He rarely raises his voice — his gentle demeanor is often completely out of step with what we expect from a main-event player. But that heartfelt earnestness is also the key to a connection with the pro-wrestling audience that is truly unique. The man once said "...sincerity — once you can fake that you've got it made." And the fake world of pro wrestling has been built on convincing humbug from day one. But in a moment when it seems that a lot of acts (Toni Storm, for example,) want to show you behind the curtain to see how intentionally constructed their persona is, Omega's straightforward, uncool genuine sincerity feels to me like a light in the darkness.
Kenny x Ospreay
"The one that doesn't care about revenge..."
by Lauren.
Kenny Omega‘s return to AEW has obviously been the subject of everything from concern about his health and in-ring abilities to where he would fit in the current landscape given a year's absence. After his standout performance at Wrestle Dynasty versus Gabe Kidd, there should be no doubt about the former.
As for the latter? Instead of jumping headfirst into either the bloody chaos of the Death Riders or sorting out the current state of the Elite, Kenny is finding himself face-to-face with first Don Callis and then Will Ospreay. The history between Callis and Kenny is well-known to viewers: Callis was the one to stoke Kenny's ego back when he became the Belt Collector and trampled his way through companies around the globe – back when Hangman was the hero who had to put his former friend down instead of the murderous arsonist he is today. And, Callis being Callis, he betrayed Kenny once he had no more use for his supposed surrogate son. In Kenny's absence, Callis has continued to collect and discard wrestlers, cheating and betraying as easily as he breathes.
The last time that Kenny Omega saw Will Ospreay, back in 2023, Ospreay was a part of the Don Callis Family. The previous months had involved a bitter feud over the New Japan IWGP Heavyweight title and before that were long years of in-ring meetups and Twitter fights.
The current Will Ospreay is a golden retriever of a man, beloved by crowds and regretful of his involvement with Don Callis. He fought a battle of conscience over whether or not using a risky finisher would make him a bad person. He was betrayed by his best friend Kyle Fletcher, who remains at Callis’s side. He's spoken candidly about how marriage and fatherhood has changed him for the better.
This older, wiser, and more heroic Will Ospreay is the one who charges to the rescue when Kenny, still battered from his brutal Wrestle Dynasty match, was jumped by the Don Callis family. But this is not the Ospreay that Kenny knows. It's clear when he sees Ospreay wielding a chair that Kenny is preparing to defend himself, only for Ospreay to throw it to the side in a gesture of good faith. Will says something – an assurance? an apology? – and looks determined as Kenny bares his teeth.
It's not just a question of a mutual target being enough to overcome years of animosity--it's also a question of legacy. Kenny has become legendary. He's a self-proclaimed god of wrestling. But this most recent absence has shown everyone, himself most of all, how mortal he truly is. Will, already amazing, has spent the last few years showing even more people around the world that he is no longer the future of wrestling; he has solidified himself as the peak of the present.
Can they leave the past behind them? Can their egos stand against each other? Will we see Don Callis get his face punched again? We can only hope.
Hangman Adam Page
"I Have Decided Who I Will Be"
by Emiliana.
Every once in a while, I am blessed with a Hangman match and promo all in the same week. The frustrating part about it, though, is that it makes my decision a hundred times more difficult. Because when the Hangman speaks, I listen. And this week, despite a GLEEFUL “swerve” by Ricochet on the cowboy, this week’s moment is a solo act.
Since All Out of last year, there hasn’t been much talking from Hangman Adam Page. I consider myself pretty in-tune with his character and what he’s thinking, or I had for years when his presence on both social media and the show were more prevalent. If we didn’t have a promo or a match on AEW television, we’d at least get a BTE episode rife with Hangman, or he would update his now-privated (or possibly deleted) Spotify playlist, where the songs he added to it would offer insight into his thoughts.
Most of what we’ve seen from him in the past few months have been haphazard moments or yelling, for the sake of staying angry. On Collision, we got to witness a long-missed moment of vulnerability from Hangman, and I think I took personal pride in knowing one thing: Despite everyone’s insistence, he is choosing to go down this dark road, and his actions are deliberate.
In this backstage promo, he began by connecting real life to kayfabe events. He confided in us that he’s always sought to maintain his and his family’s privacy - which is something I personally was aware of, given how in early 2019-2020 he had issues with someone in his emails claiming they had his home address and wanted to send him gifts. He had spoken candidly to his fans about this issue on Twitter, a year or two before he deactivated his account, and it was easy to tell that this was something real and terrifying and downright crossing the line for the person who plays the character we know and love.
He ties this issue of his family’s privacy to the moment Swerve Strickland invaded his home - a clear violation of his privacy, but also, as Hangman states, his own mind. “It BROKE me.”
He admits his own shame and guilt at being unable to look his wife in the eye for allowing this terrible thing to happen, and you can see his emotions become overwhelming in the almost hyperventilating breaths he takes as he speaks. He seems on the verge of tears, and you can’t help but feel for him.
But after this show of vulnerability, he steels himself. Because at a certain point, a choice has to be made. “I could either remain…the husk of a man that I was…or I could do something about it.”
And this is the choice that he makes. Over and over again. Since All Out, when he heard those screams in the crowd that signaled to him that he’d gone too far, he’s been making a choice. Demolishing the Last Outlaw, hanging Juice Robinson to kickstart the feud against Switchblade, siding with Christian, fighting with Orange Cassidy when many didn’t understand why. Why? Why is he doing this?
Because every day, he looks in the mirror and makes a decision - to never be the man who allowed his family’s home to be violated. Whether anyone else deserves his wrath doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that he won’t look back, and he won’t be caught slipping. Whatever the Hangman of old would have done, he is choosing to oppose his sensibilities. “I would rather tear every life on this Earth apart than be the man that I was last year.”
Hangman has chosen to sacrifice Christopher Daniels next for his own personal failures - an action that Hangman doesn’t realize is more in-tune with his past self than he thinks. Godspeed, Fallen Angel, and good luck. You’re gonna need it.
Hangman Adam Page
"I would rather tear every life on this world apart than be the man that I was last year."
by Peter.
Since swapping his white hat for a black hat last year, Hangman Page has been a man walking down the village of AEW with vengeance on his mind. He got that revenge he craved so badly at All Out but since that Sunday night in September when he laid down Swerve Strickland, Page has stuttered instead of rampaging his way through the rest of the roster. His words have been impactful, but to paraphrase one of those promos, the consequences of the losses to Jay White and the main event of Worlds End have led to the man who many claim to be the main character of AEW to be dealing with the former vice sheriff in Christopher Daniels.
While Sergei gave last week's promo of the week to Hangman, the actual segment divided many. In a town that has seen it's population see it's population of over 50-year-olds increase in the last few years, to see Hangman Page be bloodied by Daniels was jarring to many but one thing that is guaranteed out of what happened is that Hangman's next words would be effective.
Despite a background of noise of kids and fans thinking it was a good idea to shout particular chants that went out of fashion in 2001, Hangman Adam Page hit a promo that was on par with some of his best in a year that must surely win him Best on Interviews in 2024.
A man broken by the happenings of the feud against Swerve spoke of the consequences of the man that have wronged him before turning his attention to Christopher Daniels.
Talking of humouring Christopher in a tone as dismissive as a child so far down the wrong path his old conscience is a dot in the sky being lectured by a vice principal, Hangman switched the focus of his mission statement for his match with Daniels to their past and the inspiration the Fallen Angel had given him but that kid who Daniels saw potential in in 2011 is no longer there, the Hangman of even 16 months ago is no longer with us and Page is finally happy to tell us that he's comfortable in his own skin, that he would wake up every day in this current variant, it's almost as if he's in his happy place now.
Talking of happy places. Hangman used his 3 minutes with the aim of not just telling us where he is mentally but to tell Daniels what is happening on Saturday and Collision. The consequences of Daniels' actions and that he has to survive a Texas Death Match with its master. A man who had no qualms making a martyr of Adam Cole on Good Friday 2022, hung Jon Moxley because that was the thing he had to do and drank Swerve Strickland's blood because Swerve had to pay.
With confidence and dare I say it with arrogance, Hangman handed down the sentence to Christopher Daniels and for once, Hangman's court will be open on Saturday. In his first Texas Death Match since that match vs Swerve, Hangman is no longer that man with blind fury, Page is going to be more calculating and more precise with his violence and it might end up being a case of — to quote a certain AEW color commentator—"survive if I let you”...