Adam Page vs. Mark Davis

[8.0] "This match was much better than people are giving it credit for. And given that Davis' gimmick is just tough guy in black trunks, he doesn't half deliver an entertaining match."

[6.0] "Davis' fine form continues despite inevitably taking a loss here; he and Hangman worked together excellently, elevating both men's stocks in the process. Great transitions, diverse offence, and a satisfying conclusion. If we'd had more time to build Davis in the build-up, perhaps there would have been a small element of doubt about the prospects of an upset victory, but this achieved what it set out to given the circumstances."

[6.0] "In a bottle this was a pretty good match but I will say that this booking makes no sense to me. Adam Page is going into a #1 Contenders Match after this but he went 50/50 with Mark Davis who is a good wrestler but he is also still Don Callis Family cannon fodder. Davis shouldn't be kicking out of the Dead Eye that late into a match. That being said this was a good match still because Davis is a very underrated wrestler who if he was booked better would make for a believable mid card monster to put this much pressure on Hangman. Heavy strikes from both men and some gnarly power moves from Davis, although one sit down Gonzobomb looked particularly dodgy. Hangman still puts on a good match but it felt like given the position of both men the booking could have been a bit more skewed."

[7.0] "I actually really enjoyed this match, there was some absolute bombs and I was a little surprised to see how long Mark Davis held on with Hangman's offense. Pretty impressive showing and I wouldn't mind some more Mark Davis matches here and there on dynamite. Well worth watching due to the stiffness alone."

[7.0] "7.0, and the story here was pretty clear from the jump -- Hangman Adam Page got a big-time pop on his entrance, while Mark Davis came out to a much quieter reaction alongside Don Callis, and from there the crowd never really wavered, raining boos on Davis, chanting "Cowboy Shit, " and riding hard with Page -- which made it even funnier that I spotted a random Billings, Montana sign in the crowd and a front-row cowboy sign like the audience was personally auditioning for the gimmick; the match itself started off slow and methodical, with Davis beating down Hangman and throwing some stiff, nasty-looking offense, but let's be real... you never once felt like Page was actually losing this, especially with the side plot of MJF offering a grand and Andrade El Idolo putting up ten thousand if Davis could hurt him, which only made the booking feel even safer; things finally picked up in the second half, and to Hangman's credit he worked hard to make Davis look like his equal for long stretches -- Davis controlled most of the match, smashed Page with a brutal-looking piledriver, blasted him with a charging elbow into a seated Page against the guardrail, countered a powerbomb attempt on the apron by basically Banzai-dropping Hangman onto it, and even kicked out of the Dead Eye at two, which definitely raised some eyebrows -- but my favorite spot by far was Page flying off the crowd railing with an Orihara moonsault, rolling Davis back in and following it with a moonsault press for a near fall that was flat-out excellent; there were also slick counters like Page flipping a Razor's Edge into a hurricanrana pin, and while Davis kept getting more than his share of offense, the finish was all Hangman -- a tombstone on the entrance ramp, followed by the Buckshot Lariat back in the ring for the win -- and honestly, it's hard not to laugh at the bigger picture when you look at the "path" to future shots, because guys like Swerve Strickland and Kenny Omega are out here running obstacle courses through each other, Josh Alexander, and Andrade... while Hangman basically got the Patriots schedule and only had to beat Mark Davis to keep moving."

[7.0] "Didn't expect this one to be THIS good. Such a solid match between both men. Hangman's 2 moonsalts were beautiful. Davis looked like a monster. I like his move where he hits the ropes and bounces his opponent off the ropes for a crushing lariat. Hell of a TV match"

[8.0] "Mark Davis is very underrated, he showed how good he is here vs hangman. A really good back and forth from the two."

[8.0] "Excellent TV match, just as you would expect from Hangman at this point in his career. It's not his greatest ever but it's hard hitting and crowd pleasing, and he gave plenty to Davis so he got to show out his skill as well. Very bummed to hear Jake was injured so quickly but I hope they don't forget about Davis again."

[7.0] "This was a straight-ahead power match executed about as well as it could be. Hangman Page and Mark Davis leaned fully into a collision of styles that played to both men's strengths: Davis as the immovable hoss who survives everything, and Page as the battle-worn brawler who can mix violence with high-risk offense when needed. The early outside brawling; capped by Davis' brutal, comic-timed apron hip attack; set the tone for a physical, no-nonsense contest. The middle stretch was built around Davis' durability. He absorbed repeated corner clotheslines, lariats, and even a sit-down driver, selling just enough without ever looking weak. Page, in turn, worked hard for everything he got, including a spectacular Orihara moonsault from the balcony that briefly shifted momentum without breaking the match's grounded feel. Down the stretch, both men traded thunderous lariats and big counters, with Davis looking legitimately threatening rather than like a stepping stone. Still, the structure made it clear who the victor would be: Page survives the Backdrop Driver, lands Deadeye, then punctuates things with a well-earned Buckshot Lariat after a Tombstone on the ramp. If there's a flaw, it's predictability; the outcome was never really in doubt given Page's world title trajectory. That said, this was a clean, hard-hitting slugfest that maximized Davis' credibility while keeping Page looking like a top-tier contender. ***1/2"

[4.0] "A decent fight between large-sized men, but lacking suspense and structure. I didn't understand why Hangman had to face Davis, who hasn't had much recent singles success, while Andrade and Omega had to fight each other for a shot at the title. In-ring quality: 1.25/4. Stakes: 0.75/2. Justification: 0.5/1. Placement on the card: 1/1. Suspense: 0/1. Bonus/penalty: none. Total: 4.5/10. Match watched on Triller TV."

[7.0] "I was a big fan of Mark Davies nearly accidently murdering the most beloved baby face in the company. Anyone who has seen Davies work before he got to AEW knows how good he can be. My current fantasy booking is TK using one of the millions of belts he has to create a hoss division where its just big lads knocking lumps out of each other."

[6.0] "[2.75*] I thought the first few minutes were really sloppy, they just weren't connecting with the crowd at all and Mark's control segments felt bland, but then they started throwing bombs and everything became great, of course. When they cut the bullshit and started unloading the lariats and bombs, the match became awesome. Finish was really cool and the overall product was good."

[7.0] "Damn, this unexpectedly ruled. Probably the best performance ive ever seen out of Davis here who plays a great obstacle for Hangman to overcome. All of his offence looked great and he was great at selling his size as well, making Hangman really have to work to knock him down. I loved how sloppy this was too, as it made this feel like more of a fight than it wouldve done if everything was just hit cleanly. Cool finish here too with Hangman nailing a tombstone on the ramp before following up with a Buckshot to get the win. Very good match overall, and probably the second best of the night for me. ***3/4"

[6.0] "Very solid match, I think Davis specially had a very interesting performance, with several good moments, he was being stiff and applying interesting moves. Hangman was kinda wrestling on autopilot, just doing his thing, but this is a match that benefited both men I think, it was a fun and solid showcase - {**3/4}"

[7.0] "Tis was a really good match. This just shows how good Mark Davis is in the ring, I say Mark Davis is a very underrated wrestler. Sucks that Doyle got injured though. Adam Page was obviously good here. Both had a very compelling match with good strikes & good reversals."

[7.0] "This match makes the Doyle injury sting even more. Davis is really good and it shows here. Still had some great moves and some great showcase for Davis."

[7.0] "Excellent match construction and an excellent performance, especially from Mark. They're doing a great job with him, and he's paying back that trust. Unfortunately, he's had a lot of bad luck over the past few years, so hopefully after Doyle's injury he'll be able to do something good as a singles competitor. I could also see him fitting very well into a feud with Ciampa. A very good match with a result that should have been predictable, but halfway through anything could have happened even a dirty win. Once again, a good match."

[6.0] "Really nice to see Mark Davis get a shot in a singles match considering his tag push seems to be on hold with the injury of Jake Doyle. This was a simple Hero vs. Villain showcase with little nuance, but they told that simple story of Hangman overcoming the bigger Davis well overall. Page garnered much less sympathy from the audience than in some of his best matches, but the crowd was still invested. Page got the win with a Buckshot as expected, and this was just good, solid action."

[6.0] "A fun one. Love to see Davis in this spot after what has went down. He hung in there with Hangman, who was forced to go a little further than typical to get the win."

[6.0] "6.5 - There really isn't another competitor like Mark Davis. His build and skillset is such a unique combo, that when he shows it off it usually lands well. His big lariat was a great example, as are his chops. Hangman had a decent match but didn't seem to hit flow state."

[6.0] "These two worked really hard and I appreciate the effort, although, I felt this went longer than it needed. Being a watcher of AEW since the beginning, I've become quite accustomed to some of the more typical match structures and this followed the back and forth, near fall heavy formula to a tee, and honestly, it's started to wear thin in certain instances. This was one, even though the lead up to the final buckshot was cool. Would've preferred a shorter slugfest, but this was solid, ***"

[7.0] "An okay match top to bottom, just there so Hangman can get a win before Grand Slam, but Dunkzilla put some stank on every single power move he hit and that made it stand out more. The tombstone on the ramp was a cool visual too, but Hangman wasn't quite all there in this one. ***1/4"

[7.0] "Thought that they made "Dunkzilla" Mark Davis look really strong in defeat! This was a hard-hitting messy fun match that was excellent quality for TV. Their were times where I thought Davis would win but Adam Page got the W with a Ramp Tombstone and a Buckshot Lariat. [***.5]"

[8.0] "Didn't seem possible that Hangman would lose, but The Callis Family always poses the threat of interference. None needed here as Dunkzilla looks valliant in defeat after putting up a great fight against Hangman who utilized some of his most agile offense to get the better of the bruiser."

[8.0] "Love Mark Davis, so happy to see him getting solid TV time despite the wretched luck he's had with injuries and partner injuries. These guys were laying it in tonight, holy shit did Mark lay out Hangman a few times. Hangman has always been happy to work stiff though, so paid it back in kind. Davis looked very strong tonight, and the misdirect from Hangman calling out to Kenny winning was a nice red herring."

"These 2 had the match I would've hoped for. Hard hitting, fast pace, messy, and at the same time every thing still on point. I am always blown away by the work Hangman does and Davis should be a featured act more even with Something's untimely injury. I liked this a lot. ***1/3"

[5.0] "Pretty difficult to get into this match as there is 0 intrigue about who is winning, and it went too long as a result. It's difficult to get immersed when a former world champion is struggling this much to beat a midcard tag wrestler. Obviously this would have been neutralized if the match really overdelivered, but I thought it was just fine. I understand why the match happened, but you could have had it go half as long."

[7.0] "Really a good match to open the show. Hangman is obviously one of the best in the world, but Mark Davis holds his own here. They did a lot for just an eleven minute match, Davis nearly injured Hangman and dropped him on his head, but besides that this is pretty dang good. ***.5"

[8.0] "Very good match. Both man came to fight and delivered it. Loved the intensity and the blows delivered. In Mark Davis' finisher I really thought he was going to win, it looked so nasty. Loved the work from both men in just 11 minutes, Hangman deserves another world title match"