September 4, 2022 will be remembered for all the wrong reasons when it comes to AEW. But just hours before things took a turn for the worse, Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, Hangman Adam Page, John Silver and Alex Reynolds put on an all timer trios match in Chicago.
The existence of trios titles in AEW have been a question of when and not if travelling as far back as the pandemic days in Jacksonville. And finally on this year’s Fight For The Fallen episode of Dynamite, these three gorgeous designs of gold were finally revealed.
It was known very publicly that Tony Khan waited for Kenny Omega’s return to properly launch this division so when the trios title tournament was announced, everyone knew that The Cleaner was on his way back after a long, long time off.
But, he didn’t just arrive and team up with the Young Bucks. If anything is centered around The Elite, it has to be melodramatic. Fans always knew the end goal but, the sudden rekindling (kinda) of friendship between Hangman Page and the Jacksons had people fantasizing a fairy tale with the reunion of the HungBucks. But, the Hangman denied to partner with Matt and Nick for the tournament. He didn’t even want to participate to begin with. He just wanted to be at Dark Order’s corner, cheering them on in the biggest tournament of their careers. He chased championships but in that journey, he lost his old friends because they couldn’t be there for him. So being the friend Hangman never had was far more important to him than any materialistic possession.
Kenny Omega would eventually make his much anticipated return in the Dynamite special “House Of The Dragon” teaming with the Young Bucks to face the trio of Andrade El Idolo, Rush and Dragon Lee. The Elite won that match and proceeded to defeat the United Empire to go the finals at All Out.
Dark Order, on the other hand, had an upset win over the House Of Black in the first round. Then, Pres10 Vance and Evil Uno both got injured and they had to be replaced by none other than Hangman Adam Page himself. Page, Silver and Reynolds beat the Best Friends to reach the finals.
The stage was set – The Elite vs Hangman Adam Page and the Dark Order to crown the inaugural world trios champions. Hangman would be there in the corner of his friends while simultaneously wrestling the Young Bucks whose offer he declined prior although the three men dumped all harsh feelings a few months back.
The match starts with an exchange between Nick and Hangman. They fist bump and Nick tags out to Matt while Alex Reynolds comes in from the other side. Matt spits on Alex’s face which makes the Dark Order member hammer down punches on him. Another tag to Silver and both wrestlers start working on Matt Jackson’s back, in order to win the biggest match of their careers before being stopped by Hangman in a fascinating parallel from the Revolution 2020 affair where Hangman was so clouded up in his head that he showed no remorse going after the injury of his friend only to be pulled back by his then tag team partner, Kenny Omega.
The match proceeds to be action packed, hooking viewers with a level of athletic performance you’d have expected from all six while building to two roof shattering face-offs between Omega and Hangman. Hangman hit an Avalanche Blockbuster for a near fall and a Buckshot to the back of Kenny’s head and in a callback to their Full Gear 2021 main event, before he hit the penultimate Buckshot, there was Matt Jackson on the apron again. Not a nod of approval this time, he grabbed onto Hangman’s leg and by the time he fought Matt off and tried to hit the lariat again, Kenny ducked and Hangman himself was met with a Buckshot from Nick.
The Elite (Hangman Page included) are known to have matches of such high calibre but John Silver and Alex Reynolds had the performance of their lives here. Silver’s finish sequence with Kenny Omega is as edge of the seat stuff as it could ever get and the finish, just a cherry on top of this masterpiece. Hangman knocked Silver with the Buckshot which cost them the match, very similar to how Hangman would always inadvertently hit Kenny during the early days of their run as a team which acted as a plot of Hangman drifting away from his old friends.
This match is simply magnificent. Breathtaking performance with an unmatched standard of storytelling.
