Chili Posted March 18 Posted March 18 52 minutes ago, RedTwoster said: If you keep Hangman face, Swerve becoming an unstoppable, violent heel champion would be the perfect justification for him to go back on his word. Maybe that’s what’ll happen here. Given how people feel about Page right now, he might benefit from going heel himself again, though. What, us? He still sounds very over. If you turn him heel and then eventually turn him back face, people would still be 'yeah, but look who he associates with.' Plus the heel turn needs to be in canon with TV, you can't have him being a heel because outside of the universe of a TV show he has a poor choice of friends. If I'm reading this right, I'm a tad tired so sorry if not. Quote
Tim Healys Chutney Spoon Posted March 18 Posted March 18 15 minutes ago, BomberPat said: they made such a point of saying that Hangman is a "man of his word", while never having it officially part of the stipulation or on the match graphic that he wouldn't challenge for the belt again, that the end result can't be anything but him going back on it, it's just a question of how they get there, and if they can get there without making a section of the audience feel like they've gone back on a stipulation - thus far, AEW have pretty consistent on honouring stips. It seems like they want another "Hangman in the wilderness" story of him doubting his purpose, and I wonder how many times they can go back to that well. This is a stipulation that would have made sense at the end of the Swerve Strickland feud, and could have been gotten out of by having other babyfaces rally behind him and convince him to challenge Moxley to end the Death Riders' reign of terror. I hope this doesn't mean that we have a summer of Death Riders 2.0 to look forward to. it was on the match poster though. I wonder if someone, probably Swerve, goes on a long run with the title and basically is giving it the 'I've beaten everyone' type of trope, but they've been building up the likes of Ospreay, Omega, King, etc as defeated challengers and theres noone left and we have weeks of faces begging Hangman to go back on his word and go for Swerve's title alongside Hangman wrestling with his conscience about the idea of going back on his word. If they must, have the faces telling TK to remove that stipulation along with making a match for Hangman V Swerve. Hangman, even during the match is still not convinced and does his finishers but is reluctant to make the pin and walks away from the ring. We have further weeks and weeks of 'Where is Hangman?' And eventually Swerve says 'OK Hangman, show up at [Insert PPV name] and you've got a title shot as part of a three-way match with me, MJF/Ospreay/Omega/Whoever'. Then we have a week or two of 'will he wont he?' Back and forth and of course he shows up but during the match when Swerve is at his most violent towards the other opponent and say Ospreay is down and he starts egging on Hangman to get in the ring and finish the match. Hangman of course does and wins the title but we still have his reluctance and insecurities about himself going back on his word. Can probably be shortened down somewhat but could be a long game story and furthers Hangmans emotional story. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted March 18 Paid Members Posted March 18 Whatever they do, I'm happy with Hangman being away from the World title for awhile. There's more than enough for him to do and AEW needs more varied stories. Quote
Paid Members Chris B Posted March 18 Paid Members Posted March 18 (edited) I really didn't like this stip and result when I first read about it, but I've come around (especially after watching the match which was, to be fair, excellent). I've seen some suggestions around 'oh, he was technically dead for a moment while being choked out' being the kind of way out of this, and I think that's bad because technicalities suck and because this potentially does something interesting. If they *do* go back on it, it's got to be MJF agreeing to it otherwise it'll feel like a cheat. The most interesting thing about it, for me, is that Hangman lost clean. He wasn't cheated. It was his match. He has to earn the opportunity back eventually, or he has to just live with the consequences. Otherwise, why do it at all? The thing is, part of why I was mad about it was because of what I wanted that we haven't had - a really strong championship run with Hangman. We've had great wins, but disappointing and downright weird runs. I maintain the first was almost there, and if he'd had the big Mox feud before dropping it or if he'd won the Punk feud, it'd be much better regarded. But the second was so weird I mainly assume that it was planned to be Darby, but the timing fell through and they went with Hangman instead (I reckon it's the same reason we didn't get more of a PPV-focused face turn storyline for Hangman rather than it mostly coming out of a Collision match...). But if we're not getting that, then what else is there to do? Another big emotional chase? We've had two chases that were honestly two of the best we've seen. Time to do something else instead, and separating him from that title scene for a while is no bad thing. After this run, I don't think we have much more to gain from any other MJF runs for a long time either. Hell, I'd be up for storyline shenanigans meaning MJF ends up doing the same stip. If it were built around Takeshita, Okada, Orange Cassidy, Ospreay and a couple of others for a while, I think that'd only be a good thing for the title and the company. Edited March 18 by Chris B Quote
organizedkaos Posted March 18 Posted March 18 The technically dead thing is surely just people being a bit horror brained right? They're thinking of the "curse ends when you die" technicality. But Hangman said "as long as I live" right? One is condition that ends a thing and one is a condition for a thing. "As long as im healthy i go for a jog every morning" doesn't end when you've got a cold, it just pauses I guess if this does come in to play he'd be a heel (as mentioned above, this is weasel behaviour) so guess doesn't have to make sense Quote
Paid Members Chris B Posted March 18 Paid Members Posted March 18 Also, I think 'I got my ass beaten so badly that I can ignore my own stip' isn't exactly a good starting point for either a face or a heel. And, y'know - it's a death match. Quote
BrodyGraham Posted March 18 Posted March 18 Would it be possible/plausible for a Champ to make the challenge to Hangman after a heel Hangman goes on a rampage or if face Hangman wins another title and raises it's stock in kayfabe. The stip says 'Challenge for' not 'Compete for'. Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted March 18 Author Paid Members Posted March 18 1 hour ago, Chili said: What, us? He still sounds very over. If you turn him heel and then eventually turn him back face, people would still be 'yeah, but look who he associates with.' Plus the heel turn needs to be in canon with TV, you can't have him being a heel because outside of the universe of a TV show he has a poor choice of friends. If I'm reading this right, I'm a tad tired so sorry if not. I feel like the reaction to him has been more muted as of late - it could be down to his choice of friends, but I was attributing it to his title reign ending as it did. It’s hard to feel enthusiastic about someone who keeps getting the legs cut out from underneath them, and I think it’s killed his momentum. To get it back they needed to do something drastic, and clearly, Codying him is exactly that. It gives him the story arc he desperately needs and there are a number of directions they can take - one of which could be another shift to the dark side as he deals with the ramifications of this, but it obviously doesn’t have to be. Quote
DavidB6937 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 It's very hard to get invested knowing they've done such good build ups previously just to end up with shit title runs. Not to say they can't capture the magic again but having to reset and go through a whole other story is tough to get behind because you can't help but have a little doubt there. Quote
Infinity Land Posted March 18 Posted March 18 I think there's plenty for Hangman to do in the next year plus that wouldn't necessarily mean anything to do with a singles title. Owen Hart Cup is around the corner. He's the reigning champion. There's the World title shot at the end of it. Making it the first real test of him being a man of his word and the conflict with trying to be the best. Then it's lost in the usual AEW multi-man wars and the Continental Classic for the end of the year. Quote
Paid Members Statto Posted March 18 Paid Members Posted March 18 26 minutes ago, BrodyGraham said: Would it be possible/plausible for a Champ to make the challenge to Hangman after a heel Hangman goes on a rampage or if face Hangman wins another title and raises it's stock in kayfabe. The stip says 'Challenge for' not 'Compete for'. I could see them going down the semantics route for sure, with the champion being the one to challenge Hangman for whatever reason. I think that'd probably need a violent attack on Hangman or someone he cares about to get him to agree in there. The other option is to basically retread the story going into All In last year, with all the babyfaces telling Hangman he's the only guy capable of ending a heel champs reign of terror. You could have the Bucks, Kenny (maybe have the heel champ retire Kenny along the way if he's on his way out), even Tony Khan himself beg Hangman to do it. With rhe right build you could absolutely get the fans clamouring for him to forget about the stip. Quote
Paid Members Kamran Posted March 18 Paid Members Posted March 18 Coming up on Dynamite this week... Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted March 18 Paid Members Posted March 18 If Ospreay goes 10 minutes with Blake Christian I'm gonna be so mad. I want an immediate Hidden Blade murder. Quote
Chili Posted March 18 Posted March 18 20 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: If Ospreay goes 10 minutes with Blake Christian I'm gonna be so mad. I want an immediate Hidden Blade murder. Golden period AEW didn't fuck about. Kenny Omega smashing through Sonny Kiss in seconds. More of that. Stop placating to move perverts and just make people look fucking invincible. Quote
Paid Members Supremo Posted March 18 Paid Members Posted March 18 No Holds Barred and Coffin Match on the same show. That’s So Tony. Quote
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