“Hangman” Adam Page stands by his decision.
In the official All Elite Wrestling history books, the company recognizes top male performer as the AEW World Champion. During the second reign of “Hangman” Adam Page, however, he specifically refers to the title as the AEW Men’s World Championship. In an interview with 99.9 The Fan, Page explained the reasoning behind this move.
“I feel like in professional wrestling, historically, it has been the case that the men’s division — it’s largely separated by sex, gender — has been billed as the world champion. That is the person you’re coming to the arena to see. It’s the world champion. Then women’s wrestling as it gained steam, historically, they’ve created a separate championship that is the women’s world championship,” he said. “To me, that always seemed like if you have to specify that one’s for the women and the other one is the world championship, it felt like it created this hierarchy where one, you’re telling the viewer and the audience that one of them is more important than the other. And I don’t think that that’s the way that our fans feel any longer.
Page Wants To Make Changes
“I feel like specifying myself as Men’s World Champion, just in the opportunities that I get to speak about the championship or being the champion throughout my career, I think specifying that just asks people to stop and think, whether it’s fans, the audience, people involved in wrestling, decision makers, or the wrestlers themselves,” Page continued. “I’ve tried to do that. I’ve always tried to institute small little changes in the world that I’m involved in, to make the world more representative of how I feel like it truly is or should be.”
Page’s latest championship reign began at AEW All In when he defeated Jon Moxley in a Texas Death Match. Paralleling him is Kris Statlander, who captured the AEW Women’s World Championship by pinning “Timeless” Toni Storm at AEW All Out. Statlander has since successfully defended the respective title against Storm and Mina Shirakawa. In his current reign, Page has bested the likes of Kyle Fletcher, Samoa Joe, MJF, and Moxley a second time.
RELATED: Hangman Page Compares AEW’s Family-Friendly Environment To Going To Cook Out
