Hangman Page reflects on the many twists in the journey that led to him becoming AEW World Champion.
At AEW Full Gear, Hangman Page defeated Kenny Omega to become the AEW World Champion. For Hangman, this was the culmination of a journey that began at the very first press conference for AEW when he announced that he wanted to be the first-ever AEW World Champion.
As they say, life is what happens when you're busy making plans and Hangman is now 4th AEW World Champion in history after the culmination of a story that lasted nearly two years which would see him exiled from The Elite before having both Matt and Nick Jackson in his corner as he defeated Kenny Omega to capture the gold.
Speaking on the post-show media scrum, Page reflected on how the global pandemic and everything that as a result of the world undergoing so many emergency changes affected the plans for him to become champion and changed the story that was being told.
While Hangman was very clear that this was not the way the original plan was laid out, he believes that the ability to change with oncoming adversity is part of the beauty of professional wrestling.
"Oh, my God, everything," Hangman began. "Oh, man. Well, we in 2020, had a global pandemic, that was a thing. We lost our crowds. Guys, we're out with injuries and this and that. There were so many things, I couldn't even count them all. If you had known what we may have wanted to do, two or three years ago, it wouldn't even remotely match up to where we are. But that is, to me, the brilliance of wrestling. You just roll with the punches. Every Wednesday would be something new. 'Oh my god, what are we gonna do about this?' I'm sure it will be [like that on this upcoming] Wednesday as well. So yeah, and we have an incredible team that's able to make that work.
"I think a lot of it is because we put a lot of ourselves into this, you know, we'd get there Wednesday, and if something's gone wrong, or whatever. We figure it out."
In professional wrestling, when wrestlers are given the top honor in a company, it is not only symbolic of their place on the card on television but also in the role that they now have as the main representative of the promotion.
Asked how he will handle that responsibility, Hangman said he just wants to continue being the best version of himself that he can be and take on challenges as they come, and continue to be loyal and reliable to AEW.
"That's a really good question. I haven't gotten that far. I'm just going to try to be the best version of me that I can be. That's what I've been doing this whole time. I'm sure that every day, I'll figure out a new problem and try to rise to the challenge. I'll just be the best me that I can be. That's really what I want."
Bryan Danielson is next on the horizon for the brand new champion but tonight, Hangman just wants to bask in his glory and enjoy the fruits of his labor.
"I know I said Kenny was the best in the world. But if you had to challenge me for someone who could tie him, it would be Bryan Danielson. So I'm not very surprised he's the one contender... That's a lot to think about and I just won this damn thing. So I'm gonna think about this tonight and tomorrow morning. I'll start thinking about Bryan Danielson."
Keep up with what happened at AEW Full Gear with Fightful's coverage by clicking here. Also, check out the post-show podcast for a full review of all the action.
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