Hangman Page Explains Why He Has Remained Friends With Marty Scurll Despite Allegations

Hangman Page has been on the receiving end of criticism in recent weeks after he took a selfie outside of a Cracker Barrel with disgraced pro wrestler Marty Scurll, who has been away from mainstream pro wrestling since he was accused of sexual assault during the Speaking Out movement in 2020.

Scurll and Page had been close friends for several years prior to the allegations due to being stablemates in Bullet Club, and Page addressed the allegations against Scurll and his continued friendship with him while speaking to The Takedown on SI.

"I think when that happened, I was obviously surprised. Shocked. It didn't seem like the person that I knew. But I mean, I knew now that it was, and I guess, I was kind of like, faced with a choice, like what to do with that information. And I reached out to him then because he had faced a lot of consequences from the public. He had lost his job from Ring of Honor. He was facing consequences from people online. So, [I] check to see how he's doing, and I remained in touch with him for, you know what, since then, [has] been six years," Page began.

"I guess I kind of will make a couple things clear about it. I completely recognise that what he did, his actions, are abhorrent. Disgraceful. They are. There's no excuse. I completely recognise that. I've always thought that, will always think that about his actions. And I guess as a consequence of his actions, the public has felt strongly about what he did. And for six years, I think because of those reactions, he's been unable to be a part of mainstream professional wrestling because of, you know, what the public perception would be," he continued.

"I don't want that photo to seem like some kind of endorsement, or, I have any interest whatsoever in whitewashing what he did, or any interest or intention of rehabilitating his public image. None of that is something that I've ever been interested in doing. Not now, not ever. And I think that the consequences of his actions that he's had mostly from the public, aside from, like, harassment, I think they've been warranted. So I kind of want to make that clear."

Page also acknowledged that he understands if fans have lost respect for him after being pictured with Scurll.

"If you hear all that, and you listen to all that, and you feel like maybe you wouldn't have done the same thing had you been in my shoes, or maybe you still feel uncomfortable being a fan of mine, or even if you've lost, like, the smallest amount of respect for me because of any of that, I would just want to say I completely understand that. I can respect it and accept it," Page added.

The former AEW World Champion also explained why he decided to maintain a friendship with Scurll despite what he is accused of.

"I guess who I am is, when people treat me with kindness, I try to return it. I have never really wanted to get into that. And that's more or less why I have a private relationship with him. Not out of a sense of self-preservation or shame, or something like that. But more or less, I just would never want that to be misconstrued as like an endorsement or an effort to rehabilitate someone's public image, something like that. But I guess I've just always thought that he's still a human being, and that relationships are complicated, but they're still relationships, and he's still a human being," Page ended.

Marty Scurll was accused of sexual assault during the Speaking Out movement, with a woman alleging that Scurll assaulted her following an IPW: UK after-show party in January 2015. At the time of the alleged incident, Scurll was 26 and the victim was 16.

Scurll addressed the allegations in multiple statements, claiming he had a "brief consensual sexual encounter" and he "did not become aware of her age until after the encounter." The accuser disputed that Scurll didn't know how old she was, however.

Scurll was one of the top stars outside of WWE and AEW prior to the allegations being made due to his role as co-head booker of Ring of Honor. Scurll quickly went on hiatus from Ring of Honor following the accusations, and he and ROH eventually parted ways.

NJPW attempted to bring Scurll back in January 2021, booking him at an NJPW STRONG taping, but his segment never aired due to fan backlash. Scurll has instead remained active in pro wrestling through performing for independent promotions in the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, Austria, Mexico, Brazil, and France.