Fight For The Fallen '21: Hangman & Dark Order's Entrance
Jul 28, 2023 5:46:51 GMT -5
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Post by clifford on Jul 28, 2023 5:46:51 GMT -5
I felt like doing a bit of a long form on this so please indulge me.
Today marks the 2 year anniversary of my favourite AEW moment, and maybe my favourite moment in wrestling, ever- its certainly right up there: The video package and following entrance of Hangman Page and the Dark Order to kick off AEW Fight for the Fallen 2021.
Not only is it an insanely awesome and cool moment that gets a massive reaction, but the reason it resonates so much with me is cause of what it represents, and to me what it represents is why I love pro wrestling.
Throughout its first year, two of the biggest ‘failures’ seen in AEW were the attempt to make Adam Page a main event player, and the Dark Order. Both were written off by audiences and crowds alike, but by the end of 2020 both were gaining traction; Page had tapped into the ‘Cowboy Shit’ persona and was on the ascent up to the main event again, and Dark Order were becoming one of the most over acts in the company thanks to Mr. Brodie Lee’s charismatic leadership and being prominently featured on Being the Elite.
The two things started to intertwine; Brodie and the Dark Order started to court Hangman as his partnership with Kenny came to an end. Tragedy in the form of Brodie’s untimely passing caused a pivot but it also made the Dark Order perhaps the biggest and most over face stable in the company. Hangman’s continued involvement and growing friendship with them continued to develop, leading to both acts becoming incredibly over as baby faces.
What were once seen as two of the biggest failures in AEW had become top acts in the company through nothing but that time old honoured pro wrestling tradition of making it work; figuring out how to connect with the audience and building that trust, that relationship, that connection with them to the point that when Hangman walks out on stage with the Dark Order the place is going nuts, I mean we are talking molten for these dudes. Add in the fact that so much of Hangman and Dark Order getting over happened during the Dailys Place covid era where you either had no crowds or very minimal attendances, and it was like this moment was the build up of a year’s worth of crowd reactions that couldn’t happen.
It was an encapsulation of everything right with pro wrestling, a vindication and a validation and a triumph after tragedy, missteps, and people writing them off. Look at Hangman's expression in the above gif- he knew that this moment had come off perfect.
It was beautiful, it was wholesome, it was emotional. This dude who’d failed to be taken seriously as a top guy now being the biggest face in the company. This faction of previously unknown (save for Colt) wrestlers who had been openly mocked and ridiculed in their early days and had faced enormous pain and loss now were seen as the top babyface stable in the company. AEW had turned failed angles and booking into a major success.
This isn’t an opportunity to lament how neither Page or the Dark Order stayed at that zenith, or give out about what AEW did after; there’s a hundred threads and a thousand posts on that and I agree with 95% of them. I just wanted to get across how much this moment in time meant to me. Pro wrestling can be a beautiful thing.
EDIT: I really should have put the whole thing in video form as well- enjoy!!!
Today marks the 2 year anniversary of my favourite AEW moment, and maybe my favourite moment in wrestling, ever- its certainly right up there: The video package and following entrance of Hangman Page and the Dark Order to kick off AEW Fight for the Fallen 2021.
Not only is it an insanely awesome and cool moment that gets a massive reaction, but the reason it resonates so much with me is cause of what it represents, and to me what it represents is why I love pro wrestling.
Throughout its first year, two of the biggest ‘failures’ seen in AEW were the attempt to make Adam Page a main event player, and the Dark Order. Both were written off by audiences and crowds alike, but by the end of 2020 both were gaining traction; Page had tapped into the ‘Cowboy Shit’ persona and was on the ascent up to the main event again, and Dark Order were becoming one of the most over acts in the company thanks to Mr. Brodie Lee’s charismatic leadership and being prominently featured on Being the Elite.
The two things started to intertwine; Brodie and the Dark Order started to court Hangman as his partnership with Kenny came to an end. Tragedy in the form of Brodie’s untimely passing caused a pivot but it also made the Dark Order perhaps the biggest and most over face stable in the company. Hangman’s continued involvement and growing friendship with them continued to develop, leading to both acts becoming incredibly over as baby faces.
What were once seen as two of the biggest failures in AEW had become top acts in the company through nothing but that time old honoured pro wrestling tradition of making it work; figuring out how to connect with the audience and building that trust, that relationship, that connection with them to the point that when Hangman walks out on stage with the Dark Order the place is going nuts, I mean we are talking molten for these dudes. Add in the fact that so much of Hangman and Dark Order getting over happened during the Dailys Place covid era where you either had no crowds or very minimal attendances, and it was like this moment was the build up of a year’s worth of crowd reactions that couldn’t happen.
It was an encapsulation of everything right with pro wrestling, a vindication and a validation and a triumph after tragedy, missteps, and people writing them off. Look at Hangman's expression in the above gif- he knew that this moment had come off perfect.
It was beautiful, it was wholesome, it was emotional. This dude who’d failed to be taken seriously as a top guy now being the biggest face in the company. This faction of previously unknown (save for Colt) wrestlers who had been openly mocked and ridiculed in their early days and had faced enormous pain and loss now were seen as the top babyface stable in the company. AEW had turned failed angles and booking into a major success.
This isn’t an opportunity to lament how neither Page or the Dark Order stayed at that zenith, or give out about what AEW did after; there’s a hundred threads and a thousand posts on that and I agree with 95% of them. I just wanted to get across how much this moment in time meant to me. Pro wrestling can be a beautiful thing.
EDIT: I really should have put the whole thing in video form as well- enjoy!!!
