At All In: Texas, “Hangman” Adam Page defeated Jon Moxley in a Texas Death Match to begin his second reign as AEW World Champion. The brutal, blood-soaked battle saw several outside participants, including Moxley’s stablemates and a loose-knit alliance banded against the champion’s camp. Page seized victory by hanging Moxley with a chain, a similar result to their previous Texas Death Match at 2023’s Revolution pay-per-view.
With Moxley’s ironclad grasp over the company loosened, it opens new possibilities for the World Championship. Page’s cemented status as a babyface once again leaves him with a new pool of opponents looking to carve their own legacy within the promotion. The "Anxious Millennial Cowboy" has proven himself a fighting champion before, and the fans are bound to see more modern classics out of him.
Here are a few wrestlers who should challenge Hangman Page for the AEW World Championship.
Kenny Omega
Page’s initial pursuit for the AEW World Championship saw him defeat former tag team partner Kenny Omega at the 2021 Full Gear event to win the gold. The previous year, the two faced each other in the finals of an Eliminator Tournament with Omega emerging as No. 1 contender, soon capturing the World Championship to begin his run as Belt Collector. As it sits, the Elite members sit 1-1 in AEW canon.
After losing the championship, Omega took a sabbatical until August of the following year to tend to a litany of injuries. Meanwhile, Page’s reign ended in the spring at the hands of CM Punk.
Omega never got to invoke his rematch clause after their last encounter, with the two having rekindled their friendship since then. Though Omega reportedly sits sidelined as of this writing, a defense against the Best Bout Machine could help legitimize Hangman’s sophomore reign.
Hiroshi Tanahashi
After their encounter in the 2018 G1 Climax, NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi described Hangman Page as “like nobody else… too good for Bullet Club.” The Ace vowed to “remove the poison inside” of the young star. Page has never beaten Tanahashi one-on-one, having faced each other during Page’s days as an underling of Bullet Club.
In an interview with SHAK Wrestling reminiscing over that tournament, Page described working an important tour in a foreign country outside of his comfort zone as a “big confidence builder.”
Tanahashi has wrestled at every Forbidden Door to date, with his first two appearances seeing the AEW World Championship involved. With Tanahashi in his final year of active in-ring competition he could finally put an older, more experienced Page to the test. The match could mark one of Tanahashi’s last matches outside Japan, as he looks to retire at January’s Wrestle Kingdom 20.
Kota Ibushi
Last month, Kota Ibushi returned to AEW programming after a near-18 month absence. Injuries and visa issues had kept the Golden Star restricted to his native Japan, wrestling sporadically while looking to heal his ailing body.
Since returning, Ibushi has challenged for Kazuchika Okada’s Continental Championship and entered the Men’s Casino Gauntlet but failed to win in either instance. In spite of this, he looks to be on the upswing physically.
Ibushi’s desire to face Page was made public after an interview with Dark Puroresu Flowsion in January 2023, while he was still signed to NJPW.
Page and Ibushi have only faced each other once in singles, with Ibushi winning their show-stealing match at ROH’s Supercard of Honor XII in 2018. But there’s mutual history between the two given their involvement in the Golden Elite and Page’s championship status could create a rift among his friends.
Swerve Strickland
One of the many parties who ran interference in the match where Page won the World Championship was noted rival Swerve Strickland. The two first locked horns at 2023’s WrestleDream pay-per-view, their first encounter in a high-profile program that saw Swerve ascend to a main event position.
Page condemned fans for cheering on Strickland for breaking into his family home, resulting in a double turn. Nearly a year later, Page torched Swerve’s newly-purchased childhood home while sipping on whiskey.
Currently, the record sits at 2-1-1 favoring Swerve. Page’s victory via knockout is unrecognized on his win-loss record as he earned it in their Lights Out Steel Cage match at All Out 2024. Hangman has never successfully pinned Swerve, and though the two have seemingly buried the hatchet, Swerve is free to challenge for the belt as per the stipulation of his tag team match during All In: Texas’ undercard.