WINC Match Spotlight: Samoa Joe Vs. Swerve Strickland Vs. Hangman Page, AEW Revolution 2024

Welcome to the latest edition of WINC Match Spotlight, casting an in-depth look at a specific match to determine its strengths, weaknesses, and overall place in the halls of wrestling history. AEW's Worlds End is right around the corner, pitting Samoa Joe against Swerve Strickland, "Hangman" Adam Page, and MJF for his World Championship; Joe took the title from Page at Full Gear, with Strickland making his return to the promotion while Joe tried to celebrate, and MJF returning this past week to cash in his contract for a spot in the already-established three-way. 

Each man in the match has an extensive past with one another, whether it be the fact that Strickland dethroned Joe to win his first AEW World title or the fact that Joe dethroned MJF to win his first. Perhaps most notably, Strickland and Page used to be mortal enemies and are now entering this bout – over 10 years on from their first-ever match together – as somewhat allies. Putting MJF's late arrival to the side, that would have been a flip on the narrative heading into Revolution 2024, where-in Page and Strickland were challenging for Joe's title in a three-way – Strickland desperate to win the title for the first time, and Page equally if not more-so desperate to prevent him from doing so. 

Their rivalry had seen Strickland invade Page's house, retaliated with Page burning Strickland's house down, a singles match which Strickland won followed by a Texas Deathmatch which Strickland also won. That had set him on the path to challenging Joe for the title. But Page was never going to let things go so easily and they fought a trilogy bout for the No. 1 contendership, drawing after 30 minutes and ensuring that it would be a three-way at Revolution. That was as interesting a dynamic heading into the match as it was between the bells. 

Joe was defending the title for his first truly major defense, having only fended off Hook within nine minutes beforehand. Page was on a skewed, very Drew McIntyre-esque road back to the World Championship by any means necessary, further driven by spite and vengeance against Strickland for all he had done to him. And though Strickland was coming out of the proverbial heel tunnel, the crowd was more than ready for him to become World Champion at long last. It was a heel, a tweener, and a babyface, each with their own unique argument for winning or losing the match. And doubling up with that, they just so happened to be three of the best workers in the company as well.

It was said in the previous WINC Match Spotlight and it remains as true for this one: three-way matches aren't limited by the balancing of believable fallibility and escalation in excitement. One man kicking out of finishers and surviving by the skin of his teeth with every move can start to numb the impact of said finishers. But when you have a juggling between competitors, delivering and taking finishers with the third acting as the stop-gap. It, in a manner of speaking, coats each man in a plot armor that flows with the action. One can survive a fall without even moving an inch because the onus is on another competitor to stop it.

That element was on full display during this match quite early on, Joe working Page over with a powerbomb feeding into an STF only broken up by Strickland. Later, Page pulled the referee out of the ring as Strickland had Joe beat with the Swerve Stomp. But that in itself fed into the story of the match as well; Page was desperate and acted as such, pulling the referee out of the match to spite Strickland, hitting him with the belt and then hitting Buckshot Lariats to Joe.

Having been the one to thrust the referee from the ring in first place, there was no one to make the winning count for Page. He had been cost by his own desperation, and found that he had tipped the balance so far that it was not going to have time to settle in his favor. It almost immediately cost him, with Joe locking in the Coquina Clutch in the middle of the ring. Once more, Strickland broke it up with a Spiral Tap, and then once more Page started wailing away at a referee purely to prevent Strickland from winning. Page hit another Buckshot to Joe, but then Strickland used a Buckshot of his own to drop Page and follow up with the JML Driver.

The crowd noise had met its crescendo, everyone off their seats just waiting for the fall to crown Strickland. And then Joe sucked the air out of the room, throwing Strickland out of the ring and locking in the Coquina Clutch on Page.

At this point, Page wasn't looking likely to win the title. He might not have been put away by Joe in that moment, he may have been saved by the one man he truly hated within the match. But that meant that Strickland could still win the title. This was the one and only time in the match that Page had 100% of the say in who won the match. And Strickland could only watch on as Page tapped out, failing to win for himself but succeeding in spiting his rival – a win in its own way. It was this loss that heightened the desire to see Strickland become the champion, as he eventually did at Dynasty 2024. And thus, in effect, it helped lay the foundations for the upcoming world title match at Worlds End.