As of March 1st, 2020, Matt Hardy’s WWE contract has ended, saying that the main reason for his departure is his creative legacy. Also, Chris Jericho is stepping away from Pro Wrestling so that he can go on tour with his band, Fozzy. Now, with Jericho taking a break and with Hardy being a free agent, there is a major opportunity not only for Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho but for all the indies as well and here’s why.
What if Matt Hardy was revealed as the leader of the Dark Order, I think this has the potential to not only be something big for AEW, but also for all the indies and pull even more lapsed and new fans back to Pro Wrestling.
Here me out…
What if the Dark Order could become a force throughout independent wrestling, not just being pervasive through All Elite Wrestling (AEW), but also reaching out to promotions such as NWA, Impact, RoH, AAA, RevPro, and even NJPW. Imagine if this coming Wednesday, March 4th Matt Hardy reveals himself as the leader of the Dark Order, and I don’t know have Raven as his underboss/consigliere. Imagine the ripples that could happen throughout independent wrestling. A couple weeks later, on NWA Power, Raven or Hardy shows up with minions to harass Aldis, James Storm and any of the other wrestlers of that promotion, bringing words of warning to their enemies, and words of welcome to those who feel that they aren’t being utilized to their full potential. Imagine the next RoH show, minions flood the ring to get a piece of Villain Enterprises or Dalton Castle or Velvet Sky—no one said that the Dark Order was a single-gender organization. They could bring the same message and sweep across all of indie wrestling, especially those promotions that have regular TV shows or PPVs. Imagine the minions showing up and trying to take out Tessa Blanchard or Brian Cage, slowly sowing seeds of welcome and warning to all of Impact Wrestling. Imagine the minions showing up at a New Japan (NJPW) show and taking out members of the Bullet Club, Chaos, Suzuki Gun or Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) to bring the message to the wrestlers of Japan. Then it’s on to AAA, to bring the same message to the wrestlers of Mexico. The minions show up at a RevPro show to attack Will Osprey, and invite their wrestlers to the Order’s rank.
A few weeks after the feelers have been laid down, we as fans begin to see certain wrestlers (some that are widely known and loved) showing up and pledging their allegiance to the Order as a ripple effect washes over the world of independent wrestling, with the focal point being AEW. For the months that follow, the members of the Dark Order run roughshod over all of independent wrestling, taking titles. That is until a shining light shows up to turn back the dark. A leader that can stem the tide, and bring the fight to the Dark Order and that person is Chris Jericho. Once he’s finished with the tour, which I know will be amazing, and after he’s had a chance to recover from all the travel, and aches and pains from his current stint in AEW, he could show up at an AEW PPV (after being low-key teased for weeks) in tow with one or two other wrestlers to join his side, and clear the ring of the Order. He would then let the wrestling world know that he’s sat back and watched as the Order has defiled the industry that he loves so much until he couldn’t take it anymore. So, he’s standing against the Dark. Then just as the Dark Order had done previously, Jericho and his cohorts go from promotion to promotion appealing to those have suffered from the Dark Order’s antics, asking them to join his fellowship of wrestlers willing to take the fight to the Dark Order, very much in the style of LOTR. As this group slowly forms, they slowly start to win little victories across the world of indy wrestling, much to the disgust of the Dark Order. Then others will take up the call and all will lead from different PPVs going from places like NJPW all the way through the other promotions (freeing them of the Orders corruption) all the way back to where it all began, at AEW Revolution, where the heads of the Order are finally defeated.
I can foresee this storyline taking months to at least a year and a half to play out. This has the potential to be a legendary long-term storyline if all the aforementioned promotions could agree to the storyline for the greater good of professional wrestling. Man, in my mind, it could be a storyline for the ages if done correctly. I wish this could happen. The thing is if all indy promotions could agree to do it, the pervasiveness of this underlying storyline would blow the water out of dang near anything else going on in Pro Wrestling or Sports Entertainment—that is if egos could be set aside to allow it to happen.
Now I’m sure that there are better pro wrestling writers than me, but I think this has the potential to be something truly stellar. What do you think? Do you think that the world of Indy pro wrestling has an opportunity for something truly unexpected and legendary here? Would you like to see something like this happen? Let me know in the comments.
