Joey Janela Rips "Stale Ass" AEW Dark Format
Ex-AEW star Joey Janela has a good idea for what Dark SHOULD be...
Former AEW wrestler Joey Janela's idea for what the promotion's Dark show should be sounds pretty great.
This Tuesday's edition of the YouTube series was highlighted by a main event pitting Rey Fenix against indie veteran AR Fox. Twitter user @DrainBamager uploaded a compilation of highlights from the high-flying bout, which Janela quote-tweeted, saying that matches like this are what Dark should be.
This is what dark should be, all around competitive action packed sprints, and maybe a one longer type storyline based match weekly. What that show does is nothing for anyone anymore, tbh it’s stale ass! Squash matches do nothing for anyone in 2022, especially on a YouTube show. https://t.co/vE1zdSYyJ1
Advertisement— “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) November 2, 2022
On top of calling the current format "stale *ss", Janela, in subsequent tweets, said that nobody wants to watch YouTube squash bouts in 2022, calling getting stuck in this cycle a reason for "talent degression."
No one wants to watch !*$% squash matches on YouTube in 2022, I understand if you’re introducing a new wrestler on tv then I’m all for squash matches. This is the reason for talent degression doing nothing but pointless !*$% for the sake of it.
Advertisement— “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) November 2, 2022
AEW launched Dark in October 2019, doing so as a sister show to Dynamite on TNT. Uploaded to YouTube every week, Dark quickly settled into an enhancement bout groove, with the promotion routinely bringing freelancers in to put over established full-time stars. While deviations from this format do occasionally happen, Dark remains extremely squash-heavy.
AEW's other YouTube show, Dark: Elevation, is much the same.
Janela starred in what is still Dark's most acclaimed match to date on 9 October 2019, facing Kenny Omega. The GCW mainstay's run with the Tony Khan-helmed promotion ended when his contract expired this May.