5-Star Match Reviews: Jon Moxley vs. “Hangman” Adam Page – AEW Revolution 2023

There might not be two people more closely tied to AEW history than Jon Moxley and “Hangman” Adam Page…and there also might not be two people in AEW right now who polarize AEW’s audience as much as Jon Moxley and “Hangman” Adam Page.

Moxley has proven to be a divisive figure. He has been a central figure in the company’s biggest feuds since the start and has become synonymous with the company. To me Moxley gives off CM Punk vibes: he’s a guy who wears his “alternative” or “maverick” philosophies on his sleeve and draws people to him the same way Punk did two decades earlier back when being straight-edge was still on the fringes. But while Moxley has been popular with AEW he has been controversial as well: his obsession with CZW-inspired ultraviolence has made him into an extremely niche character and his penchant for using smoke-and-mirrors in his big feuds hasn’t helped improve his reputation. Even diehard readers who come to this site regularly and big Scott himself have expressed frustration with Moxley before, which is never a good sign when a guy is so deeply entrenched in the company’s biggest feuds and booked in its headlining matches.

Then there’s Adam Page, a guy who, on paper, has the potential to be the company’s ace. He’s athletic, has worked his way up to the main-event scene, is solid enough in the ring, and seems to resonate with his audience (bad jokes of him being a “cowboy with anxiety” notwithstanding). And yet it seems like he has already hit his ceiling, constantly flirting with the main-event scene but never made into someone around whom AEW could built its brand.

And yet despite these pros and cons these two men apparently had a 5-Star match two years ago…or did they?

The Story

Months earlier in October, Moxley and Page had a match that ended prematurely when Moxley concussed Page. The match was stopped and Page was taken to hospital for evaluation. Page returned on November 30^th and immediately went after Moxley for putting his career in jeopardy. The two had another match on January 11, 2023, which Page won, but that left them with one win apiece and a tie-breaker was needed. Thus a rubber match was announced for Revolution and it would be…a Texas Deathmatch…in California. And so, after many heated confrontations and barbed promo exchanges these two men vowed to commit extreme acts of violence and carnage on each other. Even the commentators used words like “scary” and “dangerous” to describe what they thought was going to happen.

In other words, we were left with the impression that this was going to be a sickening match, one that would leave the audience feeling anything from uncomfortable to worried for the wrestlers’ safety. But would it actually reach that level of violence?

The Match

This took place on March 5, 2023.

Page comes out first and then rushes Moxley during Mox’s entrance. We get some crowd brawling with heavy forearms from both guys. As Page launches Moxley into a barricade we can see a barbed wire table magically setup next to the ring. ~FORESHADOWING~. In the ring the two have a brief chop battle/forearm exchange that would make guys like Kobashi or Ishii down bottles of Shōchū in embarrassment. Page charges but runs into a big elbow smash. As the ref count Moxley brings a length of barbed wire to use as a weapon like three minutes into the match. They struggle for control over this length of wire but then Page overpowers Mox and pushes it into his forehead. Despite “raking the wire across Moxley’s forehead” the bleeding isn’t immediate. So as Page stomps Moxley in a corner the hard cam actually catches him blading in a corner. And just to hammer home how ludicrous this is, there are two fans holding up signs that read “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! I WANT” and “TO TASTE MOXLEY’S BLOOD”. And suddenly Tony Khan’s “sickos” comment makes so much more sense.

Moxley staggers as Page awkwardly tried to wrap the wire around his foot. Page goes for a stomp but Moxley catches him and lands mounted punches followed by what looks like a forehead bite. Then Mox wraps a different length of wire around his knuckles and punches Page’s head with it. But Mox isn’t done. He pulls out a fork from his boot. Great, now he’s pretending he’s Abdullah The Butcher only much smaller and without any of Abby’s monster aura. Page takes Mox down before he can stab him with the fork. But Moxley traps him in a triangle hold and uses his free hand to stab Page’s head multiple times. Blood splatters all over Mox’s body like a bad Jackson Pollock painting. It’s hard to tell whose blood that is.

Moxley grabs two chairs and then stabs Page some more. Then he sets up a barbed wire chair in a corner. He flips the crowd off (because of course he does) but turns around to find a magically fired up Hangman Page hitting back with forearms. Page tries sending Mox into the chair. Moxley avoids it so Hangman charges like a bull…and runs headfirst into said chair.

Moxley drags Page to the center of the ring where that barbed wire chair is placed and locks in a half crab with Page’s chest on top of said chair. A “you sick fuck” chant starts among the fans, which is just the pot calling the kettle black since they’re the ones who paid to see this. Moxley lands Danielson stomps followed by a sick chairshot to the back. Moxley sets up two more chairs back-to-back and wraps them in barbed wire as the crowd chants “we want tables”. Page blocks a powerbomb but Moxley hits back with corner punches. Then Page counters with a powerbomb…that misses the mark and hits only one of the chairs in the opened seat.

Moxley bails to ringside but Page pursues him. There’s a long setup spot with Moxley just standing there as Page wraps himself in barbed wire…and moonsaults off the top rope onto Moxley below. After a short pause Page sets up a chair and pulls the earlier barbed wire table against it. He returns to the ring but Mox lands an RKO outta nowhere. As Page sells in the ring Moxley pulls out a chain and two bricks. He traps Page’s hand between the two bricks and stomps on them. But wait, there’s more. Piledriver onto the chain. That’s still not enough. Chain-assisted Regal Stretch. Page escapes by biting Moxley’s hand. This only serves to fire Moxley up. He sets up that barbed wire table on two other chairs. Page goes for the barbed chair but Moxley stomps on his brick-smashed hand. Then he attempts another piledriver. Page tries to counter with the Dead-Eye. Moxley counters that with a sleeper. Page counters with a Backdrop. Mox is up right away so Page drops him with a lariat. Both guys get up moments later. Page hits a rolling forearm with his arm wrapped in barbed wire. Then another. Mox lands a kick to block a third. He goes for more kicks but Page counters with a fallaway slam onto the barbed wire chair. Mox gets up almost instantly so Page spikes him on that same chair with his Dead Eye back-to-belly piledriver.

Both make it up before the referee’s count of ten with Moxley bailing to ringside. Page catches him with a plancha to the floor that sends Moxley backwards into one of the barbed wire tables (yes, it turns out there are two of them)…which Moxley sells with what looks like half-ass believability. Moxley makes it into the ring so Page goes to the top rope. Moxley cuts him off and goes for a top-rope Deathrider DDT. Page resists so Moxley claws his back. a struggle in the corner ensues. Moxley grabs some more barbed wire and rakes that across Page’s back. Page fights back and shoves this wire into Moxley’s face. Moxley sits back for a moment and Page sets up a dive…only for Moxley to cut him off again, throw him off the turnbuckle, and send him through the other barbed wire table below.

Hangman makes it up and into the ring by the count of ten so Moxley drops him with a clothesline. Page makes it back up and demands more shots from Moxley. A slapfest ensues. Moxley bounces out of a corner with another clothesline but this time Page no-sells and hits a lariat of his own. He goes for the Buckshot lariat. Moxley dodges and lands a high-angle Deathrider DDT. But he’s not done. He follows with a curb stomp onto a brick. That should be it right? Wrong. Page still gets up. Moxley applies another sleeper. Page goes limp but still gets up before the ten-count. Both men grab opposite ends of the steel chain. Hangman pulls Moxley in and lands another lariat. Then he stacks the two bricks on their sides. Moxley blocks another Dead Eye attempt but Page counters back with a sleeper of his own. Moxley answers with a low blow. Page retaliates with a brick shot to the head. Excalibur states on commentary that Moxley “looks like a modern incarnation of Bruiser Brody” which is absolutely blasphemous. Page lands a Buckshot Lariat. Moxley’s on his feet almost right away. Another lariat sends Moxley onto the apron. Page starts choking/hanging Moxley using the chain. Mox has no choice but to tap. Page wins.

Winner after 26:04: “Hangman” Adam Page

You can watch the full match here.

Review

Well that was disappointing

That was twenty-five minutes of disjointed, nonsensical, bloodlust-driven carnage that didn’t make any sense. Like Thomas Hall noted in his review these two were capable of better (and from what I’ve seen in the past, did actually have solid performances) but instead they went with the token violence fetish that hit all the wrong notes. They were hitting each other with all these dangerous tools and implements yet neither one seemed to put any effort into selling that pain as though it was real. Where was the sense of fear between weapons-based spots to build up the impending impact? Where was the sense that this was a close, personal war between two people and not just a performance? Where were the squirming, the frantic movement, and the knee-jerk instinct-driven responses to extreme pain coming in from having barbed wire pierce skin? Nowhere to be found. All of this came across as phony and contrived. When I mentioned the camera catching Mox blading in a corner that ended up foreshadowing what was to come because the rest of the match followed that same hammy performance style.

Though both guys deserve minor credit for hurting themselves for the sake of “entertainment” but a lot of it felt completely unnecessary. Many of these implements were used once or twice and lacked any genuine impact, either physical or in relation to the story. The selling ranged from inconsistent to nonexistent. They jumped the shark in terms of suspending disbelief with both guys using things that were hard to believe were either causing so much damage and somehow so little at the same time. Worse, some of these convoluted spots had significant setup but very little payout like Moxley’s barbed wire stomp, Page’s barbed wire moonsault, and most of the table spots. There was no sense that any of these sequences were anything more than transitional high spots that had a momentary pop and nothing else.

By the time these guys reached the closing stretch things really went off the deep and with blatant no-selling that made this match veer into the realm of sheer ridiculousness. Yes, I know, pro-wrestling can be hammy and over-the-top at times but the way these guys executed their spots gave the match an inconsistent tone. Was it meant to be serious and emotionally jarring that these two men’s mutual hatred had pushed them this far, or was this meant to be just another exhibit of shoehorned creativity for its own sake? My guess is the latter. And just to make sure that this match was more performative bullshit than it was serious contest, Moxley all but telegraphed his own demise when he was seen wrapping the chain around his own neck so that Page could execute the final hanging spot. And the worst part is that, despite all of this shock, horror, violence, and carnage, there wasn’t this overarching sense of closure or finality. Even though it was, to date, their last singles match, there was still this sense of lingering indecision that gave the impression that the impression that these two would, indeed, fight again.

Final Rating: **1/2

This might’ve had a few fun surprises in the moment but ultimately this was an underwhelming and poorly-structured garbage match with poor creativity expressed in contrived spots disconnected from one another. Though Moxley showed guts by going along with some of these insane ideas he still comes across as a try-hard imitator of better hardcore legends like Brody, Abby, Terry Funk, and Cactus Jack, while failing to really showcase any of their strongest points. Yes, he and Page bled a lot, took nasty bumps, and tried new things. But so much of it was superfluous to the point of being excessive. Despite all these shocking moments so much of it could be shaved off and the story would’ve ultimately been the same. Ultimately this became another great example of the expression “just because you can doesn’t mean you should”.

If you haven’t seen this before or if you have and are thinking of rewatching I’d recommend against doing so since it’s not worth the time investment. If you’re a fan of hardcore and ultraviolent wrestling you’re better off watching CZW. If you want to see wacky and ludicrous spots with and without implements involved then there’s always FMW and some of the indy stuff that started showing up in the mid-1990s. If you want a high-profile match with sick spots and a sense of worry or carnage while still retaining that sense of fear then watch Cactus Jack vs. Randy Orton from WWE Backlash 2004 as that’s a tremendous match given the story and material both guys had to work with. If you want to see Hangman Page actually show his wrestling chops then I recommend finding video of his two matches with Bryan Danielson since Danielson is an actually gifted wrestler who knows how to combine his style with pretty much anyone. And if you want to see Jon Moxley at his best…well, all I can say right now is you’re better off watching Dean Ambrose.

Thanks for reading.