#179: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page vs. Young Bucks, AEW Revolution (2/29/2020).
This is for Omega and Hangman’s AEW World Tag Team Championships.
This had an intriguing build coming into this. All four men are members of the Elite, and three out of the four are responsible for the foundation of All Elite Wrestling. Kenny is close with the Bucks, but Hangman seems like he wants to distance himself away from the Elite and do his own thing. He’s even showing some discontent towards his own partner.
This is the highest rated tag team match that Dave Meltzer has ever rated, at 6 stars. Take that for whatever you want, but nonetheless, this match has gotten a ton of praise over the years.
But, is it that good? Let’s find out.
Hangman is in the Bucks’ face right away, as Omega tries to calm him down. The bell sounds, and Omega starts things out with Nick Jackson. Omega takes control of the arm, and Nick fights back with an arm drag takedown. Omega blocks a superkick, and keeps his distance. Hangman tags in, and here comes Matt Jackson as well. Big “Cowboy Shit” chant breaks out, as they lock up. Matt trips Hangman, and both men attempt the Front Chancery.
They scrap on the mat, before separating. Matt offers his hand, and Hangman spits on it. Matt takes Hangman down, and unloads with right hands to the head. Omega comes in to break it up, and Matt shoves him. Nick calms him down, and makes the tag. Hangman with a huge slap to the face, and Nick kicks him hard in the stomach. Matt tags back in, and the Bucks double team him with a dropkick to the face. They knock Omega off the apron, and then hit a neckbreaker senton combo to Hangman.
Matt dropkicks Omega off the apron, then hits a twisting neckreaker to Hangman off Nick’s knee. Hangman blocks a powerslam attempt, and forearms Matt’s back. He drives his knee into the spine and kidney next. Hangman tags Omega in by slapping his chest, and Omega doesn’t care for that. Omega grabs Matt, and hits a running backbreaker for a 2 count. Hangman tags back in, and hits a double sledge across the spine.
He takes a cheap shot to Nick, knocking him off the apron. Hangman takes Matt to the outside, and whips him into the barricade. He goes to powerbomb Matt through a table, but Omega breaks it up. Back in the ring, Omega and Hangman take turns chopping Matt, before Hangman hits a clubbing blow to the back. They lift him up for a double back suplex, but Matt counters out of it and tries for a double Northern Lights suplex. They hammer on his back, and he’s able to hit it anyway.
Nick makes the tag, and goes to town on both Omega and Hangman. Clothesline/bulldog combo takes the champions down, and spikes Omega. Escalara into a hurricanrana to Omega, and a kick to his chest, followed by a facebuster to Hangman, and a moonsault off the apron to Omega. He hits a sunset flip into a Sharpshooter to Hangman next, and Omega comes in with a Kotara Crusher to break it up. Hangman makes the tag, and Omega gears up for his Terminator senton, but Matt comes in and cuts him off.
Omega with a hurricanrana takes Matt out, and he gears up for his Terminator dive. He’s about to hit it, and Matt kicks him in the chest at the last second. Nick brings him back into the ring, and gets a nearfall off of it. Nick with a front chancery next, and he takes a cheapshot to Hangman. He tags Matt back in, and Omega avoids some superkicks. He sends Nick to the floor, and crawls towards the tag. Matt cuts him off, and then spits on Hangman! Omega avoids an attack from Matt, and dives at Hangman, who is pulled off the apron by Nick. Matt hits a piledriver to Omega, and gets a 2 count off of it. Nick tags in, and takes the front chancery again. Hangman takes a shot at Nick, and Omega hits the Lo Down out of nowhere.
Hangman makes the tag, and takes out both Bucks. Clothesline to Nick on the apron, Fall Away Slam to Matt, and a senton to Nick on the floor. He returns to the ring, and clotheslines Matt to the floor. He boots Nick from the apron, and he uses the ropes to bring both Bucks to the floor. Hangman goes to the top rope, and hits a moonsault to the floor onto the Young Bucks. Huge lariat to Nick in the ring, and Hangman throws him to the corner. He wants Matt to tag into the match, and now he’s getting him.
They exchange trash talk in the middle of the ring, then throw bombs at the other. Omega makes the blind tag, and he and Hangman double team Matt, with Hangman hitting a German Suplex that nearly spikes Matt. Gut wrench into a Doctor Bomb by Omega gets him a 2 count. Hangman tags back in, and Matt takes a hard shot to his head. Nick kicks him in the head, then tags in. He runs the corner, and hits repeated shots to the face.
Superkick to Omega next, and Hangman sends Nick flying to the ramp. He returns in with a Canadian Destroyer for a massively close nearfall. Hangman elbows Nick in the head, but Matt grabs him on the top rope and traps his head for a superkick by Nick. High impact neckbreaker gets broken up by Omega. The Bucks are in the ring, and Hangman counters a superkick by kicking Matt’s knee out from under him.
Hangman applies the Chicken Wing submission. Matt rolls through, and Nick hits a 450 splash that gets Matt a nearfall. The Bucks go for More Bang For Your Buck, but Matt’s back gives out on him. He’s sent into Omega, who does his You Can’t Escape combo, with Hangman grabbing Nick on the top rope, and hitting the Fall Away Slam right to the mat! He makes the cover, but Nick kicks out. Powerbomb connects, and Omega hits the V Trigger. Hangman covers, and Matt breaks up the pin.
Omega tags in, and he sets up for the V Trigger. He misses, and Nick goes for a superkick. Omega avoids it and hits the V Trigger. He tries for the Snap Dragon on Matt, who fights it off. V Trigger to Matt, and a Snap Dragon to Nick. Jay Driller connects, but Omega only gets a nearfall off of it. V Trigger to the spine in the corner, and Omega lifts him up to the top rope. Omega wants the One Winged Angel, but Nick counters into a Poisonrana!
Matt with a Northern Lights Suplex to Hangman out of the ring to the ramp, and up the ramp to the LED walkway. Matt looked conflicted there for a moment. He lifts Hangman up, and the Bucks hit the IndieTaker to Hangman on the ramp! He got spiked. The fans do not enjoy that. Back in the ring, the Bucks take turns superkicks to Omega. They connect with the Golden Trigger to Omega, and the Cleaner kicks out at 1!
They double superkick him again, and Omega kicks out again! Matt stomps on the injured shoulder over and over again, and even Nick is talking some sense into him. Matt lifts Omega up for the IndieTaker again, but here’s Hangman to grab Nick, and powerbomb him through the time keeper’s table! Omega with a V Trigger to Matt, and a V Trigger/Buckshot Lariat combination from him and Hangman to Matt! Omega covers, but Matt somehow kicks out.
Another big V Trigger by Omega, and he lifts Matt up for the One Winged Angel. Matt takes advantage of the injured shoulder, and escapes. Superkick to the jaw, and Hangman makes the tag. He lifts Matt up and hits his own One Winged Angel! He connects, but Nick breaks up the count! Hangman tosses Nick to the ramp, then leaps out with the Buckshot Lariat to him! He goes to the apron, and leaps in with another Buckshot to Matt, and that’s enough for the 3 and the win! Post match, the Bucks embrace with Omega, while Hangman keeps his distance. The Bucks go to leave, and Omega poses with the championship. Hangman lays his title down, and looks like he’s going to Buckshot Omega, but he doesn’t. They embrace, as they walk up the ramp together.
This may be the most overrated match of the 2020s so far, and that’s crazy when you realize how much ground even that covers. Firstly, this is not the best tag team match of all time, as Dave Meltzer would have you believe. The Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue Tag from June 9th, 1995 in All Japan holds that title, and it’s not even close. This felt like a match where I was waiting for the trigger to be pulled, and for that next step to take place, and it never did.
The story coming in was all the dissension in the Elite. The Bucks and Hangman, Hangman and Omega. All these story elements were going to explode here. And yet, they never did. They had moments, sure. But they were small in comparison to the build of the match. It’s almost like that story element took a backseat to the match itself, which by the way, the match itself was pretty good. It wasn’t an all timer, but in the time they had, it was pretty good stuff.
The problem is that this match has seemingly happened so many times before and since. The story of dissension would’ve elevated this to a higher level, but since it never dominated the match, what you’re left with is a fun tag team match that you’ve seen a thousand times. I’ve said this about the Young Bucks for years – they have their own style of match. Sometimes, it’s works wonders for them – the Cage Match with the Lucha Brothers at All Out 2021, or the first two matches with FTR at Full Gear 2020 and Dynamite 2022 come to mind.
Here, it works against them. This match is sequence after sequence that doesn’t feel natural. Outside of a handful of moments, you don’t get the sense that this is a match between four guys who are friends having friend troubles. It just feels like a high energy tag team match. It’s not a bad match by any means. If you were to show this to a new fan, they’d probably gush all over it. It just doesn’t work for me on any level outside of “hey, that was fun.”
I thought it was overrated when I first watched it in 2020, and I still think that four years later. I’m a big defender of matches with little story and more action. I think they have their place in wrestling, and I think you can still find story elements in them when they aren’t driven by a big soap opera style story – an example would be the Will Ospreay/Shingo Takagi match from Wrestling Dontaku in 2021. That match was all action and almost no story, but I can still find elements in there of a story being told.
Here, a story driven match would’ve made this ten times better. Leaning fully into the Elite dissension would’ve taken this from a fun little tag to an all time classic. The reason that the June 95 All Japan tag works is because it’s rich in storytelling throughout. It’s not even in your face about it – it’s subtle, but it’s there for the viewer to see, and it took a fucking awesome match between the Four Pillars, and turned it into the absolute gold standard of tag team wrestling.
As it stands, what you have here is a pretty good tag team match between four high level workers that misses the mark because they didn’t go all in on the story – pun intended.