Tony Khan Was Forced To Strip Hangman Page Of AEW World Title

Hangman Page lost the AEW World Championship because of Tony Khan.

Hangman Adam Page defended the AEW World Championship against Samoa Joe on November 22, 2025, at AEW Full Gear in Newark, New Jersey, inside a steel cage match. He lost the bout and the title.

This marked the end of his second reign as AEW World Champion, which lasted 133 days. Page had originally won the belt on July 12, 2025, at AEW All In: Texas by defeating Jon Moxley.

Page’s loss to Joe may have come as a shock to many fans, but Khan had already decided that he was going to strip Hangman of the World title.

Tony Khan Had Reached A Creative Dead End With Hangman Page In AEW

According to Self Made Sessions, Tony Khan decided to strip Hangman Adam Page of the AEW World Championship a month before the pay-per-view.

The AEW head honcho felt that Hangman had reached a creative dead end in his storyline. He believed that by taking the belt off Page, it would open up new opportunities to generate more interest and create fresh storylines within AEW.

“Tony made this call about a month ago. About a month ago, he said, ‘I’m gonna take the belt off Hangman.’ Yes, they hit a dead end with Hangman, but it was self-inflicted.”

“It was literally a self-inflicted problem and a self-imposed problem. At the same time, he found himself a month out from the pay-per-view thinking, ‘I don’t really have anywhere else to go given the current lay of the land in my promotion.’”

“He made the call a month before the pay-per-view. He said, ‘I’m going to take the belt off of him because this is the lane I’m going to go to generate more interest and directions for storytelling purposes.’ That’s the choice he made, and that’s basically why he took the belt off Hangman Page.”

H/T Ringside News