There are plenty of times in wrestling where wrestlers find themselves in precarious situations. Adam “Hangman” Page found himself in one at last weekend.
At Ring of Honor’s Manhattan Mayhem event in New York City, during the eight-man tag team match pitting himself and his Bullet Club teammates against the Kingdom, Page found himself climbing to the balcony of the Hammerstein Ballroom: Then, he dove off dove off the railing, delivering an exhilarating moonsault, crashing onto the others 15 feet below.
Yes, the wrestling business can have you doing some crazy things.
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“Once you've decided you're going to do something like that, you just do it,” said Page. “You can't really be scared about it. You don't really have time to think about it. It's just something you just do and then realize once it's over that was pretty wild.”
The good news is that he came out unscathed — and his team went on to win that night. It’s all been good for the 26-year-old Page these days, now almost two years into his time as a member of the uber-popular Bullet Club alongside The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes and Marty Scurll.
Page now has more exposure than ever before as his career continues to blossom, giving him more opportunities and higher profile matches than ever before.
“This is the most fun I've had in my career,” admitted Page. “The most money I've made in my career. This is the best time in my career and I don't mean that as if the next year won't be or the years after that. So far, it's been a steady incline in everything that I do. I've enjoyed this time and it should be continuing getting bigger.”
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His next big match takes place on Friday night at the Ring of Honor 16th Anniversary Show in Las Vegas. The show is available at 9:00 p.m. ET on pay-per-view, the FITE.tv app, or to VIP members on the “Honor Club” streaming service at ROHWrestling.com.
Page, and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) — together known as the Hung Bucks — will put their ROH 6-Man Tag Team Titles on the line against SoCal Uncensored made up of Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky.
And, of course, the expectations for the match and through the roof.
“When we have these kinds of matches — myself, Matt and Nick — we go all out, maybe even more so than we have to or should,” said Page. “I think that's what people can expect. It should be wild. The six-man titles are on the line so we have a lot to fight for.”
Everyone always wants to have a good match but wild matches aren’t always planned. Sometimes, it just happened in the heat of battle when the adrenaline kicks in and the action cranks up.
“This past weekend wasn't even supposed to be the match that it was,” explained Page. “It definitely wasn't supposed to get that out of hand and you saw some of the things that happened. We're still banged up, we're still battered, beaten and bruised but I've got some revitalized energy after this past weekend, too.”
Page admits that he was still finding himself as a wrestler and a performer before joining Bullet Club. He still isn’t sure exactly how he has changed but there is a difference.
“Maybe more confident, maybe more willing to do things like moonsaults off of a balcony or whatever it may be,” said Page. “I'm fortunate that I'm in a good place right now. Fans are really responding to me now so I guess now is the time for me to give back and do that kind of stuff with a little less hesitation.”
Bullet Club has reached an incredible level of popularity and notoriety, being the cool guys in wrestling. Fans everywhere are sporting their shirts that have become best sellers at Hot Topic stores around the country.
“Around Christmas time, I passed by a Hot Topic at the mall,” recalled Page. “They had the Christmas decorations up in the front of the store with AC/DC and Metallica, Harry Potter, Star Wars and Bullet Club. So, we are certainly a part of pop culture.”
Page is now a regular part of the “Being the Elite” YouTube series that The Young Bucks put together. Each episode shows Bullet Club members doing everything from traveling to interacting with fans and furthering storylines.
He believes the show has been a huge help in getting him noticed, but also having fans accept him as a member of Bullet Club.
The show has earned plenty of attention from the group invading WWE “RAW” to showing the behind the scenes story in the rift between Kenny Omega and Cody over who is the leader of the group. Page believes it has helped him show more personality and let the fans get to know him more. Now, he’s gets noticed every time he goes in public but admits “that’s cool, that’s what you want”.
Recent episodes of “Being the Elite” have seen the growing rift between Kenny Omega and Cody over who is the leader of the group. That is all growing to a showdown between the two at the ROH Supercard of Honor event on April 7 in New Orleans.
“It's certainly the biggest thing going on in wrestling right now which does not surprise me,” said Page. “I knew it would be when I could sense it coming. So it's exactly what I expected. I'm just anxious to see how this all wraps up.”
New Orleans will be the center of the wrestling universe that weekend, with WrestleMania 34 in town. Many fans are just as excited about going to see Ring of Honor in what should be a stacked card with over 5,000 people in attendance.
“It's certainly gotten the reaction and attention that I expected it would when it finally started to come to a head and 'Supercard' should be great,” said Page. “It's going to be the largest audience that we've ever had and that speaks volumes about the things we're doing here.”
Page was one of the ROH stars that recently participated in the national “Read Across America” event celebrating the joy and importance of reading by visiting a local school and reading to school kids. It was a natural fit for the former schoolteacher as a way to give back.
“It's been a few years now so to get back into the school and the classroom is familiar for me,” said Page who visited a school in Greensboro, N.C. last Friday for the event. “As a wrestler, sometimes I'm fortunate with some free time. To be able to spend that doing something good in my local community was good. I appreciated that opportunity and I want to do it again.”
Page said he also opened some eyes of his former teachers when it comes to his current profession, especially when you’re part of the most famous group in the business.
“When I left teaching, I don't think anyone I worked with necessarily understood what I did or the level at which I did it but I think they all do now,” said Page.
“I think its Bullet Club stuff and what we're doing now in wrestling is, honestly, such a big part of pop culture that it's kind of hard to avoid, even if you don't follow wrestling.”
Brian Fritz can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrianFritz and listen to his Between The Ropes podcast on Blog Talk Radio.