Hangman Page. The hero we need.
Why do you think Hangman Page's rise to the top of AEW has worked so well? Let us know in the comments.
#AEW #HangmanPage #Wrestling
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Why do you think Hangman Page's rise to the top of AEW has worked so well? Let us know in the comments.
#AEW #HangmanPage #Wrestling
SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown
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SportsTranscript
00:00 What makes a good hero?
00:04 There's no one correct answer for this question as it's all a matter of opinion as to what
00:08 you consider to be an example of a good hero.
00:12 On one hand you have extremely powerful, idealistic characters like Superman and, in the realm
00:18 of pro wrestling kayfabe, Hulk Hogan who rarely lose their battles and serve as a fairly static
00:22 character in their stories.
00:25 But on the other hand you have more realistic characters with many more layers like Joel
00:29 from The Last of Us and everyone's favorite anxious millennial cowboy wrestler, Hangman
00:34 Page.
00:35 Both of these archetypes have resulted in massively popular characters and while it
00:38 once again comes down to the taste of the consumer, I believe that the latter option
00:42 offers far more possibilities for unique and intriguing storylines focused around the main
00:46 character as the focal point.
00:48 How do you do that?
00:49 How do you craft a character that is more than just an idol but also a tangible and
00:53 believable character capable of making a lasting impression on the audience through
00:57 their imperfections and their journey dealing with them?
01:00 And more importantly, how do you do it in wrestling?
01:03 Thankfully, we have the perfect example to analyze.
01:06 Cowboys are like onions.
01:07 They have layers.
01:09 Since the inception of All Elite Wrestling, Hangman Page has been on a hero's journey
01:13 and in the process has become the best babyface in all of pro wrestling.
01:17 Now that is a very big statement but not one that I say lightly.
01:20 See Hangman Page is, in my opinion, a perfect millennial babyface.
01:24 His rise to the top of AEW has been a perfectly crafted story worth analyzing for a look at
01:29 how we got to this point.
01:30 As such, I'm Tempest Haling from PartsFunKnown and this is how AEW made Hangman Page a perfect
01:35 millennial babyface.
01:37 Following the excellent show that was Full Gear, Hangman Page is your new AEW World Champion.
01:42 A moment filled with catharsis as fans all came together to celebrate the culmination
01:46 of an epic three year storyline.
01:49 But this is not a storyline where Hangman always shined.
01:51 He was more than just an average one-dimensional wrestler with a fun gimmick and a catchy catchphrase.
01:56 He was human, severely flawed, but still good.
01:59 It is very rare to see a babyface with such depth in American wrestling, which is the
02:03 reason I wanted to give Hangman Page's run in AEW a proper in-depth look.
02:07 Page's story runs from the very first AEW press event in January 2019 until present
02:13 day.
02:14 During this time he promised to become the first AEW World Champion and failed.
02:18 He tried to leave the Elite but the young Bucks wouldn't let him.
02:20 He formed a team with Kenny Omega and won the AEW World Tag Team Championship, only
02:24 further developing the divide between him and his friends and resulting in one of the
02:28 best tag team matches of all time at Revolution 2020.
02:31 At the same time he began drinking, dealing with his anxiety and lack of self-confidence
02:36 in a seemingly fun but ultimately destructive way.
02:39 FTR preyed upon his insecurities and coerced him into betraying the young Bucks before
02:42 beating Page and Omega for the tag titles, leaving Page without his friends or his tag
02:47 partner.
02:48 He's hit rock bottom.
02:49 The Dark Order tried to recruit him and despite them having his best interests at heart, he
02:53 refused.
02:54 He can't be hurt again.
02:55 Page racked up wins because while broken he's still an exceptional wrestler, beating the
02:59 likes of Matt Hardy and Brian Cage.
03:01 He didn't want to confront Kenny Omega when the time came for him to be number one contender
03:05 before the Dark Order convinced him he could win.
03:07 They lost to the Elite, causing Page to take time away from the ring, believing he was
03:11 the cause for their defeat.
03:12 Upon his return, Page put the pieces together, becoming number one contender and finding
03:16 the confidence needed to finally achieve his goals.
03:19 He apologized to the young Bucks and beat Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship
03:24 at Full Gear 2021.
03:25 Holy s***, I need a cigarette after just recapping that.
03:29 At face value, this is simply a great storyline.
03:31 However, when you dig a little bit deeper you can see how much time, effort, care and
03:35 commitment went into Hangman Page's journey.
03:38 And that's the first major component of all this, AEW's detailed storytelling.
03:42 While all of the things I just covered were the main plot points of the storyline, the
03:45 attention to detail is where this story truly shines.
03:48 AEW is a company that rewards its fans for paying attention.
03:52 This goes for Dynamite and Rampage, the Road 2 shows, and being the Elite, the latter of
03:56 which played a big role in the weekly progression of this storyline.
04:00 Hangman asked the Bucks if they would corner him for his match with Chris Jericho at All
04:03 Out 2019, but they refused due to wrestling a match earlier in the show.
04:07 This small moment plants the seeds of Page's split from the Elite months before this started
04:11 on television.
04:12 And when Page eventually did win the AEW World Championship, who was at ringside?
04:16 The young Bucks.
04:17 Even at the start of Page's partnership with Kenny Omega, the level of detail is immense.
04:22 Keep in mind that Page and Omega have never been super close to this point.
04:25 They were on opposite sides of the Bullet Club Civil War in 2018, and while that detail
04:29 is not explicitly stated, it makes it much easier to buy into this current storyline.
04:34 They're friends, just not best friends like Kenny is with the young Bucks, and when the
04:37 Elite is caught in a love triangle ahead of Revolution 2020, it's not impossible to
04:41 believe that Omega could side with the Bucks over his partner because of their pre-existing
04:45 relationship.
04:46 Making a storyline that spans almost three years is very difficult.
04:50 You need to hold people's attention for a very long time, and with television every
04:53 week, holding people's attention is not easy.
04:55 It is this extra level of detail that moves the plot along each week, even if major developments
05:00 aren't happening.
05:01 This keeps Page from becoming a stale character, and that is very important when it comes to
05:05 the main character of your story.
05:07 While fans were invested in the story and expected Page and Omega to break up as a team
05:10 at some point, no one knew when that point was going to be.
05:13 Therefore, you had to tune in each week to see if this would be the week that it happened,
05:17 and doing so, those fans saw all the small progressions of this story.
05:20 When FTR offers Kenny a beer and he dumps it out, Hangman is standing on FTR's side
05:24 during the ensuing argument, a small sage direction to help further the story.
05:28 This continues with Page congratulating FTR on signing their AEW contract, and when he
05:32 finally did turn on the Bucks at the behest of FTR, there were two glasses sitting on
05:36 the table next to Hangman afterward for FTR, who never showed up.
05:40 Long-term storytelling doesn't work when all of the big matches take place one after
05:44 the other.
05:45 The audience will get burnt out, and you will burn through your material very quickly, so
05:48 instead you have moments like these to tide the audience over while they wait for the
05:52 big match or angle.
05:54 If you're paying attention, you will get to see much more of this story than you would
05:57 have otherwise.
05:58 This also makes many of the more emotional beats of the story mean that much more when
06:02 you have that extra context.
06:03 When Hangman Page tells the Dark Order that he wants to leave the group after their 10-man
06:07 elimination match, they're understanding and allow him to leave to sort himself out.
06:11 This is a solid turning point in the story, but it means that much more when you consider
06:15 that the Elite refused to let Page walk away in 2019.
06:18 Again, you CAN watch these moments individually and appreciate them, but the most fulfilling
06:22 way to watch it is by paying attention to these details because they make Hangman Page's
06:27 character feel that much more well thought out.
06:29 However, it's not only this promotion's attention to detail that succeeds in making
06:32 Page a perfect babyface for this generation, it's also his character and more specifically,
06:36 the depth of his character.
06:38 This is where the question I posed at the start of the video will come up again.
06:41 What makes a good hero?
06:43 Well very often in wrestling, the top babyface is forced to overcome a major obstacle in
06:47 the form of a powerful opponent or group.
06:49 Think John Cena taking on the Big Show or The Authority.
06:52 He's considered heroic because he's overcoming these seemingly insurmountable odds, but all
06:56 of the conflict is external.
06:58 This led to Cena's character feeling hollow and stale over the years because his motivations
07:02 never seemed to reach further than being someone who never gave up and his character never
07:06 changed.
07:07 To many, he's still a great hero, becoming the most popular wrestler of a generation,
07:10 but there is a reason that he's compared to Superman so often.
07:13 Their characters are very reminiscent of each other and Cena serves as another example of
07:17 that kind of character writing.
07:19 Compare that now with Hangman Page.
07:20 Yes, he still has adversaries to defeat because, well, he is a wrestler, but the biggest conflict
07:26 that Page has to overcome comes from within.
07:28 He's much more in line with characters like Jewel, who are more relatable and multi-layered.
07:33 Page had made great strides in his character in 2018 thanks to being the Elite, and was
07:36 decently popular when AEW launched, but he was still the fourth or fifth most important
07:40 member of the Elite at that moment.
07:42 This is something that ate away at him, and it was this insecurity that caused him to
07:45 try and leave the group in 2019.
07:47 It doesn't stop there either.
07:49 Page's character grows and changes so much throughout this storyline.
07:52 At the first AEW press conference, Page said he wants to be the AEW World Champion, but
07:56 his motivations are pretty one-dimensional.
07:58 He wants to be champion because, well, that's just what you do when you're a wrestler.
08:02 Which is fine, but it didn't go deeper than that.
08:05 Once he moves into his team with Kenny Omega, all of the things that are now boiling within
08:09 him rise to the surface, and this is where Page really starts to become a great character,
08:13 and sure enough, it's where he starts to really get over with the crowd.
08:16 Page starts drinking to mask his insecurities and his anxiety about his friends being more
08:20 successful than him.
08:21 While this begins as a seemingly harmless and fun character quirk, chugging beers with
08:25 the fans after matches, it soon becomes something much more serious.
08:28 Page is always seen with a drink in his hand, and the booze serves not only as a crucial
08:32 element of the plot, but also as a physical reminder of Page's internal struggles getting
08:36 worse.
08:37 Perhaps the most important part of the whole story is when Page betrays the Young Bucks,
08:41 costing them a shot at his AEW World Tag Team Championship.
08:44 Not only because this is a major turning point in the story, but also because in this story,
08:48 Page is the reason for his own downfall.
08:50 It would be so much easier for a babyface to deal with some dastardly thing a heel had
08:54 done to them, but think about the added emotion that goes into this story because it was Hangman's
08:58 hubris that caused the negative things to happen to him.
09:01 Those feelings of guilt, regret, depression, and loneliness all seem that much more powerful
09:06 because they're lessons that Page needed to learn before he could grow into the man
09:09 he needed to be to become champion.
09:11 A drunk cowboy sounds like a fun gimmick that you might see on NXT 2.0 amidst the crowd
09:16 of poker players, teachers, Italians, skateboarders, and fake social justice warriors.
09:20 But Page has something that none of those other characters have, character.
09:23 This cowboy is not just a drinker for no reason, it's a major part of who he is during the
09:27 storyline which he's finally able to overcome, tossing aside a beer from the Dark Order and
09:32 embracing the group after winning the AEW World Title.
09:35 In this generation of mental health being taken far more seriously, traits like anxiety,
09:39 depression, insecurities, and moderate alcoholism are far more realistic and relatable characteristics
09:45 than what we've gotten from wrestling in the past.
09:47 Page is one of the most relatable characters in wrestling today, and that relatability
09:50 plays a considerable role in making him a perfect babyface for today's wrestling fan.
09:55 What happens when you combine the plot and the character?
09:57 Well, you get the story, told to perfection by those involved.
10:01 The final part of this incredible story that I want to discuss is the role of failure in
10:05 the narrative.
10:06 Failure is a very powerful theme in this story.
10:08 Each time Hangman Page loses, it drastically changes the direction of his story.
10:12 This is also known as wins and losses mattering, but some people get upset when you bring up
10:15 that philosophy.
10:16 Page's character arc kicks off when he fails to beat Chris Jericho at All Out 2019.
10:20 He loses to Pac and wants to leave the Elite.
10:23 He and Kenny Omega lose the tag team titles, and it ends their entire partnership.
10:26 Page loses to Omega in the finals of the AEW Eliminator Tournament, and you get to see
10:30 the Elite prospering together as a team, while Hangman is left out, watching dejected from
10:34 the tunnel.
10:35 Finally, Page and the Dark Order lose their 10-man tag match with the Elite, and it forces
10:39 Page to walk away from the group and take time off.
10:42 Every single loss suffered by Hangman Page in this story has consequences, which only
10:46 help build interest in the storyline, but it also helps make Page's character even
10:50 more relatable.
10:51 When everyone's failed at something in their life - get a bad grade, get cut from the team,
10:55 get rejected from university, or let go from your job - everyone can relate to the feeling
10:59 of failure felt by Hangman Page in this story.
11:02 Every top babyface needs to face some adversity, but that only makes for a good story if the
11:07 adversity is allowed to affect the story.
11:09 Too often, if a top babyface loses, it merely means that the payoff to their big storyline
11:13 gets pushed back to the next pay-per-view, with no added significance for their eventual
11:17 win.
11:18 In this case, it is the complete opposite.
11:20 Because of how much each of Page's losses affect him in the story, he is able to grow
11:23 as a character, overcome his failures, and his own demons, making his eventual win at
11:27 Full Gear 2021 the most euphoric moment in AEW history, with their perfect babyface finally
11:33 standing tall.
11:34 To sum up, how did AEW manage to take the 4th or 5th most popular member of the Elite
11:39 and turn him into arguably the most organically popular wrestler in the world?
11:43 They did it patiently, over time, with a carefully crafted story filled with character development,
11:47 relatable characters, and a brilliant ending.
11:49 How do you make a good hero?
11:52 You make him feel real.
11:53 [OUTRO MUSIC]
11:55 [OUTRO MUSIC]
11:57 [OUTRO MUSIC]
11:59 (upbeat music)
12:02 (upbeat music)
12:05 (upbeat music)
12:07 (music fades)