Since AEW switched over to filming roughly a month's worth of Dark matches at Universal Studios Florida instead of sporadically knocking them out whenever possible at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, it created a weirdly compelling amount of hype and intrigue about what the promotion's lower card will look like for the foreseeable future.

Now sure, on the rarest of occasions, Tony Khan will book someone like The Young Bucks to work a dark match for one reason or another, but for the most part, these YouTube-broadcast shows are about long-standing feuds like Joey Janela versus Sonny Kiss, or building up new teams/performers like The Wingmen, Josh Woods, and Wheeler Yuta, who built up to his eventual match for the Ring of Honor Pure Championship with Daniel Garcia on Dark. As Janela pointed out in the past, Tony Khan isn't very hands-on when it comes to Dark storylines, with his biggest concern being building up the win-loss record, so as a general rule, the tapings present an interesting opportunity for performers to show a bit more of their individual creativity, with in-jokes between Taz and Excaliber making it onto AEW's weekly televised product on more than a few occasions too.

So, with the Dark taping officially done, let's take a look at who did what and which acts seem to be headed for an AEW push moving forward.

These three performers look destined for AEW pushes moving forward.

3. Anthony Ogogo

There was a time when Anthony Ogogo looked like one of the hottest new performers in the AEW Galaxy. He was initially pitched to fill the Jake Hager role in The Inner Circle, debuted with a star-making win over eventual faction-mate Cole Karter in a 50-second KO on AEW Dynamite, and was booked like a big deal against Cody Rhodes in a feud that didn't quite turn out as planned but had serious stakes.

Since then, Ogogo has remained a fixture of Dark and Dark Elevation, working 14 matches in the promotion and four more indie dates, and has maintained a perfect record since his loss to Rhodes in May of 2021. According to of The Wrestling Observer, Ogogo had another match at the latest round of Dark tapings, a win over Luke Curtis, and followed it up with a promo declaring that no one wanted to fight him. Will this lead to something bigger? With Ogogo maybe challenging for Wardlow's TNT Championship? Considering he should totally be ranked at this point based on his record, that feels like a decently safe bet.

2. KiLynn King

From May of 2020 through March of 2022, KiLynn King wrested for AEW on one of their shows or another 49 times. From April through July of 2022, King wrested zero matches in an AEW ring, instead working 34 matches for the likes of CCW, MAW, MPW, and NWA.

Fortunately, in August of 2022, King's number came up in Khan's Rolodex, and she's been booked far more prominently than in months past, with a bout on AEW Dynamite booked for the “House of the Dragon” sponsored episode of AEW Dynamite, and again at the Dark tapings, where she wrestled two matches and was then called out by none other than Britt Baker. Will King be able to overcome Baker in a match? No, probably not, but hey, any publicity is good publicity, especially for a performer who is looking for a long-term contract moving forward.

1. The Workhorsemen

If you don't know The Workhorsemen duo of JD Drake and Anthony Henry now, you will soon, because the former has officially put his place in his former faction, The Wingmen, on hold in favor of a full-time reunion with his indie tag partner. That's right, after pulling double-duty across two teams since Henry was released from WWE and arrived in AEW all the way back in 2021, it sounds like Drake cut a promo declaring his allegiance to The Workhorsemen and focusing on that team moving forward.

Considering Henry earned an AEW contract according to Fightful and Drake has been a fixture of AEW programming since 2020, it's pretty safe to say this team isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Considering many of the fixtures of AEW's tag team decision have transitioned into trios competition, with the Young Bucks, La Faccion Ingobermable, Best Friends, and the Lucha Brothers all taking part in the AEW World Trios Championship Tournament, and Swerve in our Glory's longest-term rivals, Team Taz, have broken up, giving The Workhorsemen a chance to compete in the tag team division and attempt to get themselves over like The Acclaimed before them might be all it takes to establish the duo once and for all.