How did page stay the face and omega went heel?

[Lance Uppercut]

And the bucks are these weird tweeners?

Wasn’t he the one who cost the bucks a match, walked out in his partner, argued with him a lot, kept drinking before matches, and left the elite?

[Dub H]

Because Page was clearly crying for help while The Bucks kept not understanding the troubles their friend were having,instead taking a "we know whats best" attitude,not listening to anything he had to say and not being there for him.

And Omega then emotionally abused Hangman after they broke up.

Also I dont think Hangman walked out on Omega.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Page was in a dark place and was manipulated into betraying his friends, clearly agonising and regretting it then immediately dumped when he was of no further use.

[EP 54 is banned from Collision]

Yeah they specifically said Hangman was trying to get matches booked for him and Kenny as a team after they lost the titles, but Kenny was having none of it.

And yes, he betrayed the Bucks, but at the time the Bucks were being dicks and FTR actually bonded with him, but in the end it was just them manipulating him.

[Cyno]

Omega turned his back on Page, not the other way around.

[Allie Kitsune]

The only weird "But how can he not be the bad guy?" part of it is the drinking part, and it WOULDN'T have been that weird even like 10 years ago.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

Yeah, weird that the functioning alcoholic whose asshole moments were caused by substance abuse and depression, whose worst moment involved him being taken advantage of by people who saw him at his lowest and knew they could use him, stayed the face while the ego-driven asshole sliding into a reckless desire for violence and glory at any cost, to the point of dropping his suffering friend the moment he stopped being professionally useful to him, would be the bad guy.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Nuance and wrestling don't always go together but in media, it's common for a good guy to do something bad because of a character flaw while still being the good guy. Weird that this is the first example that popped into my head but - in Avatar, Aang once hid where Katara and Sokka's father was which is definitely a bad thing to do but he did it because he was afraid of losing them. And they eventually reconciled. Hangman definitely did something wrong by screwing with the Bucks but is now on a road to redemption.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

I mean Page was clearly trending heel but pandemic happened and fans were loving him so they pivot

In the end, it worked out to Page actually being right and his friends being dickheads and taking advantage of him

[Dub H]

Feb 18, 2021 14:48:24 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

I mean Page was clearly trending heel but pandemic happened and fans were loving him so they pivot

In the end, it worked out to Page actually being right and his friends being dickheads and taking advantage of him

I dont think anyone was clearly trending somewhere,that is what made the feud great.

You could believe any of those guys could turn heel in the other at the slightest moment and it would have been 100% believable

[Allie Kitsune]

Feb 18, 2021 13:46:27 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

Yeah, weird that the functioning alcoholic whose asshole moments were caused by substance abuse and depression, whose worst moment involved him being taken advantage of by people who saw him at his lowest and knew they could use him, stayed the face while the ego-driven asshole sliding into a reckless desire for violence and glory at any cost, to the point of dropping his suffering friend the moment he stopped being professionally useful to him, would be the bad guy.

You say that, but...

I've been in the Hangman position before in this scenario (minus the violence part), and I was made out to be the bad one.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Feb 18, 2021 15:08:01 GMT -5 Dub H said:

Feb 18, 2021 14:48:24 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

I mean Page was clearly trending heel but pandemic happened and fans were loving him so they pivot

In the end, it worked out to Page actually being right and his friends being dickheads and taking advantage of him

I dont think anyone was clearly trending somewhere,that is what made the feud great.

You could believe any of those guys could turn heel in the other at the slightest moment and it would have been 100% believable

From my standpoint, Page was clearly trending heel 

At that point Omega wasn't really a dick but the Bucks were. Page was equally being a dick and has done some wrong. He was that darker shade of grey that could tipped over if the fans were buying into it but his antics played big (outside of teasing a buckshot lariat on Kenny after the tag match) and it kept him as a reclusive and misunderstood face 

This ended up being a cleaner version of the the Sting TNA "heel turn" when he was trying to warn people Hogan and others were assholes and he was protecting himself only to be proven right 

[Fade is a CodyCryBaby]

It all felt fluid and organic to me. Even if Page being boobookitty at times, personally, grated me. It all felt realistic.

The Bucks Tweener road has been a lil weird to me but definitely feels like some detours were taken.

[The Ichi]

They were pretty clever in making it ambiguous for a while and reading fan response. I fully believe the goal at first was Page turning heel but they read the room and realized Page could be sympathetic.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Feb 18, 2021 15:31:20 GMT -5 Fade is a CodyCryBaby said:

It all felt fluid and organic to me. Even if Page being boobookitty at times, personally, grated me. It all felt realistic.

The Bucks Tweener road has been a lil weird to me but definitely feels like some detours were taken.

More so on their road to the tag titles especially 

They went from superkicking announcers and being full on dicks to playing straight face against FTR and then back to acting a fool again 

[Kalmia]

It always felt like to me that Page was being manipulated due to his weaknesses (his alcoholism, his anxiety, his feelings of being unworthy.) That's very relatable and it was obviously FTR doing what they could to break up Hangman and Omega.

Then Kenny turned his back on Hangman when Hangman wanted to work it out and try again and that sealed it.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Speaking as someone who is generally against the AEW/modern wrestling booking where heel and face are often measured relatively match by match rather than with real 'alignments'... Page is like one of the only pure true blue babyfaces they have??

[Bang Bang Bart]

Feb 18, 2021 19:57:30 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

Speaking as someone who is generally against the AEW/modern wrestling booking where heel and face are often measured relatively match by match rather than with real 'alignments'... Page is like one of the only pure true blue babyfaces they have??

Arguably, Jon Moxley is also a pure babyface, in his own way.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Feb 18, 2021 19:57:30 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

Speaking as someone who is generally against the AEW/modern wrestling booking where heel and face are often measured relatively match by match rather than with real 'alignments'... Page is like one of the only pure true blue babyfaces they have??

Just on the men's roster:

OC and Best Friends
Jungle Express
Darby Allin
Sting
Dustin Rhodes
SCU
Sonny Kiss
Top Flight
The Dark Order

Not sure any of these could really be described as even tweeners this point.

A couple of people shift more fluidly, but there are definitely heels and faces.

[Viking Hall]

I'm not sure I trust the social skills of anyone who watched this storyline play out and saw Page as the bad guy all along.