10 Things Everybody Gets Wrong About AEW
8. "The Dark Order Is Hokey"
The Dark Order act looks hokey, but it isn't hokey at its narrative core.
That infamous air-punching, throat-f*cking closing angle was not well received, at all, but the overarching take - "spooky bullsh*t has no place in AEW" - is misguided. Maybe. It's tricky. Is there a supernatural component to the Dark Order? In a vignette, they spoke to Alex Reynolds through his TV set. Was this to be taken literally, or was it a crisis of mentality dressed up in pro wrestling theatre?
Regardless, this isn't tacked-on, let's-do-some-spooky-stuff for the self-professed "buffet" that seeks to appeal to every wrestling fan. The Dark Order fit neatly into AEW's holistic "wins and losses matter" mentality. An act loses, ritually. They - the Beaver Boys, and as foreshadowed, Brandon Cutler - begin to feel like losers. The Dark Order include them to make them feel less like losers. The Dark Order lend gravity to the thematic framework of the company, and it's tethered to reality more so than supernatural hokum. The creepers are in fact disaffected incel types inducted as mere grunts to allow the top guys to win; in that respect, the act at its core is no different to a stable like Evolution or the nWo, even the Inner Circle. The top guys are manipulating the lower tier to preserve their power.
The presentation (so far) is bad; the concept is not.