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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, but is more flexible in terms of Collision and Rampage, to account for busy folks not always being 100% caught up, so can include this week OR last week’s episode.
This week’s contributors are Tim [@TimmayMan] covering match of the week, Sergei [@SergeiAlderman] covering interview, Saul [@SaulKiloh] exploring a key story beat, Peter [@PeterEdge7] with the moment of the week, and Joe [@GoodVsBadGuys] giving us the MVP of the week.
A page of links to prior installments may be found here: #AEWeekly
Hangman X Ishii
"The Summer of the Stone Pitbull..."
by Tim.
Very few professional wrestlers have had a better summer of 2024 than Tomohiro Ishii. At 48 years old his time with AEW these last several weeks has produced many memorable moments and I assume he’s having a great time (it’s hard to tell with Ishii). He got to work in Wembley Stadium with Willow Nightingale, tour the United States with the Conglomeration, and most recently have a match with Kyle Fletcher on Collision. Fun fact, Kyle Fletcher was born in 1998, two years after Ishii started his pro-wrestling career. He even slept his way through an episode of Hey! Ew with RJ City.
The match of the week is Ishii’s showdown against Hangman Adam Page from Dynamite. The match contains one of the most memeable spots I’ve seen in recent memory as Ishii gets hit with an apron DDT that turns him into an exclamation point. “He stuck him and he’s still stuck!”, exclaimed Schiavone. Both men are capable of delivering stiff strikes and deliver strikes they do. Elbows, headbuts, chops, etc. I enjoy a good technical match as much as the next fan, but I also like when competitors light each other up with strikes. Quick aside here, if you don’t watch the international or youtube clips you’re missing out on hilarious commentary. Taz sympathizing with Ishii over the burdens of being short was some of the funniest dialogue I’ve heard. Back to the match the action is back and forth from attempts at big moves, reversal, big move attempt, reversal, until Hangman hits a big German suplex on Ishii. Hangman goes for the Buckshot, only for it to be reversed into a Deadeye from Ishii. The momentum is regained by Hangman who is able to hit a Deadeye of his own, followed by the Buckshot and the win.
After the dizzying high of All In it’s expected that the in-ring action this week would be down a star or two. Nothing would be as high stakes as a Title vs. Career match but that’s okay. The in-between period of All In and All Out is an odd one as AEW barely has time to address the fallout of one before launching into the hype of the other. A good solid match like Hangman/Ishii is perfect as you can deliver some action, and then follow it up with an in-ring promo between Swerve and Page. Good solid action was the theme of the week as Collision was loaded with it… (Ishii/Fletcher was almost my pick.) Sometimes that’s all you need.
Christopher Daniels
"Fighting the good fight against Stakes Creep..."
by Sergei.
Two years ago, in a truly shocking and memorable moment, a zombie-like Eddie Kingston shambled to the ring gas-can in hand with homicidal intentions toward a man who had refused to shake his hand. Recently, Darby Allin and Jack Perry have threatened or attempted to burn each other alive with FAR less impact... Max Friedman and Daniel Garcia are trying to break each other's necks… Hangman's crazy eyes seem to imply he might do anything, while if I had a nickel for every time Swerve Strickland threatened to end an opponent's career to send him home to his family, I'd have two nickels: but it's still weird that it's twice in a row, now! Even the light-hearted Orange Cassidy recently took out his enemy by clocking him from behind with a monkey wrench!
To paraphrase the storytelling maxim Melzer attributes to Jerry Jarrett in the tweet above: if nobody on your roster has any regard for their opponents' life or limb, then your promotion has no psychos!
TVTropes calls it Serial Escalation or the Rule of Escalating Threat. Fans of fantasy or superhero adventures generally call this Power Creep, but in more grounded genres, Stakes Creep is the term often used by folks giving writing advice… (and NOT to say it's a great idea, be sure to do this!) …the tendency every time a story arc resolves for the next chapter always seem to need higher stakes, eventually to the point of absurdity… and worse: to desensitizing the audience, so that it always takes more and more to get a reaction, creating an inescapable spiral of escalation.
Please note that this is coming from someone who is, overall, supremely pleased with the recent direction of the AEW stories—this is not meant as some blanket condemnation of their storytelling approach, but as a mild caution that some stories could use a little grounding. And that's just what the MJF X Garcia feud got…from an unexpected source: "Interim EVP" Christopher Daniels. ICYMI:
Hearing Daniels talk about the very real and very dire long-term consequences his neck injury has had on his everyday life over the course of decades really brought this feud back down to ground level where the stakes actually feel real. It reminds me a lot of my favorite author Lois McMaster Bujold. Her first novel Shards of Honor (Spoiler warning for a 40-year-old novel lol) is about a plot to lead a Joffrey-esque psycho Crown Prince AND his entire faction into a deadly trap by his hubris getting LOTS of people killed but avoiding far worse wars (and eventually civil war to remove him) that seemed inevitable if he had ascended to the throne. So, the brooding anti-hero's brooding and condemnation of his own actions SEEMED excessive. He had been right, right?
The short-story slash epilogue "Aftermaths" brings the rationale for his self-doubt home by focusing down the scope of the stakes in the main plot: following a mortuary affairs officer searching for war remains in the vacuum of space who thinks his partner is losing her mind—until he realizes that her odd behavior is because she had found the cadaver of her own daughter. Similarly, Daniels's checklist of the small-scale impacts on his life of a neck injury are best-case: that's only if one avoids paralysis or death!
Bonus points to Daniels for possibly an X-Men reference when he closes out with: "I hope they both survive!"
Swerve X Hangman
"Revenge proves its own executioner ..."
by Saul.
Previously, on AEWeekly #126…
“We were presented with a (Owen) final that offered two possible main events for All In, and they chose the less enticing match…I haven’t even mentioned what this means if Danielson is victorious… While something I’ve long hoped for, I now have to wonder where this would leave Page. I feel it would render his quest impotent….”
Sometimes in life you have to admit that you were wrong, and when those times come it’s important to fully own up to your mistakes and take it on the chin. Even though I made clear in the previously referenced piece that I knew Danielson vs Strickland would be a great match, I still criticised the decision because I wanted Page to win. But the All In main event was special. Truly special. So I must own up to my crimes against correct opinions. I apologise…
…However, if you really think about it, I was actually not that wrong. (Please let me have this, I have an extremely fragile ego.) The motivating reason behind my condemnation was my admiration for the character work of Adam Page and worry that Danielson becoming champion would destroy his core driving force. Now that Swerve has lost the championship, his quest has been made futile. They got around my issue by making that the clear text of the storyline.
Swerve confronted Hangers after he had the #AEWeekly match of the week against Ishii. (At least you won something ‘Hangman’, congrats!) He dressed the cowboy down, telling him that he pitied him (ouch), that his obsession was ruining his career (double ouch) and that there’s nothing ‘Hangman’ can do to remove his name from the annals of AEW World Champions (that’s seriously gotta sting).
How did Page respond to these put downs? Umm, he didn’t really. He couldn’t. He did the thing any politician would do when asked a question that you cannot answer without making yourself look down: he just moved on. Hangman attacked Swerve with his righteous fury but was significantly lacking in substance. He definitely said Swerve is not a champion (yeah man, we all watched All In) and declared that he was better than him. This right here strikes at the heart of the matter. ‘Hangman’ may have been justified in his hatred for what Swerve did to him, but this isn’t really what the issue is any more. It’s morphed into something much more dark.
‘Hangman’ Adam Page has always had trouble dealing with issues properly. He’s an imperfect man with various imperfections. As the moniker puts it, he’s an ‘anxious millennial cowboy’. This is part of why audiences came to love him, a truly relatable wrestling character that was as fucked up as many of us. However, it’s also the source of many of the mistakes he’s made and is what’s leading him down this path. At this point, it’s not really about his family or what Swerve has done to him anymore—it’s become a toxic male ego thing.
Many people have sympathy for ‘Hangman’ in this situation or at least understand him to be justified in his fury. However, it’s clearly gone too far. Hangman’s family has been made a part of his story, and with how strongly the anger is consuming him whenever we see him, I have to believe this is affecting his home life. I guess it’s possible he underwent Severance and is like a completely different person at home, but this seems unlikely. (Can’t wait for season 2 of Severance. Check out season 1 if you haven’t, it’s a banger.) He’s basically having an affair with Swerve, letting his fury swallow his every moment instead of just going to therapy. (I want to emphasise that I’m talking about the character, not the real person.)
After Hangman’s outburst, Swerve goaded him further, once again bringing his wife and kids into the picture. As I’m in the midst of rewatching The Wire, I can’t help but think of Omar saying “it’s all in the game though, right?” Hangman has showcased a crucial weakness and Swerve has shown himself to be someone who is willing to exploit whatever he needs to. Swerve has a code and his forthrightness about it is honestly kind of respectable. After Swerve had finished his second dressing down, Hangman limped away without another word. It’s unclear if he was left without retort or was just wanted to prepare to unleash his fury in the upcoming steel cage match.
Look up any saying about revenge or vengeance and they’ll pretty much tell you the same thing. Basically, that it’s bad. It’s usually pointless, or worse: actually harmful to the soul of the person seeking it. I would be interested to see what would happen if ‘Hangman’ beats Swerve and realises that he isn’t satisfied. That the victory was pyrrhic and now he has to deal with the man he has become. Anyway if you could tell, I thought this was compelling stuff. I’m like a fanfic writer discussing my favourite ship. I really could’ve waffled on even longer, but for everyone’s sake I’ll wrap up here.
[Ed. Note: I (Sergei) have been releasing my deep-dive analysis of the Swerve X Hangman Blood Feud in installments and I'm up to 17,000 words so far, with no end in sight. Waffle on, Saul, waffle on.]
Jon Moxley
"This is not your company anymore..."
by Peter.
Whether it was a vacation or not, Moxley's time away from AEW was noticeable as was his absence from All In in the final minutes as his BCC teammate Bryan Danielson had his moment of glory, but the questions of where's Mox were answered in a format-busting moment that started off a brand new cycle of AEW post- All In.
As Excalibur was keen to tell us a number of times, Moxley's appearance was not scheduled and Mox's body language was different to before… So was his appearance.
Whether or not Moxley's look is based on Russell Crowe's portrayal of Hando in the adaptation of the book Romper Stomper is something for another day. But the first thought on my mind was he looked as healthy as he did on his first appearance back from his stint in rehab in January 2022. But while his telling of his manifesto that night was of a man that wanted to remind us that the old Mox was still thirsty for blood if not the alcohol that was causing him problems, this time round it felt like an all-new set of writings had been laid out.
From the insistence that he have a talk to Darby Allin, a fellow man who's darkness that he has never been shy to show has been celebrated by the AEW fanbase to the revelation that Marina Shafir, someone who Jon hasn't been shy in interviews to exclaim her virtues, is by his side and the very notable absence of the letters BCC uttered by Moxley plus the absence of Wild Thing, it was a case of "there are more questions than answers" to quote another famous song from the same time period as the Wild Troggs hit.
Is Moxley building his own Combat Club? Has he felt that the mission statement of the Blackpool Combat Club has been lost? It might appear so from a sentence uttered from one of the OG's of AEW
"This is not your company anymore" shocked a lot of people. Probably the man it was delivered to more than anyone, as Tony Schiavone stood there gobstopped as if he had had to rewatch an episode of 2000 WCW Nitro for his podcast. That Moment and in particular the person that line was "delivered" to has in the days since Dynamite been subject to jokes. For example, that Moxley had gotten his "Tonys" confused and thought Schiavone is the one in charge of AEW… (tbf, the Nyla Rose/Jade Cargill feud reportedly was Schiavone's brainchild) …and many a podcast have been asking aloud what Moxley was going on about. But if you've actually been paying attention, I believe who Moxley was talking to was actually pretty obvious.
For many years, Tony Schiavone has been the voice of the President of AEW, Tony Khan. He was the one that announced matches, new concepts, even locations of Rampages. It is something that was referenced by Will Ospreay at the Cardiff Dynamite and as Jon Moxley began to leave the ring and realised that the man who has Tony Khan's voice in his ear was in the same ring as him, it was the perfect time to send a message to the man who had come to his home in Nevada in May 2019 when he was a free agent, when Jon was reluctant to associate himself with a brand like he had done for the previous 8 years, who sold Jon on the idea he could help him "change the world"... Send him a message that the wrestling world of AEW in 2024 hasn't changed how he had in mind, and that a new mission statement was needed for AEW.
Hangman Adam Page
"A Valuable Debate-Starter..."
by Joe.
Hangman Adam Page is this week’s MVP, and part of the value he brought to the table this week was definitely the performance during his match with Ishii that over delivered, however, the more valuable piece is the character progression Hangman has shown through the story, and the conversation that has generated amongst AEW fans.
So firstly, let’s talk about that Ishii match. Given the way Ishii has been booked in AEW (Winless in Singles) and the timeslot of the match (not the opening match, not the turn of the hour slot, not the main event slot, you would figure this could be an extended squash hovering in that 5-10 minute zone just to re-establish Hangman heading into All Out vs Swerve. However, the way Hangman’s character has been handled, I saw smart, knowledgeable, and attentive fans debating whether or not Hangman would win. They were saying Hangman could be Ishii’s first singles victory on Dynamite, and this could push Hangman further over the edge. During the match, at some of the near fall spots, I started to buy in, and wonder if maybe Swerve would come down and distract Hangman and lead to that loss. A former AEW World Champion who is still a major character on the TV show being able to create that engagement and suspension of disbelief has value. I believe that’s part of the reason you have MJF losing to Shawn Dean and Chris Jericho losing to Action Andretti. On some level, keeping fans on their toes about outcomes keeps them more plugged in to the bell-to-bell action, and—on top of having more suspense than you'd expect—the bell-to-bell in Hangman vs Ishii was quality. That moment where Hangman DDT’ed Ishii on the apron and Ishii just stays implanted into the apron is a clip and GIF that will live on for years to come in the form of appreciation or via memes. (Tuesday morning back at work after Labor Day weekend coming at me like ….) You get it. In that match, Hangman has continued to show how he has leveled up his striking game this year, as well as his power game, since embracing some more heelish tendencies, which leads to my next point.
Now, those heelish tendencies led to a conversation in our writer group chat where we were debating who the babyface is and who the heel is in the upcoming Swerve vs Hangman Cage Match at All Out. Normally, I LOVE having very clear cut designations about who the heel is and who the babyface is in a match. I believe that is part of what made Hangman Adam Page vs Belt Collector Kenny Omega so satisfying at Full Gear. I believe that is part of what made The Most Dangerous Swerve Strickland vs The American Dragon Bryan Danielson so satisfying at All In. However, there is something very engaging about the gray that has emerged in the Hangman vs Swerve saga.
Sergei seems to feel like Hangman is in the heel slot—that, regardless of how you feel about the relative morality of the two characters, since returning from suspension Adam Page the performer has consistently made artistic choices in presentation and match structure that have been designed to elicit boos and jeering from the audience, which makes him the heel in wrestling terms no matter how understandable Hangman the character's actions and choices may be.
Gareth seems to think it’s more gray than that, and that Hangman has been more heelish, but it is a result of what he has been put through by Swerve, adding some justification. Gareth was saying that he thinks that ”specifically between Hanger/Swerve, Strickland is still the less morally pure of the two. But he's closer to a path of redemption whereas Hangman is heading in the opposite way, which is why Hanger feels like the heel right now even though actually his actions are still understandable.” Gareth added that “not this match, but in their 5th match [which he wants in early 2025] a double turn could be really cool”.
Then you have my opinion, very similar to Gareth’s. I do believe Hangman has proven to be more morally pure, and in a way Swerve seemed to reference that, implying that Swerve was meant to be a World Champion, and Hangman was meant to be a father. From all of the lessons we learn in stories, we are told that pursuing excellence in accolades is not as noble as pursuing excellence in supporting loved ones. I believe that Hangman has been a dick to Evil Uno, to Jeff Jarrett, to Karen Jarrett, and to others during his return, as a result of the trauma Swerve put him through, but that still does not excuse it. Hangman owes apologies, and if we get a double turn back to Hangman becoming a purer babyface, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that. However, in the meantime, even though Hangman has been more heelish, in this pairing with Swerve, he is still the babyface. Swerve threatened the safety of his baby. Then, Swerve just revealed that he stalked Hangman’s family AGAIN during the time his wife was expecting their second child. Swerve also showed us that he will go out of his way to bloody a parent in front of their children and make them cry at All In. I believe, as a fellow father, that this justifies Hangman doing whatever it takes to discourage Swerve Strickland from ever coming near his family again. So, outside of threatening or hurting Swerve’s family in some way, I think Hangman—in this feud—could be justified in his aggression and violence from a standpoint of protection of self, and more importantly, protection of FAMILY. My love for my children and my primary identity as husband and father has me firmly aligned with and rooting for Hangman Adam Page in this feud.
Now, I would say, I did not like that Hangman split his promo time with Swerve arguing about who was better as a wrestler and fighter. That part doesn’t matter to me, and the focus should stay on the family and the home invasion and the stalking and the threatening. Hopefully that’s where the focus remains next week.
The fact that Hangman can deliver a match and then an interaction to generate this much discussion and conversation and anticipation going into next week’s Dynamite and All Out is why Hangman Adam Page is AEW’s Most Valuable Performer this week.
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