AEW TOP PROMOS OF THE WEEK: Key reasons MJF and “Hangman” Page worked and how Hangman can get away with breaking his vow, plus Thekla and Thunder deliver

MJF (AEW World Heavyweight Champion) and “Hangman” Adam Page (AEW World Trios Champion) – Dynamite 2/25/26

From what I’ve read online and from the podcasts I’ve listened to it seems like people either loved this or hated it. You can put me in the love camp. I’m still not sure why Hangman would put up never fighting for the World Title again just for a 50/50 shot at getting a stipulation he wanted. I guess MJF was right when he told Hangman that he’s not like Hangman because he doesn’t “shoot first and ask questions later.”

The jacket MJF was wearing looked like the upholstery on the recliner my grandmother had in her basement. Maybe we will keep that jacket in the closet next time, MJF.

I thought MJF was wielding his full powers during this promo and when he told Hangman he had to “throw his gum in the garbage” and then he fired his gum into the crowd. I was belly laughing on my couch.

I also got a good laugh when he told the Denver crowd, “If you smoke dope, you go broke.” MJF going full Harvey Dent with the two-sided quarter was also great. This was also a prime example of how when Hangman just slows down and just speaks at a normal tone, it comes across so much better than when he is screaming that he’s going to kill you

I loved how he foreshadowed what was going to happen in the match by telling MJF that “Texas Death will change you” and then told MJF how he was going to “drag you through glass in the middle of the ring and put barbed wire between your lips and rip your gums out.” These two things are happening in the match.

Hangman also had a great line about how MJF may be the Devil but “Texas Death is my hell.” When the reveal came that the quarter was double-sided, I thought it was hilarious when MJF started saying “We can do it again” and then started asking the crowd if anyone had a quarter.

I do not want them to take the title off MJF. He makes the title seem important and the last two months of Dynamite have been almost perfect, and it is because the show is revolving around him and his World Title. I do not want them to stop this momentum and there is still a story to tell between MJF and Kenny Omega that I do not want them to pass by now.

The crowd loves Hangman and he can lose this match and lose his shot at future World Title matches. In 18 months you can revisit this and tell a story of Hangman going back on his word by either being the ultimate heel or he can be a conquering babyface who is going back on his word but doing it for the greater good. If you do it in a smart way you can actually get the fans to want him to go back on his word because he is going to be a white knight who is trying to take down a heel.

I think Hangman is probably one of the few babyfaces that that could work with. You could really play it up and have Hangman agonize over going against his word, but do it so that the fans really get behind him, and he realizes that it will be alright if he does it because he’s doing it for the greater good of AEW. By comparison, that would have been a difficult story to tell with Cody Rhodes in AEW because Cody Rhodes is too fake in my opinion. Once he lost his ability to fight for the World Title in AEW he spent the next two years cutting rambling promos, having gender reveals, curing racism, and fake retiring (remember how dumb it was when he left his boots in the ring).

The fans were sick of him and that’s not a scenario that Hangman will ever fall into.

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Thekla (AEW Women’s World Champion) – Collision 2/28/26

I want to spotlight this promo because I want to talk about how when people have charisma and are believable as characters, they can get away with stuff that will make your eyes roll if it’s anyone else.

When Thekla came out after the match between The Sisters of Sin and Thunder Rosa & Kris Statlander on Collision this week, she looked like a total star. The Women’s World Title fits perfectly on her and the jacket she was wearing was sick. (Eat your heart out, Seth Rollins.)

What I want to spotlight though, and this may sound weird, but when Thekla calls people “bitches,” it just hits different. The Bitch-O-Meter (Copyright Wade Keller) was off the charts on Collision Saturday night. The Bitches were flying out of people’s mouths on Saturday night.

So, when Thekla comes out and calls Thunder Rosa and Kris Statlander “Two Dumb Bitches,” I would normally roll my eyes and say to myself, “Can the women find another word to call each other?” But when Thekla does it, I find it totally believable and the way she says it makes me laugh every time. That’s the difference between someone who has “It” and someone who doesn’t.

Her delivery, her tone, and the fierceness she says it with is just different and believable, like after I have a few Guinness and my Boston accent gets thickahh and I drop an F bomb on Will Campbell for giving up another sack in the Super Bowl (I still haven’t recovered from that loss). I also love this new thing Thekla is doing when she rolls her R’s and swivels her hips at Thunder Rosa; it’s just spectacular. I cannot wait until we get the eventual Toni Storm and Thekla matchup. It’s going to be must watch TV. Bitch.

Honorable Mentions

I thought Kevin Knight and Brody King both did a great job this week with their mic time. They are two guys who are really starting to get the spotlight on them, and I don’t think the spotlight is too bright for them at all. Kevin Knight needs to stop talking in the third person every other sentence though. We get it, you’re the “Jet”, but I thought he held his own in the ring with MJF this week and I enjoyed MJF leaning back on the turnbuckle while Knight was speaking just like “Alright kid, lets see what you got.”