Y’ever just have a promo lodge itself in that hard to reach part of your brain? Where it becomes an itch you can’t not scratch?
That is what happened to me when Matt and Nick Jackson gave themselves the most self-absorbed introduction when (the terribly named, IMO) FTR trucked onto the Daley’s Place stage on Dynamite. We all know that AEW cares about tag team wrestling, but in this moment the Jackson boys were a bit too smug. A bit too full of themselves. They were a-holes.
So, time passes and I keep thinking about this moment. And as I watched the Road to Fyter Fest night 2, and they replayed that moment, it all snapped into place. All because I also watched Being The Elite this week.
If you actually remember, I once opined that Kenny Omega should turn on Hangman Page, and not the other way around as has been teased. And as Page reminded the Bucks that he loved them but didn’t like them during the closing scene of “Have a Good Summer” — and said so honestly, to their face, with a strong humility — I saw that Page could never turn on The Elite. A heel turn, usually, requires some surprise. Through and through, Page has been a straight shootin’ anxious millennial cowboy.
And so the stage is set for whenever FTR (again, FWIW, I would have told them that’s not a good name, and neither is Dax Harwood) gets their chance at the gold. While I wanted Best Friends to win the titles off of Page and Omega, clearly AEW is building to the former Revival as the tag team champions. This is easy enough to set up: have the truck boys and the buck boys blame each other for losing their 8-man tag tonight at Fyter Fest. They would decide who’s best with a match at July 15’s Fight For The Fallen, where Wheeler & Harwood get an emphatic win to put them higher in the rankings for a title shot. Then they’re on their merry way to Page and Omega.
Page and Omega, whom, by the way, also had a great wholesome moment on this week’s BTE. If you didn’t watch — and I can’t blame you, the Bucks’ sense of humor is atrocious, especially now that they think them yelling “DEADASS” is worth a laugh — Omega got honest with Page that maybe he was a bit too brash about FTR. Page, humbly, accepted this proverbial win and it led to Page and Omega looking like they’re on the same page, but it began with Kenny saying “it’s us versus them,” a phrase that stuck in my head.
With Hangman’s honesty towards the Elite, the Jacksons and Omega could very well be harboring a grudge against him. And once Page and Omega lose the belts, who do you think everyone’s going to blame? Who do you think becomes a part of the “them” and not the “us?”
Oh, and since you got this far, here’s my little bit of long term booking. After the heel turn from Omega, you eventually have him be the one to beat Moxley for the AEW championship — no other singles wrestler is at the level to take that title, sorry (but not sorry) Brian Cage (you goober). Then, Omega goes on his epic title reign, and Page is eventually the one to take it from Kenny. Maybe Page and FTR (OMG that’s a terrible name) team together, who knows.
I just can tell: these Jackson boys are up to no good.