AEW correctly handles concussion throughout Hangman Page/Jon Moxley major occasion

The match had a easy, but efficient, construct. It made All Elite Wrestling’s fan base excited due to the easy-to-spot ramifications. AEW World Champion Jon Moxley put his belt on the road towards former champion Hangman Page in a first-time matchup, a dream conflict for followers — on tv at no cost. The winner can be the highest man heading into the corporate’s subsequent quarterly pay-per-view, Full Gear, and the opposite can be pushed apart. Except ending the epic encounter with a clear outcome didn’t occur. And it was completely the suitable determination.

Professional wrestling has predetermined outcomes. The finest wrestlers can talk on the fly and pull off their enticing-looking arsenal with out risking their very own security or the well being of whoever they’re within the ring with. Page and Moxley are nice examples of grapplers who could make their strikes look devastatingly painful however have the respect of the locker room to get out of the squared circle unscathed more often than not, irrespective of if CM Punk doesn’t like Cowboy Shit. In the real-life crash take a look at dummy world of professional wrestling, accidents occur, as evidenced by Moxley’s mid-match lariat that related with Page’s head and despatched him spiraling to the canvas with out a clear touchdown. It’s unclear if Page was dazed earlier than impression or if the odd bump prompted the pinnacle or neck harm. Either approach, it’s apparent Page wasn’t alright moments after hitting the mat.

AEW referee Paul Turner acknowledged Page’s distressed state instantly. After checking on Hangman, he known as in Michael Sampson, the corporate’s ringside physician, to verify on him. At that time, longtime wrestling followers know the protocol: The present involves a halt. Everything is secondary to caring for Page. An analogous state of affairs occurred with former WWE star Enzo Amore, ending a tag crew championship bout at Payback in 2016 due to a head harm. Turner known as for the bell to finish the match shortly after Sampson entered the ring. It led to a backbone board being introduced onto the mat to help Page getting onto a stretcher with minimal motion. AEW officers additionally loosened the underside rope to verify Page’s escort out of the sector was as easy as doable.

Page was taken to a neighborhood hospital, identified with a concussion, and subsequently launched. Things may have been a lot worse if not for the notice of Turner, Sampson, and Moxley, who all made positive to are likely to Hangman in their very own methods earlier than the present may transfer on. And it did with Moxley and MJF slicing a terrific impromptu promo establishing their main-event match for Full Gear. By the time Moxley had a microphone to start out the dialogue, Page was nowhere in sight. Hangman tweeted Wednesday night time that he was in good spirits. There has been no timetable set for Page’s return to the ring, however he was positioned in AEW’s concussion protocols.

AEW has now given us a pristine instance of learn how to deal with indicators of head accidents and concussions amid the NFL’s investigation into how badly it failed Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. If Page took that lariat, was checked on by Turner and Sampson, continued to wrestle the match, after which strapped up his boots once more to battle in a number of extra days keen to be dropped on his head with a vicious piledriver, that will be the equal of how the NFL’s medical practices harmed Tua. Under the circumstances, the NFL has as a lot time to react to concussions as AEW had. One firm’s safeguards clearly saved one in every of its staff from additional harm. It additionally exhibits how AEW realized from placing Matt Hardy again in hurt’s approach two years in the past after hitting his head onto concrete.

There’s a direct route for the way AEW may also help the NFL. Tony Khan, AEW’s CEO and president, is the son of Shad Khan, who owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. Not all concussion circumstances are the identical, clearly, however a number of measures to stop maximizing the harm of head accidents, are. The NFL may study a factor or two from how AEW dealt with this example, like letting Colts’ working again Nyheim Hines stroll to the locker room underneath his personal energy after exhibiting gross motor instability. What a disgusting exhibiting that was. And you may wager based mostly on how delicately it dealt with Hangman’s harm, letting an athlete trot off the sector wouldn’t have occurred on an AEW present.