"Hangman" Adam Page Took the Loss at AEW Revolution and May Be off for Months
"Far too many dumber athletes in this industry don’t take the time to heal, don’t bet on themselves and step away."
Published March 4 2024, 2:55 p.m. ET
It looks like "Hangman" Adam Page has had his last match for the foreseeable future. Tapping out to Samoa Joe in a brutal three-way match between AEW World Champion Joe, Swerve Strickland, and "Hangman" at the March 3, 2024, pay-per-view "AEW Revolution," "Hangman" is nowhere to be seen on future AEW cards.
"Hangman" is currently not being advertised on upcoming Dynamite and Rampage episodes, nor bigger special television tapings like "AEW Big Business" on March 13 and the company's next pay-per-view, "AEW Dynasty" on April 21.
Why is Hangman Adam Page not going to be in the squared circle?
According to Fightful Select, it looks like Adam will be out of action for what “could be a few months.” While an injury was used to keep the drama in a will-he, won’t-he appearance at "Revolution," that was a pure pro wrestling storyline.
But just because Adam was cleared to wrestle doesn’t mean he’s 100 percent. If you’ve ever even watched one match, you know there’s no way these performers are never at least a little hurt.
Details will emerge about why Adam is on the sideline, but as of this writing. it doesn’t appear to be strictly due to in-ring action.
Taking time to heal is important, especially in pro wrestling.
One of the best aspects of pro wrestling in the past few years are the post pay-per-view press conferences. A mixture of real and storyline questions, a blurring of realities about backstage drama and in ring action, it’s a gift to fans. But there’s one sentiment echoed again and again at each of these press conferences, from AEW to WWE: it’s important for these performers to heal.
When asked about his journey from announcing, in a poncho, at WrestleMania 37, in April 2021 to headlining AEW pay-per-views as World Champion less than three years later, Samoa Joe was asked if he ever doubted he’d be in-ring ready again. His response may explain why Adam may be absent for a bit.
“I was planning and taking the time to recover so that I could be back here at this capacity, competing at this level,” Joe stated. “You know, far too many dumber athletes in this industry don’t take the time to heal, don’t bet on themselves and say listen, I’m going to step away from things a little bit and I’m going to come back not 90 percent, not 80 percent, 110 percent and I took that time and I came back 110 percent. Now I’m AEW World Champion.”
Like everything else in life, but especially in pro wrestling, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Unlike baseball, basketball, football, or pretty much any other sport, you kind of want your favorite wrestlers to go away for a while. Return pops (when a wrestler returns, typically from an injury, sometimes from a pregnancy, occasionally from a decade-long feud with the company) tend to be the biggest and best aspects of the pomp and circumstance.
When Adam returns, it will be a better event than anything he could be doing week in and week out for AEW. All you need to do is watch returns from folks like John Cena, Becky Lynch, and CM Punk to get excited for Adam's future return.