There was a time when the Dark Order was one of the biggest factions in AEW. They had a TNT Champion as their leader, three different tag teams within their ranks, and even a female tag team thanks to the loose affiliation of Anna Jay to Tay Conti.
Since the height of their success in 2020, the faction has seen their leader pass away, a third of their ranks either get released or allowed to hit the free agent market, and even multiple members move on to greener pastures in AEW as part of groups like the JAS and La Faccion Ingobernable, leaving just three performers, Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds, and “Johnny Hungy” himself, John Silver, to fill out the remainder of the ranks.
Naturally asked to comment on the state of his faction on the Inside the Ropes podcast, Uno detailed how the salad days are largely over for AEW's purple and black faction and how he sees the unit rolling into 2023.
“Not great. I mentioned how it was a roller coaster of a year,” Uno said (h/t WrestleZone). “I’ve achieved some of my career highs, but I’ve also hit some of my personal lows this year. Dark Order started the year, and I feel like we were truly a force to be reckoned with, all of us, every single member. Then slowly, it kind of unraveled. Stu decided to take a leave, Colt Cabana decided to take a leave and focus more on Ring of Honor, Alan Angels decided not to renew his contract and now is in a yellow wearing cult in IMPACT, which is really weird.”
“Anna Jay decided she was gonna hang out with her other friend and just kind of literally left our group two weeks after I announced to everyone that Dark Order was for her. So all of that are things that I could accept. They’re things out of my control. Then Preston Vance kind of took it a steep much further than I had thought any of my friends were capable of and has joined LFI.”
Fortunately for Uno, there's still one trump card in AEW that should keep himself and his cohorts on television at least somewhat for the next few months in the form of “Hangman” Adam Page, who teamed with the group during the World Trios Tournament and has since been seen with on television ahead of his huge forthcoming match against Jon Moxley. While a feud between Page and Reynolds could very well be the thing that splits up the Dark Order for good, for now, it's their last lifeline to relevancy in Tony Khan's company.
Preston Vance explains why he switched factions in AEW.
Sitting down earlier this month for a tell-all interview with Jim Ross, Vance was asked why he decided to leave Dark Order to take a right-proper chance at relevancy with LFI. His response, though harsh, is hard to argue with.
“Let me start this question by asking you a question Jim, who is your boss in AEW?” Vance asked of JR, to which he replied Tony Khan. “Okay, so it’s not a 10-year-old kid? Cool, now neither is mine. Everyone thinks I’m the bad guy for turning my back on family? They’re not my brothers. I was handpicked by Brody Lee, I was a college athlete, those guys, they’re not on the same level as me. My real brothers are RUSH, Jose, and the rest of LFI because they see that same potential in me that Mr. Brodie Lee saw in me.”
When asked how it felt to let down Brodie Lee Jr., who was heartbroken to see his favorite wrestler leave his father’s faction, Vance didn’t seem to care.
“So this is one thing we can agree on, no kid should ever have to go through that. What that kid went through two years ago should never have to go through with it but over the span of these two year Jim, he’s turned into a snot-nosed spoiled brat. It is what it is. If I have one message to give to little Brodie – hey kid, it’s time to grow up.”
Was Vance ever going to become a champion in AEW as a member of Dark Order? No, probably not – Dark Order only has one champion despite having hundreds of matches wrestled in their collective name, and with so many heavy hitters already competing in AEW across its various divisions, it's hard to see a clear path to a strap. Still, it's hard to see Vance having any more success in LFI either, as RUSH is now the faction's top guy with Andrade out. At worst, this could lead to a trios feud between the two factions, which considering the Dark Order's current positioning, might not be the worst possible outcome.
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