In the week leading up to Double or Nothing, a lot of talk has been focused on a match that isn’t happening at All Elite Wrestling’s first pay-per-view (PPV). The Pac vs. Hangman Page bout which was set-up at the company’s introductory rally was cancelled last Saturday due to “creative differences”, and fans have been anxious to talk about every version of what that means ever since.
That’s something that will happen when your core audience is made of Wrestling Observer Newsletter subscribers and the “internet wrestling community”, I suppose.
That audience brought the topic up during the Starrcast panel with AEW Executive Vice-Presidents Cody Rhodes and Matt & Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks. Here’s what they had to say (quotes courtesy Fightful):
Cody: “I wouldn’t say that Pac is out of AEW, by any means. I also wouldn’t put any heavy stock into the amount of speculation that was around the whole thing. Our media is unregulated, so they can just say anything. It’s ongoing, we want it to work out. We mentioned the UK PPV and we want Pac in AEW. I wouldn’t put stock into what you heard.”
Nick: “We’re close to him. We’re still talking to with him and hopefully, everything works out and he’s wrestling full-time for us.”
What does this tell us, other than that - like a good heel - Cody just found a really condescending way to say “fake news”?
Seems to me like we should probably expect to see the Bastard in AEW at some point after he drops Dragon Gate’s Open the Dream Gate title. Considering we’re already seeing the story All Elite came up with after cancelling Page/Pac match at Double or Nothing with Hangman declaring he’s not allowed to work the show in Vegas due to what happened when he faced Pac in England recently.
What’s your take, Cagesiders?