Adam Page On Being Offered Full-Time Deal With NJPW, Creative Process At AEW

Hangman Adam Page joined Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone on the AEW Unrestricted podcast , where he talked about the origin of "Hangman" and how he chose to sign with All Elite Wrestling over New Japan Prow Wrestling. Page said he had some small discussions with NJPW before The Young Bucks contacted him on behalf of AEW.

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"I was in Japan at the time for G1, and I remember we were in Tokyo, because I was staying at Tokyo Dome Hotel. I was texting Matt and Nick because I think we were like halfway through the G1, and I'd probably got approached by different people from New Japan. You know kind of asking me like, 'Hey, are you going to stay with Ring of Honor? Because we're kind of interested.' I think they were kind of interested in me becoming a full-time New Japan guy. So, it's just kind of mentioning to them that like, 'Hey, New Japan is talking to me a lot. I think they might be interested in signing me kind of exclusive here,' and Matt just texted back. He said, 'Don't sign anything. Let me call you.' He either called me or texted me. I can't remember and told me Tony had approached these guys and is interested in bringing the rest on TNT and start AEW."

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Later in the interview, Page shared his personal philosophy on booking wrestlers. The AEW World Tag Team Champ noted he has been in control of his character, creatively.

"Yeah, something's working and genuinely, I've always felt this way. If you tell a wrestler what to do, you'll get results. But if you leave a wrestler to his devices, they're going to sink or they're going to swim right, and a lot of times, I think you can swim a lot better when somebody just throws you out there, than if they try to teach you how to do it."

Page continued, "You can't be me and not feel the way that this character truly feels, and that's how I truly feel as a person. So, I know that I had this story inside of me and I want to get it out, and this is how you get it out. This is how you work through it. So, fighting every Wednesday to make sure that the things that I did, the things anyone around me did, made sense with this story, as what I think makes it good, and the insight that others around can bring into it, as well."

Page explained that the creative process for Being The Elite was similar to the AEW creative process, adding they were the same in that it is a collaborative process, only with more people involved in AEW's process. He explained how having more people on a creative team can get messy.

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"It's genuinely pretty much the same. Somebody will throw out an idea. Somebody else will throw out an idea. I'll throw out an idea. It's a collaboration. What you end up seeing is not just one person's idea, it's a lot of people's ideas that somehow get meshed and molded together. Some people, their thoughts might be represented more than others, in instances, but generally it's the same. The creative process, at least in my experience, for BTE and AEW is largely the same. The only difference being that with AEW, it's not just a few people. It's a whole lot more people, which I think makes it more challenging. It makes it more difficult, that's just the nature of the game."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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