8 Wrestlers Who Could Be Revealed As Leader Of The Dark Order

2. Brandi Rhodes

Brodie Lee Dark Order
AEW

Pros:

Both the Nightmare Collective and the Dark Order are into recruiting, often on the same show and in consecutive segments, which doesn't help to distinguish either group...but is that the point? Are Brandi and Evil Uno in cahoots, and is that a sequence of words you'd expect to read when a new state-of-the-art wrestling league driven by rankings and statistics was first announced? Both factions are thematically linked - the theme is "kinda spooky" - and are linked by how panned they are critically.

Cons:

The M.O. of each faction does not align, and AEW, surely, are weeks away from accepting that Brandi is a significantly better babyface. She was more over than Cody as a babyface in 2018.

There's a two birds, one stone thought process behind this rumour - just get the stuff people don't like over with in one segment - which feels more like bargaining than anything of substance. At least with the Dark Order, there's a purpose; the Nightmare Collective have targeted Kris Statlander for reasons that haven't been made adequately clear. The lack of exposition elsewhere is very pleasant, but here, it's probably necessary. The whole hair-cutting deal was probably just a symbolic way of putting over the idea that the Collective are collecting scalps on Kong's way to the top of the division, but if Brandi is pissed with Statlander for refusing to join, this should have been expressed with more productive reasoning than "F*ck her for thinking she's an alien".

Probability: 10%

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!