10 Dumbest Wrestling Controversies That Went Too Far

8. The December 18 Dark Order Angle

Chelsea Green Thumb FINAL
AEW FITE TV

The "Dark Order angle" - so bad that it's known as such in shorthand - was diabolical.

I know it, you know it, and Tony Khan knew it, and took full control of the book as a result. It was an awful imposition of supernatural bullsh*t on the product that felt so much like the realised WWE alternative leading up to and at Full Gear 2019. The quality of Dynamite deteriorated badly into December, and the "Dark Order angle" was the nadir. It felt like every other sh*tty post-2001 pro wrestling alternative: weirdly obsessed with Vince Russo's supernatural bullsh*t of 1999. The Elite lost their star aura, Jim Ross in calling it the "drizzling sh*ts" lost his patience, and AEW lost for the first time the demo in the Wednesday Night War.

It was a disaster.

But AEW did secure a rights fee mere weeks later; the January 1 comeback helped rehabilitate the promotion's image, but it was imminent anyway. The rest of the show was very good. Various excellent developments were simmering away.

This one segment however was so bad that the pro wrestling community lost all perspective and let AEW have it - and the abuse was so over-the-top toxic that the Young Bucks deleted their Twitter accounts.

"My favourite wrestling promotion has been a bit sh*t lately" is no excuse to destroy a person's mental health.

Please stop being weird, enormous babies.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!