10 Terrible Debuts AEW Quickly Fixed
10. The Dark Order
In the books that'll one day chronicle the history of All Elite Wrestling, The Dark Order will surely get their own chapter.
No one act stigmatised AEW more in the infancy of both the gimmick and the organisation, then twice proved the mettle of the creative folk behind the curtain and talent of the wrestlers plucked from relative obscurity to play the parts.
When Dynamite seemed to be buckling somewhat in December 2019, it was The Dark Order presentation that had the most blows landed upon it. Ironic, considering how far of the mark those punches were in the now-infamous beatdown of The Elite on the last live episode of the year.
Vignettes in early-2020 were stronger in explaining the core message of the group, but a Steve Jobs figure didn't the authoritarian control of eventual 'Exalted One' Brodie Lee, who debuted in March and unlocked the missing ingredient in the group.
As an absolute bastard of a leader, Lee brought out the warmth and silliness for an overall good, informally babyfacing the rest of the gang until his desperately sad passing expedited the inevitable.