As For Dynamite: "The Hangman Problem"

I have a million things I need to be working on right now, but fuck it. Let’s talk about AEW Dynamite. Granted, maybe ten people are gonna read this, but…

Who cares?!

Wrestling fans love to talk about why certain companies “miss” on certain wrestlers. Why does the WWE release a guy like Swerve Strickland, for instance, only to see Strickland rise meteorically through the ranks in another company while doing the best work of his career? That answer hinges on what I’ve started thinking of as The Hangman Problem.

The Hangman Problem is so-named after AEW’s babyface protagonist Hangman Adam Page. Page’s character is a self-styled “anxious millennial cowboy,” who is -- perhaps ironically -- at his most interesting when he’s full of self-doubts and unfocused anxieties. As a character, Hangman drinks too much, loses matches that he should win despite possessing unrivaled physical gifts, and often struggles within AEW’s social hierarchy because he just can’t quite convince himself that he’s as good at this pro-wrestling thing as his more decorated friends The Elite always have been. 

Page presents himself as a flawed character. That’s the whole point. He faces universal personal struggles, and it’s easy to identify with him for that reason. The upside of this presentation, then, is that Page’s character is at least as interesting when he’s losing as he is when he’s winning. This, then, is The Hangman Problem: 

How do you keep your character interesting when you’re losing?

This matters for two reasons. First, and most obviously, AEW has a huge roster, wrestlers must compete for TV time, and not everyone can win all their matches. Reality is, as QT Marshall put it, “It’s easy to get on TV when you do whatever you’re asked to do.” By comparison, as guys like Miro and Andrade can both testify, it’s a lot harder to stay on TV consistently when you’re trying to keep your win-loss record strong. However, if a wrestler has mastered The Hangman Problem, losing is much less of an issue -- up to a certain point, anyway.

Three-time AEW World Champion Jon Moxley laid out his own approach to The Hangman Problem recently in a promo ahead of his Wrestledream match with Orange Cassidy. Of big matches, he said, “Sometimes you win, sometimes they win. That doesn’t matter. What matters is the fight.” 

It’s an interesting take because Moxley really can’t be AEW Champion again for a good, long time. Where’s the pop in a guy winning his fourth World Championship? He’s got no choice but to find other ways to stay relevant.

This brings us to the second reason why The Hangman Problem matters more in AEW than it does in WWE. AEW doesn’t have writers. Where WWE is a scripted sports-based soap opera in which its Superstars are basically stage performers, AEW is more like an SNL-style sports variety show where its performers pitch ideas to a director who then approves or rejects them. AEW doesn’t “have creative” for its wrestlers. Rather, AEW wrestlers “have creative” for the promotion.

This is a radically different approach to production, and it makes The Hangman Problem urgently important for everybody on the show. Think about the characters who’ve gotten super-over on the show recently. Swerve Strickland. Timeless Toni Storm. “Mr. Collision” Juice Robinson. Orange Cassidy. Hell, even Kenny Omega, Bryan Danielson, Christian Cage, and as of last night, Chris Jericho. All of these characters have done something interesting in defeat in order to set up their arcs going forward. I’d argue that Storm and Robinson have been the best at this lately, but Omega might be the most obvious. He’s on a losing streak -- that people freaking hate! -- because he’s broken up with long-time friend and manager Don Callis.

I’m telling you, Omega losing is losing BECAUSE HE NEEDS TO!

Not for me. Not for you. Not even for Tony Khan, or to put over younger talent. He needs to lose because otherwise his character won’t be able to grow and evolve, and he’ll get stale. Over a long enough time horizon, that’s the real problem.

Even MJF, arguably the most protected wrestler in AEW, did something interesting in defeat after he lost to Wardlow. I mean, it kind of sucked for Wardlow, but Max’s character has always been the dark mirror of Hangman’s. Both guys work constantly on issues arising from adversity that lead to growth, and change. Where we are right now comes on a direct line from what Max did with his loss to Wardlow last year.

So. Why isn’t your former WWE favorite getting more time and more wins on AEW TV? It’s probably because he/she/they can’t think of a way to build creatively off of a big TV or PPV loss. Which is fair because I don’t think it’s easy. 

I just think it’s necessary.