Hangman reportedly no longer Omega’s All Out challenger after AEW plans change

The writing was pretty much on the wall after the Fight for the Fallen episode of Dynamite on Wednesday (July 28).

Hangman Page put his World title shot against Kenny Omega on the line in order to try to win Dark Order a match for the The Young Bucks’ Tag belts. When the Cowboy and his friends weren’t able to overcome The Elite and their bag of heel tricks in the ten-man elimination opener, Page suddenly had more mountains to climb to achieve redemption.

The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports he won’t climb them by All Out on Sept. 5:

“Adam Page is not getting the main event for All Out with Kenny Omega. At one point it was the plan but plans change.”

Dave Meltzer goes on to speculate about one of the questions our Cain Knight did yesterday when pondering the all-but-certainty of CM Punk’s debut at “The First Dance” episode of Rampage on Aug. 20.

The key point, to this Hangman superfan anyway, is that AEW still likely plans to return the Page vs. Omega at a later date. They’ve spent so much time, almost the company’s entire existence, building to the moment where Hangman overcomes his doubts and rivals to become World champ. It would be shocking if they pulled the plug on it, especially given the way audiences have reacted to him since Dynamite returned to the road.

Punk, and their other rumored signing Daniel Bryan, loom over the decision. The arrival of the former ROH and WWE champs is the likely reasons plans changed. There’s big money to be made from matches between Kenny and both Bryan & Punk. And if The Belt Collector beats those two legends, a Hangman win down the road means even more.

If they decide to put off Page/Omega until November’s Full Gear or later, AEW also has options as World title challengers like the undefeated Christian Cage, or frequent Elite foe Eddie Kingston.

As Cain wrote, there’s a risk they could wait too long to pull the trigger on Hangman’s win. But for a storyline that seems to have more than a little “Dusty Rhodes being thwarted by Ric Flair & the Four Horseman” in its DNA (with Dark Order’s presence giving us Mankind vibes), they should be able to string out the chase and still achieve the desired payoff.

Based on the Observer’s report, looks like we’ll eventually find out.

Ready to dust yourself off and ride a little longer with Page (while enjoying Omega vs. Punk and Omega vs. DBD)?