Considering that All Elite Wrestling prides itself on being the home of professional wrestling, a point that is made virtually every week when at least one person on either “AEW Dynamite” or “AEW Collision” says that AEW is “where the best wrestle.” Because of that, every feud that the company puts together needs to be able to deliver in the ring, and if a pairing has more than one match together, those matches need to continue getting better with each passing match.

Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page have had a total of four singles matches together, each one more different than the last. Their first match took place at AEW WrestleDream on October 1, 2023, where it was extremely clear that Swerve had more on the line than Hangman. Swerve needed to back up all of the stuff he had been saying on TV by picking up the win, whereas Hangman, who was certainly more motivated than the months leading up to WrestleDream, just needed to maintain his cool and grind out the win with all the big match experience he had. However, Swerve picked up the win, sending Hangman further down the pecking order while Swerve continued to be seen as a future main event guy.

After the whole breaking into Hangman’s house deal happened, the two would once again meet at Full Gear that November, this time in Texas Death Match. This was the polar opposite to WrestleDream, as while that match was about seeing who was the better man and who deserved a top spot in AEW, their match at Full Gear was about punishment. It was a fight to see which man could hurt the other one more, and how far they were both willing to go in order to have their hand raised. This time, it was Hangman’s rage that got the best of him as Swerve, with the help of the Mogul Embassy, got yet another win over Page, becoming his bogey opponent in the process.

Their third meeting on the February 7, 2024 episode of “AEW Dynamite” is often the most forgotten match of the four despite it going to a 30 minute time limit draw, primarily because it happened on TV rather than pay-per-view. With that said, having another straight wrestling match, this time with the chance to wrestle Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship, meant that the hatred Hangman had inside him needed to be contained somewhat if he was to finally get the win over Swerve. With the match ending in a draw, Hangman took a victory lap at the fact Swerve didn’t beat him, even declining the chance to wrestle for five more minutes. This was the first clear sign that the face/heel dynamic between the two was shifting, as Swerve was focused solely on winning the AEW World Championship, but Page was focused on not letting Swerve win.

Seven months later at All Out, the heat got turned up again, which brings us on to…