WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray had high praise for the emotional opening segment of the July 16 episode of AEW Dynamite, which featured the first official address from new AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page. Speaking on Busted Open After Dark, Bully called the promo a much-needed emotional anchor for the company following the All In: Texas pay-per-view.
Bully Ray, known for his direct critiques, expressed relief that AEW opened the show with the champion’s promo rather than jumping into the previously advertised six-man tag team match. “If you were not a believer in Hangman… I think he would have had to have won you over with his performance at All In and his promo tonight,” Bully said. “If his performance at All In and his promo tonight did not win you over, then I have no hope for you when it comes to Hangman Adam Page.”
He called the promo a defining moment for Page and the fanbase, stating, “After that promo was over, I took to the Twitter machine, and I said that that is what I believe was the from-the-heart promo that AEW fans needed to hear. Kind of like the rah rah speech, almost, that I’ve been talking about for a long time… It really resonated. And I felt it tonight from Hangman.”
One moment in particular stood out to Bully Ray—Page’s humble response to the crowd’s “You deserve it” chant. “The fans were chanting, ‘You deserve it.’ And Hangman opened up in the perfect way, by saying, ‘Wait a minute, I think you got it wrong. No, you deserve it,’ meaning the AEW fan base,” he explained. “This was a mutual admiration and appreciation between talent… and fan base. A good coming together, a good moment that people can really feel and go, ‘Yeah, that’s my guy.’”
Bully was also struck by the sincerity in Page’s words when he took a surprising moment to thank his long-time rival, Swerve Strickland. “He got to the one thank you that I don’t think any of us ever thought we’d hear from Hangman,” he said. “And I don’t want to say it was begrudgingly, but you can see he was a little uncomfortable with it, yet genuine when he thanked Swerve Strickland.”
While calling the promo a “two thumbs up” segment, Bully offered a small piece of constructive criticism. “I wish, when he said, ‘You deserve it,’ he would have pointed to individual people in the crowd,” he said. “Make eye contact with as many people in that crowd as possible… and then get them all going and say, ‘I deserved it. You deserved it. We deserved it because we are AEW.’” He emphasized that these small details could elevate a great moment to something “off the charts.”
Page would go on to close the show in victorious fashion, teaming with Powerhouse Hobbs and Mark Briscoe to defeat The Death Riders—Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta—after pinning Castagnoli in the main event. The win marks a strong start to Page’s reign as AEW World Champion, but the celebrations may be short-lived. MJF, who won the Casino Gauntlet Match at All In, is already looming as the next major challenger.
